Bayside fish and chippery tackles increasing costs

The current owner of Half Moon Bay’s iconic fish and chip stall has made a number of key changes to sustain the business. 

cerberusvideo 0002 from Toli Papadopoulos on Vimeo.

Running a fish and chippery is becoming increasingly expensive to run, says Jamie Helliwell, the owner of Cerberus Beach House.

Located within the beach at Half Moon Bay, the Cerberus Kiosk has been a popular outlet for over 40 years.

Jamie has been running the kiosk and restaurant for the past four years. He believes that over the last few years costs of running a fish and chip shop have increased dramatically.

“You pay a lot more nowadays for utilities such as water and fish products in particular. You have to be very careful about what you buy in – it’s all about supply and demand,” he says.

“Flathead tails have gone up to $30 a kilo so we don’t put them on our menu. People won’t pay for it. If you do see them sold at other fish and chip outlets, it’s usually a product imported from Vietnam or Argentina or wherever they can find it”.

As a result of this increase in price, Jamie now obtains his products from both the fish markets and the farms.

“Downstairs in the kiosk we tend to source our fish from the farms because it’s a more consistent product than fish that has been wildly caught. Upstairs however, prices are higher as we only provide products available that morning in the market”, he says.

In order to sustain the business during the winter months, Jamie decided to open the restaurant upstairs.

“The cost of rent is too expensive and business downstairs is a lot slower during winter. The restaurant and the kiosk therefore have to work side by side otherwise we can’t stay open,” he says.

Still, despite the costs of running the Cerberus Beach House, Jamie remains passionate about his business and is hopeful for the future.

“We have the lease for another sixteen years. It makes a huge difference for customers to come back and receive the same quality product from one week to the next. Hopefully we can continue to provide products at reasonable prices that everybody can afford”.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.