European Saucy Fries Craze To Storm the UK Chip Market
Over 2,000 outlets in Belgium, Holland, Germany, Spain, Italy & France are selling only twice fried hand cut chips with 20 flavours of Manna sauces. The busiest units sell 1,000 portions on a Saturday night and need bouncers on the doors. Check out the YouTube vid below:
[youtube width=”600″ height=”400″ video_id=”J6oDAExGL5E”]
Now the quirky cow udder look sauces are set to hit UK chip shops and takeaways as new sole UK distributor “Saucy Fries” start marketing the sauces in the UK. So there is an opportunity for takeaway operators to get in first.
Geoff Dixon from www.saucyfries.co.uk has been testing the sauces in the North East of England with his specially designed street food fries trailer since September last year. His quirky trailer with twin deep fat fryers has a scaffold frame so the expanding roof can drop for towing and fit in a standard garage. It has a hidden double sink and storage areas and has arms that fold out to hold 12 bottles of the sauces and 12 different salts.
The quirky hand cutter and fries shaker add to the theatre but help make the fries tasty too. [quote]“I have lots of regular customers and that just keeps on growing”[/quote] said Geoff [quote]“And with the range of sauces and salt flavours there is something for everyone.”[/quote]
[quote]“Only 20% buy our standard traditional fries, but love them as fresh twice fried chips are so much better. Although there are great margins on chips already, you can charge a premium for twice fried and make profits on the sauces & salts too.”[/quote]
[quote]“The unusual sauce bottles get a lot of attention too, but are so easy to use and are the only sauces OK for ambient use”.[/quote]
TWICE FRY FOR EXTRA MARGIN & SALES
- Twice-frying makes fries taste much better. In our street food fries trials, we have lots of regular customers, some even coming back for more the same day.
- You can offer twice-fried fresh fries as an alternative and charge extra.
- Your reputation for fantastic chips will spread, bring positive TripAdvisor reviews & more traffic.
After the first fry, the chips are left to cool down. This lets the excess liquid dry. When they are fried for a second time at a higher temperature, that initial fried exterior turns into a sheath, preventing oil from seeping into them.
This gives the fries a crispy, crunchy outer shell & soft, steamy fluffy interior, keeping the real potato taste.
- It is not difficult. Buy ready washed potatoes. Do not peel, just cut on a hand cutter.
- Fry the chips till golden, put into trays, then later refry them for 45-55 seconds for each customer.
Street food Fries Sales Test
So far, we have been testing twice fried fresh fries, with an option of Manna Sauces or our seasoning’s for four months. We trade from our mobile unit in Darlington Market on Saturdays and Newcastle Quayside Market on Sundays.
To date just 20% of customers prefer the fries traditional with just standard salt & vinegar and no sauce. Many of these portions are for children. 39% love the Manna sauces on their fries, while 41% like the various flavour seasonings on their chips.
The numbers are actually larger than this on sauces and seasonings as a large proportion wanted both e.g. Nacho Cheese seasoning with Cheese sauce.
Geoff is doing the street food trial to test the UK fries sauce market which he is certain will follow the same success as seen in Europe. [quote]“Crisps started out with only Salt & Vinegar and look at them now. Manna sold 25.8 million euros of sauces last year doubling their sales on the previous year.”[/quote]
[quote]“Customers love to mix and match the sauces and salts too, giving over a hundred choices of tasty fries in a tiny sales area. The sauces go well on hot dogs and burgers too”.[/quote]
Saucy Fries will be franchising the format as well as selling the sauces and salts to existing chip traders. Anyone interested are welcome to get in touch via the website.
