Competition History

The Drywite/NFFF Young Fish Frier Competition started in 1995 and every winner has become nationally known through the publicity the competition creates.  The National Federation of Fish Friers and The Seafish Industry are also involved in judging the Competition.  All finalists are invited to the prestigious Fish & Chip Shop of the Year Competition Awards in London where the National Title is presented to the Winner.

The competition was initiated by the Directors of Drywite Limited, Kelvin Lee and Briar Wilkinson, in memory of their late father Malcolm Lee, who had always encouraged young people to succeed.  Malcolm’s belief was that if young people could be encouraged to make fish frying their career, and if all children could be encouraged to eat and enjoy fish and chips, the future would be safe. 

Since its conception the Competition has highlighted the vast number of highly trained young professionals working in our Industry and all finalists have benefited from great publicity even if they did not ultimately win.  It is not only the young fish friers that benefit from entering the Competition – the Winning Shop can easily receive thousands of pounds worth of free publicity.

All previous winners of the Young Fish Frier Competition so far have not only thoroughly enjoyed taking part, but have also increased their personal confidence and ability to promote themselves and their business locally and nationally.

All finalists have benefited from both national and local press and television and radio coverage, and of course national recognition within the fish frying industry.  Previous winners Michael Fotheringham and Nigel Hodgson went on to win the SFIA Fish & Chip Shop of the Year Competition and Stuart Fusco who won in 2004, went on to achieve Les Routiers Café of the Year Award in 2005.  All winners have gone on to achieve greater success in business. Previous winner Lyndsay Petrie-Richardson was presented to Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace.