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Customer service was important to Salt as well. He said he "must be frank in stating that there might be a wait for an order simply because we fry on request to assure the product is piping hot which is the only way to enjoy fish and chips". He knew he had to offer the highest quality product and experience in order to convert the public.
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Salt understood he was dealing with potential American customers who had little experience with fish and chips. Insistence on providing customers both quality food and experience
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Service personnel behind the glass windowed store fryer counters wore uniforms that reminded customers of traditional British street vendors - red or white aprons, white caps and vintage white maid's caps. We even accept British and American currency, but we refuse to clutter them up. They (the shops) are 'English' to the point where it will not conflict with the food service Americans have come to expect. Salt wanted his stores to remind American customers of England, but made concessions in their design. Salt said the ranges were "the heart of the operation". The Nuttall ranges used by Salt were 18 feet long and had glass fronts so patrons could watch their orders being cooked. We import our stoves from Henry Nuttall in Britain, a master at the art of making frying ranges. We insist on special stoves to get the heat up proper and even enough to turn out decent fish and chips. I believe you must have the proper cooking equipment. Salt often referred to the brand during news interviews, saying: Salt specified Nuttall equipment for his franchised fish and chip stores. Salt was the sole US and Canadian sales agent for Henry Nuttall fish and chip frying ranges and related equipment. Therefore, I insisted my name be on the sign. It is not a matter of ego but of responsibility to your customers. A man who takes pride in the product he is offering the public and who personally stands behind it. In England, as you may know, a good shop carries the name of the merchant. When Salt decided to start franchising his fish and chips stores, marketing advisers suggested he use "a real English name such as 'British' or 'London', or 'Picadilly' or 'Old English'" to name his brand. Authentic English Fish and Chips Shoppe". īy 1967, Salt owned two more fish and chip stores, one in Sunnyvale and one in Santa Cruz. By 1966, the Sausalito store was selling fish and chips in a checked paper basket and encouraging customers to "eat fish as you walk along. It was reported the Salts planned "to establish a number of franchised shops in various locations throughout the Bay Area and perhaps even more extensively". Salt's wife Grace managed their first fish and chip shop in Sausalito while Salt opened another store in Berkeley. Salt opened "Salt's English Fish & Chips Shop" in Sausalito, California in 1965. "I decided to bring the business here because all the tourists told me if they had fish and chips in America like I cooked them, I'd have a great business". Haddon Salt, born October 18, 1928, in Stanfree, Derbyshire, England, emigrated with his wife and three children to California in 1964 with $10,000.
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