lil dave's lil life

[Doobs]

Doesn't cod "flake" a bit differently to haddock?  

[edgascoigne]

<3 lil Dave.

Shout when you're in London and I'll take you for a beer.

[SuuPRlim]

Doesn't cod "flake" a bit differently to haddock?  

it does, but in batter honestly you won't notice the difference.

<3 lil Dave.

Shout when you're in London and I'll take you for a beer.

At london prices?! you're on!!!

There's a smart new fish and chip restaurant/take-away recently opened around the corner from me call The Cod and Scollops.

I checked it out the other day as everyone was raving about it, very nice indeed with chips fried in dripping and fresh fish with light tempura-style batter.

There's another of the same name on the other side of Nottingham which is well-established, not sure if that's it or the chain is bigger.

It's not as classy or as big as yours which I'm definitely going to visit next time I'm in Leeds(for kosher cod:)) but certainly a welcome upgrade to the local chippie up the road.

Looks nice, although the website seemed to crash when i was looking!! The balance of putting restaurant food onto a chip shop is a really tough one, lots of people have failed. I think the key is to remember what you are, and thats a cool, casual place that does a few nicer dishes, dont try to be michelin star as you just look silly. "Smart-Casual" dining i call it

I hadn't realised that you were involved with this place, Dave.  My wife is coeliac and she wants to go there at some point for the gluten-free option (we've used the Fisherman's Wife before, but they only served GF on a Tuesday).

Will have to make the effort sooner rather than later, having caught up on the thread.  Looks like a good option for an evening out.

Good luck with it.  Hope it's a huge success for you.

Hi mate - yep we do GF every weds, but unlike te other FW im doing it properly. It's different here to the fisherman's wife, not because i think they are bad in any way (far from it) but i think they are different and the association doesn't benefit me

Would be great to see you!

Enjoying the questions.

[MANTIS01]

Restaurant looks nice bro. Stands to reason the business will require all your time and attention, a consequence of employing young guns. You need an experienced Pirlo type who can deliver your vision effectively day-to-day without micro-management. Don't forget you gotta factor your $$ hourly coaching into the overall staffing costs and your $$ hourly is huge isn't it?

[BulldozerD]

Nice looking place Dave.
In my fortieth year I have just started eating fish for the first time so might give it a try.
Do you do the kids menus in the restaurant? I notice you have a kids special for takeaway but not on the main menu.

[buzzharvey22]

Looks class that Dave. I really want fish and chips now.

What beers you serving? Any craft beer? I've always thought a nice citrussy pale ale goes lovely with fish.

[SuuPRlim]

Looks class that Dave. I really want fish and chips now.

What beers you serving? Any craft beer? I've always thought a nice citrussy pale ale goes lovely with fish.

Ha thanks mate.

Yep funny you should say!  There is a brewery in Scarborough iv worked with a while that some people will defo have heard of called Wold Top, we have three nice craft ales from them one of which is a pale ale called anglers reward and is brewed specially for fish and chips, obviously we sell tons of it. Personally not for me at all but this type of beer is so popular now so what do I know.

Peroni (bottle) sol (bottle) San Miguel (draught) and tetleys (draught)  our others, strongly considering putting another draught lager on too but can't decide what, thinking Estrella might be good. Kinda wanna replace tetleys cos it's so old hat but we're in Yorkshire and people like it and you can't go against the people!

Wet sales has been one of the biggest areas of Improvement since the takeover.  The total wet sales last year was £2,700 and this last 3 months is been about £1,300 a week (not including tea!)

[SuuPRlim]

Nice looking place Dave.
In my fortieth year I have just started eating fish for the first time so might give it a try.
Do you do the kids menus in the restaurant? I notice you have a kids special for takeaway but not on the main menu.

Sup defo come down be great :-) I'm glad you've seen the light even if it taken a long time.

Yeah we do v good kids options, meal drink dessert and our monthly colouring comp £6.50. A lot of parents say the only meal that ever finish is fish and chips, Yorkshire kids :-)

[SuuPRlim]

Restaurant looks nice bro. Stands to reason the business will require all your time and attention, a consequence of employing young guns. You need an experienced Pirlo type who can deliver your vision effectively day-to-day without micro-management. Don't forget you gotta factor your $$ hourly coaching into the overall staffing costs and your $$ hourly is huge isn't it?

Yep huuuuuge :-p

Thanks mate, yeah it's that fine balance ofv exactly what you divide your time between, you have to accept that you can't do everything so some things you have to delegate, some things you have to outsource etc you gotta be where your most effective.

The only place I really wanna be is on the floor looking after customers hoping to get to a point where pretty much everything else is taken care of and all I have to do is look over it,and can spend 30 hours a week talking to customers. Im a long way off but it's certainly not impossible.

[SuuPRlim]

Really enjoy reading about the day to day running of the restaurant.

How important are websites like Tripadvisor to your restaurant, can good or bad tripadvisor reviews make or break a business like yours, or is it just a side thing that can bring in a few web savvy customers sometimes but doesn't matter too much either way?

These websites are absolutely crucial, make or break is perhaps a little dramatic but they have a huge influence - firstly in your search engine results tripadvisor, google and fb ratings are very powerful, you have to go a LONG way on your SEO to keep those 3 from being visible straight away when you google if you have a bad rating its impossible to hide it even if people dont use tripadvisor specifically, also if you have a lot of traffic going to tripadvisor then it helps your google profile immensely. IT's pretty well acknoledged that tripadvisor has a huge amount of influence in diners selecting where to eat, it's impossible to hide from google/tripadvisor so not doing it is not an option, doing it badly can be very detrimental to your business and doing it well can be fantastic.

This is how things are in advertising nowadays, the old methods are still effective at certains times or places but online and social media is where it is now, it's not a case of you can do it well and be an innovater, its a case of if you don't do it right you get left a million miles behind most other places - accepting it is really your only option.

Most frustrting thing about it really is the distinct lack of control you have compared to old fashioned techniques, but then try find an old fashioned marketing technique where you can reach 4000 people who are interested in eating out aged 18-65 in a couple of days!

[Sheriff Fatman]

Kinda wanna replace tetleys cos it's so old hat but we're in Yorkshire and people like it and you can't go against the people!

Replace it with another Yorkshire pint and I'm sure you'll be fine.

Taylors Landlord just happens to be the greatest pint around, and fits the bill nicely!

[Simon Galloway]

What's your betting site's USP?

We intend to take bets.

[SuuPRlim]

What's your betting site's USP?

We intend to take bets.

yeah we're going to be pretty aggro on risk management, but most important its going to be straight up. If your business not welcome you get straight told none of this pathetic you can bet £20, no you can bet £11, no you can bet £7, no you can bet £4. This is from companies worth like a billion pounds too, honestly its fucking pathetic.

[Tal]

What's your betting site's USP?

We intend to take bets.

yeah we're going to be pretty aggro on risk management, but most important its going to be straight up. If your business not welcome you get straight told none of this pathetic you can bet £20, no you can bet £11, no you can bet £7, no you can bet £4. This is from companies worth like a billion pounds too, honestly its fucking pathetic.

Click to see full-size image.

So where are you putting the FOBTs?

[bobAlike]

Hi Dave, I've got to admit it all looks and sounds really good. Having quickly glanced at this diary, yesterday before a meal out at some pub in Derbyshire, the only thing I fancied was the haddock and chips. It was great although strangely enough it was very non-greasy. Now I get that cooked correctly both the fish and the chips do not  necessarily get overly greasy but these were too dry. Do you have any secrets when it comes to the cooking you'd like to share?

BTW I like the website but the gallery section doesn't seem to run very smoothly and the pictures seem to be repeated quite a bit. Not a criticism just something that would annoy me if it were mine.