It's the plaice to be - award joy for chippy

Staff at Athena's had plenty to smile about after it was crowned one of the top 50 fish and chip takeaways in the UK.
By The Newsroom
Published 10th Jun 2016, 19:41 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 20:28 BST
Owner of Athena's Fish and Chip Shop, Nick Damurakis, holding the award with Bexhill mayor Simon Elford, manager Tom Finlay, delivery driver Tim, and servers Hannah and Jada SUS-160906-122622001Owner of Athena's Fish and Chip Shop, Nick Damurakis, holding the award with Bexhill mayor Simon Elford, manager Tom Finlay, delivery driver Tim, and servers Hannah and Jada SUS-160906-122622001
Owner of Athena's Fish and Chip Shop, Nick Damurakis, holding the award with Bexhill mayor Simon Elford, manager Tom Finlay, delivery driver Tim, and servers Hannah and Jada SUS-160906-122622001

Athena’s, in Western Road, made the list after an independent company sent mystery diners round to assess a range of front-of-house aspects from staff friendliness, cleanliness to how knowledgeable staff are about the products on offer.

Points were also awarded for the quality of the food with everything being critiqued from the crispness of the batter, to the size and fluffiness of the inside of chips, to the flakiness and texture of the fish.

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With takeaways picking up additional points for clean and tidy uniforms, the availability of a specials board, and food being cooked to order, the benchmark was set high with every shop on the list scoring at least 96 percent in their mystery dine.

The owner of Athena’s, Nick Damurakis, said: “We got 100 percent score on the mystery shop for our food and scored overall an amazing 98 percent, which were very pleased with.”

Reece Head from Fry Magazine, which organised the competition, said: “We know it’s a tough set of criteria our judges lay down and so it takes a lot of hard work, dedication and passion to ensure staff perform day-in-day-out in order to impress our judges when they come in unannounced. There are a lot of different facets to running a fish and chip takeaway and those shops that have made the list go over and above the everyday requirements to deliver exceptional food matched with an equal level of service and atmosphere.

“It could be just a tiny detail that separates those shops that did make the list from those that didn’t.”

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