HIT Launches New Fish Friers Apprenticeship

Fish and chips are the undisputed national dish of Great Britain – the UK spends a staggering £1.2 billion on the popular takeaway every year, and 22% of Brits visit a fish and chip shop every week.1

Ensuring team members have the skills required to deliver one of the nation’s favourite dishes to a high standard plays vital role in running a successful fish and chip business; and one of the most effective ways to do this is through training.

To support fish and chip businesses in upskilling their team, HIT Training has introduced a new level 2 production chef apprenticeship to train the next generation of fish friers. This apprenticeship has been launched in association with Public Body Seafish, which aims to improve efficiency and raise standards across the seafood industry.

Accuracy, attention to detail and organisational skills are crucial when producing fish and chip dishes, all balanced alongside the need to be mindful of sustainability, budgets and hygiene. The new Fish Friers apprenticeship has been created with this in mind and covers knowledge and skills in six key areas:

• Kitchen operations
• Nutrition
• Legal and governance
• People skills
• Business and commercial skills
• Personal development and performance

HIT is working in collaboration with fish and chip establishments to create tailored and bespoke training programmes that will meet both learner and business needs.

Exmouth based Krispies Fish and Chips was crowned the UK’s No.1 Fish and Chip shop in 2019 and is the first to launch the new apprenticeship with the help of HIT.

Proprietor, Kelly Barnes, said: “We have been working collaboratively with HIT to create a training scheme that works for us and we are excited that we are one of the first in the country to hold a production chef apprenticeship of this type. Investing in training is extremely important in order to maintain high standards and we see this apprenticeship as an opportunity for people within our business to progress within the fish and chip industry. We are really looking forward to helping our apprentice grow within the role.”

Apprentices will be assigned a designated HIT Vocational Trainer who will visit them and their line manager at their workplace throughout the apprenticeship. The expert training consultants will also be on hand to coach, mentor and discuss progress with the apprentice.

Apprentices can also participate in additional brand standard workshops, which give them further skills to supplement their learning. The workshops involve a variety of preparation, cooking and finishing methods of fish and chip dishes across restaurant settings – including fish and potato types, the theory and science across ingredients and commodities, flavour profiling, dish composition, seasonality and regional influencers.

The duration of the Fish Friers Apprenticeship is a minimum of 12 months and awards learners with a level 2 production chef apprenticeship.

To find out more about the Fish Frier apprenticeship click here.

1 National Federation of Fish Friers, 2019