Media Release
2 July 2009
Chip Shop Competition Is On Again
The search for New Zealand’s top chip shop kicks off this month, with registrations opening for shops wanting to take
part in the ‘That’s Life! Best Chip Shop Competition 2009’.
This year, competing shops can gain extra points in the Competition if at least one employee has their Chip Group Online
Training certificates on display.
Chairperson of The Chip Group, Glenda Gourley, said judges will be on the look out for certificates, as a way of
identifying chip shops that are putting into practice the ‘New Zealand Standards for Deep Fried Chips in Independent
Fast Food Outlets’.
“Shops that complete the online modules, which cover all aspects of the Industry Standards, will not only increase their
odds of winning the Competition, but they’ll also be serving up healthier chips to their customers. Furthermore, our
research shows that they’ll enhance customer satisfaction and achieve greater business efficiencies.”
There are seven online training modules covering chip size, oil temperature, cooking/deep-frying, drainage, oil
maintenance, filtering and cleaning, and salt.
“It only takes 5-8 minutes to complete each module and once a module is completed an employee is then able to print out
their certificate.
Heart Foundation nutritionist, Judith Morley-John, said last year, 70% of the 89 finalists achieved the Chip Group’s aim
of an average fat content of 9.2%.
“It’s encouraging to see that shops around the country are adopting the Industry Standards and serving healthier chips
to their customers.
“In the last two competitions operators’ standards have been really high. More shops are now offering salt sachets to
customers instead of automatically salting them, plus certificates gained by completing the Chip Online Training modules
are increasingly on display in stores,” Judith said.
As with previous years, a combination of public texting voting, mystery judging and chip fat analysis will determine the
15 regional finalists from each of the six regions across New Zealand, as well as six regional winners and a Grand
National winner.
Public text voting runs from 1 August to 30 September and mystery judging will be carried out in October with the
regional and Grand National winners announced early in November.
Also, chip shops that entered last year’s Competition are automatically entered to go in the running to be named this
year’s best chip shop and will be receiving their Competition packs during July.
Shops can check if they are registered, sign up for the Competition and complete the Chip Group Online Training modules
by visiting www.thechipgroup.co.nz.
The ‘That’s Life! Best Chip Shop Competition 2009’ is the country’s only national chip shop competition and this year is
supported by: That’s Life!, ‘Goodman Fielder’, ‘Bakels’, Food2Go Magazine, McCain Foods (NZ) Ltd, ‘Mr Chips’, ‘Potatoes
New Zealand’, ‘Alfa One’, ‘Eurotec’ and the ‘Heart Foundation’.
ENDS