Frequently Asked Questions

My family have been selling Fish and Chips for over 47 years. Started two generations ago in 1962 by my grandfather Douglas Gorman, and handed down to my father and then on to me, our family business really knows how to run the perfect fish bar.

You too can benefit from our experience and skip all the mistakes we have made to get yourself right to the top of the tree straight away.

Here are just seven reasons. There are plenty more.

• The fish and chip take away industry is back at the top, with more money spent in take away outlets, and less on in-home eating every year.
• We simply have the best product in the industry. If you've tried it, you'll understand!
• We know the best way to prepare and cook fish and chips, and we will tell you how to do it – no rock hard batter and soggy chips at Dougie Gorman's!
• We know how to attract customers and keep them coming back time and time again – you will be the talk of your town and reap the rewards in profit.
• We have negotiated fantastic deals with key suppliers so you can benefit not only from great prices but excellent quality produce to ensure you serve the best.
• Starting a franchise with us allows you to tap into our experience and systems to get off the ground quickly, skip all the mistakes we made and go straight to the top.
• Our comprehensive training programme provides you with everything you need to know about running a Dougie Gorman's Fish Bar and sets you off on the road to success.

It's a busy environment and you need to be organised and systematic in your approach, but by simply following our systems that have been perfected over 47 years and working hard you can create a very successful business with six figure profits.

With great interpersonal skills and a passion for customer service and producing quality food your business will thrive and your staff will love working in the busy exciting atmosphere.

This is a hands on franchise that doesn't require you to open multiple shops to make great profits. By working as a team, maybe with your partner or a colleague, you can develop a business that delivers excellent incomes. As long as you are calm under pressure and strive to be the best and provide the best you will be successful.

There are over 11,000 fish and chip shops in the UK. Fortunately for us, many of them offer poor quality food, poor customer service and poor standards.

We are proud of our food, service and heritage and are confident that you will enjoy the same rewards as us from offering the same great food to your customers. There is always room for a great Fish Bar serving great food and customers will relish the choice you offer them. Don't be afraid of competition, competition is healthy and it also doesn't take many customers to make a very successful business. People don't tend to travel far for fish and chips so even a small community of 5,000 homes is enough to make a very profitable business.

A lot of your success will be down to your hard work, commitment and attention to detail and following our processes. With all of those in abundance your fish bar will go from strength to strength and by year 3 you could be earning around £75,000 a year!

With modest earnings in year one as you start your business, the sales and profits will grow rapidly as your business establishes itself as the best fish bar in town. Although costs will increase as the number of customers increase, you should be earning around £40,000 by year two and £75,000 by year three. By year five with continued growth, hard work and efficient cost control you could see your earnings top six figures!

Fish and chips can be part of any healthy balanced diet.

• In fact dieticians suggest that we should eat more fish, 2 portions a week at least!
• They also suggest that we should eat more fibre. Did you know that a portion of chips contains more than double the amount of fibre found in an average serving of brown rice or a bowl of porridge?
• Our fish and chips contain no added salt whereas other fast foods can contain up to 3 times the recommended daily amount in one meal.
• Fish and chips contain only one eighth of the ‘trans-fats' found in a doner kebab and just over a third of the trans-fats found in an American burger.

Definitely, although the great profit margins you will experience may mean you are satisfied with one!

The total investment required to start a Dougie Gorman's Fish Bar is around £120,000 + Vat. This obviously includes your franchise fee, shop fitting and initial stock for trading. But being a retail cash business you will start earning money as soon as you open the doors. No need to wait weeks for payments from customers, cash is king in any business and you could have lots of it with a Dougie Gorman's franchise.

We have access to various finance options to help you get started, from the traditional bank loan route to lease and finance options for the equipment only. Subject to status, this is a great way to get you open and trading quickly and still enjoy a healthy profit.

The franchise fee is just £13,995 + Vat. A great value package offering you everything you need to know to make a great success of your Fish Bar.

• Amazing training that will teach you everything about running a Dougie Gorman's Fish Bar
• On site training in your Fish Bar from Douglas Gorman himself
• Ongoing support on cooking tips
• Full site management system ensuring the most efficient and effective management methods are used
• Recipes and preparation methods for all the home made food
• Assistance via a third party with financing the shop fitting and frying equipment required (subject to status)
• Comprehensive Operations Manual
• Access to the best suppliers in the market ensuring you have great produce every day
• Centrally negotiated discounts to offer you the best prices delivering the best profits
• Menus and pricing to ensure you keep a healthy profit
• Excellent till system to track your sales
• Utility bills negotiated by cost saving expert to keep overheads to a minimum
• Initial Marketing Campaign
• Launch Day planning
• Proven Marketing methods
• A yearly marketing plan to consistently drive customers to your fish bar
• Staffing rotas and systems ready to use
• Uniforms for you and your staff
• Discounted printing for marketing material such as menus and flyers
• Food hygiene certification

The management service fee is an incredibly low 3% of turnover and there is no additional advertising levy. We want you to be successful, and to help you do that we want you to keep as much of your profit as possible whist still enabling us give you fantastic head office support.

Without doubt the very best place is in the heart of your local community. Small local parades of shops with good parking and plenty of homes around them provide the perfect locations for Dougie Gorman's Fish Bars. Don't be afraid of competition in a nearby area. Competition is healthy but also the quality of the fish and chips and your customer service will win people over time and time again.

We know how to get off to a flying start and draw in the customers. Once they have tried the products, the unique batter and quality of the fish and chips, they will return time and time again.

The perfect size is around 1,200 square feet. We can build fish bars as small as about 1,000 square feet. We don't recommend fish bars larger than 1,800 square feet as this increases your rent and other expenses.

We will consider every situation individually. However, it is not in our interest to have Fish Bars competing against each other for trade as nobody benefits, least of all you the franchisee. A minimum 5 mile radius from each Dougie Gorman's is our starting point and we take lots of other factors in to account as well in our final decision.

You sign your landlord's lease agreement.

This is a real hands-on franchise for at least the first 2 or 3 years. Your passion for the product and for delivering a great nutritious meal with excellent customer service means you will need to be in the shop growing the business. After a couple of years you will be able to employ managers to run the day-to-day activity and you can take a role overseeing the operation.

Not in the early days. A small team of people is all that is required to start building a substantial and sustainable long-term business. After a while you will need to take on more staff to cook and serve the food as the number of customers increases. Most will be taken on using part time shifts to gain the flexibility for the opening hours required.

We have a fantastic relationship with our suppliers who will be able to supply all our products anywhere in the country. Having worked with them for many years now and used them to develop our batter and oil, they know the importance of quality and service in our business. You will benefit from great margins, great service and great products just like we have done for many years.

Our experience lies with the traditions of one of the great British institutions - the fish bar serving great British fish and chips. We stick to what we know and do best. The demand for fish and chips is growing, and the quality of the product sells itself. We do offer a full and extensive range of other products to suit every taste but not kebabs or pizzas.

Absolutely. We have employed experts in the franchising field to ensure that our franchisees are successful. We want a network full of happy and wealthy franchisees all living the Dougie Gorman's ethos of quality and service.

You will be assisted in site selection, finance, training on running your own business as well as preparing and cooking the food. You will be shown all the best ways to run your fish bar and all the best ways to attract a steady stream of customers to your shop.

We are here to help; if you are successful we are all successful so it is in our interest to prepare you as well as possible for your new career.

You will attend a packed training programme designed to equip you in every aspect of running a Dougie Gorman's Fish Bar. Much of it based in the Fish Bar in Fenham, Newcastle, showing you all the methods of preparation, cooking and serving. You will learn in-depth site management systems and cleaning procedures along with a whole host of other site based procedures.

Business management procedures, invoice payment systems to help your cash flow, marketing and finance will be handled at our training centre in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

We want you to leave an expert, ready to make your fish bar the talk of your town. On site support in the early days will be provided by Douglas Gorman himself to ensure you get the best from your fish bar.