North Yorkshire business to give China a taste for fish and chips

A North Yorkshire chippy is making plans to open a fish and chip shop in a major city in southern China.

Owner of Scotts Fish & Chips Tony Webster has agreed a deal in principle with a consortium of Chinese businessmen to open in partnership a shop in Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan.

The partnership follows the Bilbrough firm seeing an increase in Chinese customers after implementing a marketing strategy targeting tourists visiting the region through China-based microblogging site Weibo.

In a bid to attract tourists to the chippy, Tony teamed up with Chinese national Will Zhuang, who manages Chinese social media for Visit York and Leeds City Region, to help promote his venue to Chinese tour groups planning visits to the UK.

Tony explained: “In 2017 we had very few Chinese customers, but thanks to a focused marketing strategy a trickle turned into a flood.

“The subsequent publicity we received was simply phenomenal and resulted in Scotts becoming a household name both here and abroad.

“On the back of this I was approached by a consortium of Chinese businessmen keen to recreate Scotts in the southern Chinese city of Chengdu.”

In a city with a population of over 7.5 million people, the new shop will serve traditional fish and chips to locals and Westerners alike.

Tony continued: “This is an incredibly exciting prospect – one that I could never have imagined 12 months ago.

“Later this year, if all goes to plan, Chinese tourists could be tucking into fish and chips at Scotts in North Yorkshire, while at the same time western tourists could be enjoying traditional fish and chips in southern China!”