Hungry holidaymakers queue 90 minutes for fish takeaway

Merv Jackison and his staff at the Whangamata fish shop are working 14-hour days to keep up with demand. Photo / James Ihaka

It's been a busy week for Whangamata fish shop owner Merv Jackison whose staff are working 14-hour days to keep up with the demand for the traditional Kiwi favourite.

Over the past six days Mr Jackison's The Blue Fish shop has sold 670kg of chips and more than 250kg of tarakihi and gurnard as queues stretch out the door and along Port Rd.

Mr Jackison said despite some people waiting up to 90 minutes, most had no problems doing so.

"Other shops are saying the wait is two hours but when we get a throng we are looking at about an hour and a half," said Mr Jackison.

"The good thing is people accept it and know that this is just what it is like when you order fish and chips in Whangamata at this time of year."

The Herald visited a number of chippies in the town, to check on sales of the nation's favourite takeaway.

Mr Jackison, who is expecting similar crowds for the next couple of weeks, said New Year's Day is traditionally his busiest day of the year with at least 300 orders placed.

"I guess a few people have hangovers and perhaps people are sick of cooking and mum and dad are sick of doing the barbecue so they get fish and chips and go to the beach."

"It's still a traditional Kiwi favourite, over the last few years especially. People aren't going out as much as they were ... People are trying to feed the family on $20 or $30 rather than say $100 ... It's been pretty good for people like us."

At nearby restaurant Sandz, manager Julie Gee said things were possibly quieter than normal with New Year's day takings down on previous years.

Ms Gee, who also manages the Oceana restaurant in Whangamata, said the loutish element, which earned the town an unwanted hooligan reputation, an increased police presence and stricter liquor laws, had "pretty much gone".

"That possibly means less dollars for people in the hospitality and retail industries but it's not all bad," she said.

"People used to come here and throw bottles through the windows, pull out my plants and even urinate in shop corners, just really dumb stuff," she said. "But there's just been none of that this year so it's been bloody great, we used to have droves and droves of people but now there just aren't the crowds."

Whangamata Enterprise secretary Shelly Maddern believed businesses around town were still "reasonably happy" with the way things had gone.

She said the recession was still biting at the beginning of summer particularly for local builders but the retail and hospitality industries had "hung in there".

"We have had a lot more cars come through here than last year, the traffic is just going up and down non-stop so people might be down a little bit but the cars aren't."

Ms Maddern said retailers were holding on for the second wave of holiday makers who normally come to the town after New Year.