Fish and chip shops

We fit fish and chip shops with a till that keeps pace with a Friday teatime queue. Orders ring through in a few taps, the fryer range can see what’s coming, and phone and online pre-orders land at the same counter with a collection time attached.

What a chip shop counter needs

A chip shop runs a short menu at speed, and most of the week’s trade lands in two or three hours. That means one counter, one queue and one person on the till, with someone at the range waiting to hear what’s next.

Cod and chips sounds simple until it’s a small, a regular or a large, with scraps, curry sauce and a pickled egg on the side. Each of those should be a tap, not a typed note. We build portion sizes, add-ons and sauces as modifiers on a menu laid out the way your team already calls it. Kids’ meals and pensioner specials are set up as their own items, or as time-based prices that switch on at the right hour, so nobody works out a discount on a calculator. That’s part of our menu programming, and we update it when your menu or prices move.

Keeping the fryer range in step

Whether you fry in batches ready to go or cook everything to order, the range needs to know what’s coming. A TouchKitchen screen beside it shows each order as it’s rung up, with a timer on every ticket, so whoever is frying can see what’s been waiting longest. Online orders are flagged, so they’re easy to tell from walk-ins. Where a section’s too wet or greasy for a screen alone, a bump bar can run it instead. The Oxhoo KP21 is the 21.5in display we’d look at first.

Phone and online orders

TouchTakeaway gives you your own ordering page and app, with pre-orders for a chosen collection time, so a quarter-past-six pick-up isn’t turning up at six and joining the queue. No commission is taken on orders placed through it, and they land on the same kitchen screen as your phone and counter orders. When the food’s ready, CollectionPoint shows the numbers and calls them out, so nobody has to shout over the fryers.

The counter itself

Cash and card both need to be quick. We fit TouchPoint at the centre: staff sign on by PIN, card or fingerprint, and it keeps trading if the internet drops. Card payments can run through Dojo, and the cash drawer opens from the till.

For the terminal, the Oxhoo ZENIO sits on a height-adjustable stand and switches between portrait and landscape, so it fits your counter. The Aures YUNO II is fanless, and its rear cover comes off without tools, so a fault means a short visit. If you’d rather run CES Software, CES Touch is the alternative we fit. It isn’t tied to one terminal brand, and its screen designer lets us lay your buttons out before opening day.

If you weigh any loose items, tell us and we’ll talk through how that would work at your counter.

Closing the night

At the end of service you want to know what you took and what went in the bin. TouchOffice Web puts sales from every till and app in one dashboard, so the night’s figures come from one report, and it records wastage and stock variance too. Add the Web+ upgrade and TouchStock lets you log wastage on a handheld as it happens. On CES Touch, End of Day can be run from any terminal without leaving the floor.

Support after we fit it

Installation and training happen before you open, so your team has used the till before the first real service. After that, support packages cover the day-to-day. We’re based in Runcorn and fit chip shops across the North West, from a one-counter shop to a bigger site. See the integrations directory for card payments, delivery platforms and accounts software, or our takeaways and QSR page if you serve more than fish and chips.

A Friday teatime at the counter

Half past five, and the queue’s out of the door. The first orders go through in a few taps, with sizes and sauces already on the screen. The range sees every ticket as it’s rung up, and the pre-orders arrive with their collection times, so you can see when each one is due. Numbers are called as the bags are ready. At close, the night’s report is waiting.