Keely Richardson is not one for change. She has been using the same beef dripping, batter and potato supplier ever since she can remember, while her fish merchant has been supplying Frying Nemo from the day she and her dad opened the business 17 years ago in the village of Carlton, Yorkshire.
With the takeaway getting busier and busier, the 30-year-old, three pan frying range struggled to keep up, particularly on Friday tea times and Saturday lunch times, and required more attention every day. Keely decided to upgrade to a high efficiency Kiremko counter range with four pans – two for fish and two for blanching and finishing chips – as well as built-in filtration.
“I’ve been in this industry a long time now and I know what’s right and what’s wrong,” says Keely. “And as much as I didn’t want to pay out for a new range, I knew it was something I needed to do for the business to move forward.”
With her new range installed, keeping up with demand is no longer an issue, with Keely admitting now the only challenge is her best wrapper keeping up with the range. Her trepidation over investing has also eased with the high efficiency pans and built-in filtration bringing immediate cost savings to the business.
“The last three gas bills have been £180 a month whereas it used to be £550 a month,” says Keely, “and because of the built-in filtration, the amount of beef dripping we use has gone from 15 boxes a week to just five and we aren’t throwing anything away.
“To make savings like that is fantastic, especially in this current climate. We’re all worried so these savings are helping towards the rising cost of energy, staff wages, fish, etc.”
Keely has also overcome her concern about switching to basket frying, having open fried for 17 years.
“It was a big change for me, but a change that I have embraced and now I like it,” she says. “It produces a better quality chip because they are fresher, and because the temperature drop is so minimal the food is absorbing less fat. I’ve had customers comment saying the chips are crispier and fresher, which they will be because we’re not loading up the chip box and letting them sit there until somebody comes in. We’re dropping them as we need them.”
One of the most satisfying moments for Keely came when she had the opportunity to show off her new range to her dad, who retired and passed the business over to her eight years ago.
Keely explains: “He sat on my chair next to the range and said ‘right, show me some temperatures’. I chucked in three baskets of chips to blanch and he said ‘I can’t see the temperature drop’. I said, ‘no, you won’t’. Then I loaded 15 fish in a pan and he said, ‘it’s only dropped by three degrees’. I said, ‘I know, it just doesn’t, it holds its own’.”
With the range producing a better product, proving easier to train staff on and having modernised the shop, Keely is pleased she chose a Kiremko. She adds: “I’d like to thank KFE because they have changed everything I do. And I’m grateful for that. I wasn’t always the easiest of customers and there were times when I said, forget it, I can’t do this, but KFE were very patient with me.”
