Posted:13-February-2023
There's Something About Potatoes
We like to make a meal out of chips! Awesome Chips was set up in 2015 to put the humble potato on a pedestal, and we have created some awesome meal choices all from our chips which are double fresh fried and topped with a choice of sauces, rubs and spices.
For example, our Chip Burritos make a superb wrap filled with chips, cheese and a choice of sauces. Burritos are a hearty item that continue to sell really well. Our Pizza Fries are incredibly popular too. Pizza Fries are chips with any topping and baked with mozzarella cheese. They look like a pizza but when the fork goes in, there is potato inside. Our Twisters are potato spiral chips on a stick which are popular with kids or those that prefer a smaller portion.
Added to this we have around 35 sauces, rubs and spices plus cheese toppings so there is a choice for everyone, and the result is so delicious, we can present chips as a main meal. Our top selling sauce is Chipotle which is a Southwest Sauce we make in house. Garlic Chili is popular too and Onion rub and Cajun spice always go down well!
Have I got your taste buds tingling? If so, then read on!
The meals we create all come down to the quality of the potatoes. To source the perfect spud, we initially tried British potatoes as we were keen to support farmers in the UK, but it wasn’t to be. We tried the UK Maris Piper and all the other seeded potatoes available, but none really matched our needs. The Maris Piper is a white skinned potato, brilliant for traditional English ‘fish and chips’ but we were looking for something that would retain its crispness when double fried, and mixed with our special sauces, spices and rubs.
Our search eventually took us to Belgium and Holland, and we selected a particular yellow-skinned potato which is much more dense and creamy. If we cooked a Maris Piper in the way that we do, it would burn, but the variety we chose goes crispy on the outside while retaining the perfect soft inner. The taste is also incredible. It’s hard to explain, but there is more flavour which lasts longer when you eat it.
Each Awesome Chips franchised store now gets through around three tonnes of potatoes per week! We have a special machine for washing and peeling and a hand cutter which is either for thin and crispy fries, or chips which are chunkier.
Our staff might think they know how to fry when they first join us, but it’s both a science and an art! They soon become passionate about how we fry and the quality of the end product.
Even the weather can dictate the quality. For example a cold snap might result in more sugar in the potato, and this then requires an altered frying time. There are copy-cat chip shops out there, who think they can just sell chips. However, there is so much attention to detail needed to create the perfect meal for our customers. Our team and supervisors regularly test the product and keep me updated, so we know the moment we need to make an adjustment to our process.
At first, we didn’t know if crispy fries would take off over here, but we’ve been overwhelmed with how popular they are. Sales continue to grow as the word spreads, and like-for-like sales were up 20% in January 2023 across all of our shops, compared to last year.
Over the past few years, we’ve thoroughly tried, tested and proven the simplicity of the Awesome Chips concept. Now backed by our experienced operations and franchise team, new franchisees have the chance to join our mission to bring the best Belgian chips to new customers in locations across the UK and beyond.
Our goal in the UK is to grow to 50 successful franchised stores and we already have five set to open this year. I believe the Europeans will also love our product, it would be great to see Awesome Chips in Munich! Master franchisees in Germany, Italy and Switzerland could make a lot of money too!
Interested and want to know more about Awesome Chips?
The Awesome Chips profile outlines all aspects of their franchise opportunity and allows you to contact them for further information or to ask a question.
