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A Mangawhai resident is outraged at a local takeaway charging $4.50 for 34 chips.
The owner, who took over three months ago, says he kept the previous owner’s pricing.
Residents on Facebook shared mixed reactions, citing rising costs and comparing prices from other shops.
A resident at a holiday hotspot is outraged at a local fish and chip store’s prices ahead of the summer rush.
The Mangawhai local, who didn’t wish to be named, said a $4.50 scoop of chips from Stingray Matt’s Takeaway got her a total of 34 chips – averaging out to be just over 13c per chip.
“I thought it was shocking,” she said.
“I was at the beach with my 70-year-old mum [and] she was a bit crushed at the size when we opened it.
“I’ve worked in hospitality for about 18 years in fast food and running restaurants and for me that was just shocking for the beachside fish and chip shop to be charging that much, for so little, and it’s not even summer yet.”
But the owner of Stingray Matt’s Takeaway, who took over the business three months ago, said he hasn’t changed anything from what the previous owner of 13 years was doing.
“We didn’t even change a single thing... I’m not sure how long the old owner was doing it but when we bought the business we just kept following their menu.”
The owner said chip orders were measured by grams, with one scoop equalling 400g.
A Mangawhai local says a $4.50 scoop of chips got her a total of 34 chips – an amount she believed was "shocking".
Asked if the business weighed every order of chips, the owner said yes.
“If you see those chips, some of them are bigger.”
The owner said no customers had directly complained to him about order sizes and that fish and chip stores elsewhere serve the same size.
The resident posted her chippie frustration on the community’s Facebook grapevine, with residents weighing in on the salty situation.
“That’s like half a potato’s worth,” one said.
“Was the fish cooked? It might have eaten all the chips,” another joked.
Others jumped to the defence of the local store, with one saying: “Most places are like this. $4.50 generally is one scoop and the minimum [amount] of chips you can get.”
“While it sucks, you don’t get as much [because] the cost of oil went up so much in the last year. On top of that you have the product itself, power, rent, wages, delivery fees. If you don’t want to help contribute to that make your own chips at home is all I can suggest,” another wrote.
In comparison to the $4.50 chips at Mangawhai Heads, the Herald has found a range of prices for a scoop. In Auckland, Westmere Fish and Chips charges $4.20 per scoop, Māngere Bridge Fisheries $3 and Glendene Takeaways $2.50.
At holiday hotspots prices are much the same, with Matapouri Store and Pāuanui Takeaways charging $4 per scoop. The Mangōnui Fish and Chip Shop, however, charges $6 per scoop. It is not disclosed the amount of chips you get at each takeaway shop.
