All change at the Sea Queen

KFE Get the update from Kyriakos Haelis following the recent refit...

Kyriakos Haelis joined his father in the fish frying business 11 years ago. Haelis Snr - Gregory - has chalked up 25 years service and is eying retirement at the end of the summer.

At one stage, the two co-owners ran four shops but, as Kyriakos explains: “We got rid of the others as it was hard to control that many.”

Today, they run a single shop in Mansfield which they took over three years ago. And ownership of the Sea Queen Fish Bar will pass solely to Kyriakos when Gregory finally hangs up his apron later this year “after I‘ve settled down and got married” [in July] says the son.

The operation is a traditional chippy - fish, chips, pies etc - but also sells kebabs. It faces tough competition with another five shops within half a mile or so but Kyriakos believes it is thriving because of its product. “We’re the busiest in the area,” he says, “because we offer best quality at the right price. But we’ve always got to be on top of our game.” Customers are mainly locals from within a two to three mile catchment area “but people come from quite far out and we get passing traffic because we are on a fairly busy road.

“The shop has been publicised in the local press a few times in the past three years but the best publicity you can get is word of mouth. Customers comment on the quality all the time. We’ve even had phone calls from people who’ve said that it was their first visit and how much they enjoyed it. And we know that our customers are happy because they keep coming back.” Building up the business has required hard work and finance - to the tune of £110,000. When the Haelises bought the shop three years ago, they knew it had potential. “It wasn’t doing what it should have been doing,” says Kyriakos. “It needed a little bit of TLC.”

It also required a lot more: a full refit. First thing to be done was re-Tarmacing the car park. Then the shop was revamped inside and out: new tiles, new range, new kitchen sink, new walk-in freezers and fridges. The new range is a Kiremko four-pan. “We weren’t happy with the old machine. There were lots of little faults - like the black boxes kept going. So I worked at a friend’s shop to have a look at his Kiremko. It had very efficient cleaning - the oil changing system. With the old one, I’d look at the rubbish that came out of the filter and think: ‘I’m selling my customers that?’”

The new range came with a carbon filtration system. “We paid extra for that. We’ve got the normal system which takes the black bits out but carbon one changes the colour of the oil and keeps the pans bright.”

The Sea Queen uses two pans for fish and two for chips. “We use three pans Monday to Wednesday and four on Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Though the fourth one is only used for an hour or two max - when it’s busy.”

The changes to the shop have worked: “We’ve increased 300% since we took over turnover-wise.”

And the new range has certainly helped. “The customers are very happy. We’ve increased takings since we put it in tin last week of August.”

Looking back, there is one thing Kyriakos thinks could have been done differently.

“We should have changed the name. It’s not brilliant and the shop had a bad reputation. We should’ve changed it when we took over but we didn’t. And when we thought about it two and half years later it was too late. We’d already spent two and a half years building up on the name.”

As to the future, the short term aim is to keep the profits rolling in to “pay off the bank loan” with another refit possibly in five or six years time. So no major changes in the pipeline. Unless you include father’s retirement and a summer wedding!

Fish & Chips and Fast Food - February 2010.