NFFF Your Say

Welcome to the new section on the NFFF website that allows you to 'Have Your Say' about the hot topics in Fish and Chips Today. We want your input to help us target our efforts and tackle the issues that affect you! Just Email: yoursay@federationoffishfriers.co.uk

Fill in the form below an give us your views on the things that affect you and your business!

I would love to hear from other Fish and Chip Shop owners who do a delivery service on the pro's and cons, ie: which is the best packaging to use for deliveries, keeping food warm and of a good standard, delivery charges, providing a free delivery service? etc etc

Ever since I entered the trade in 1969, I have been an active member of the Peterborough branch of the NFFF until its demise a couple of years ago. The Midlands and East Anglia region (Area Six) of the NFFF looked as though it may suffer the same fate when there were no volunteers for the position of Chairman. Rather than allow this to happen, I somewhat reluctantly, decided to step up to the plate.

After a discussion with Alan Doggett, the Area Six Secretary, we decided that our mission statement would be to significantly improve the attendances at our Area Six meetings and to try to engender a feeling of community between members. A fairly unadventurous aim you will probably agree. But how to achieve it?

We both agreed that the key to the problem may be communication with our members. Until recently the only time Area Six communicated with its members was by post, informing them of a forthcoming meeting. The only way to remedy this was by email and surely head office would have an email address for everyone. WRONG!

After hitting the internet we managed to get a telephone number for everyone and followed that up with a phone call. As well as getting an email address for everyone, the phone call gave the opportunity to introduce myself and have a chat to all my members, to try to open a dialogue and relationship between the area management and the grassroots members. These chats identified some problems that affected individual members and I am now able to send out an SOS to everyone so that they can contact their fellow member to offer help. My hope is that this will lead to a good relationship between members and that they will feel that they are part of a community that is there to help them.

I am now able to email my members easily, cheaply and frequently on a myriad of subjects and I hope that these initiatives will allow us, eventually, to achieve our mission statement.

Just read your magazine, have recently taken on another shop,and will struggle to make it pay if we have to pay vat,it would in my opinion help all of us if vat was payable only on the amount of takings,over the threshold limit. Ifeel this would be at least a bit fairer,allthough i am totally in agrement that while bakers and sandwich retailers have an unfair advantage,as we are all after all providing much the same service.

Not surprisingly since the impending increase in VAT was announced in the recent budget, we have received a number of comments from members concerned with the way that VAT is levied on our industry.

The Federation has long held the view that the current rules are grossly unfair and need to be changed and have lobbied the government in the past on this very same issue.For us to make this happen we need to get the full support of the trade, our industry partners and our members to force the government to renegotiate the rules.

I believe there are two main areas where the current rules need to be changed in the interest of fairness and to create a level playing field.

My first concern is the way in which supermarkets and bakeries are allowed to sell HOT takeaway food to the public without charging VAT.HM R & C allow this on the basis it is "just cooked�.I would argue that our product is also just cooked and therefore should not attract VAT.The supermarkets already enjoy a market dominating position and need no help from the authorities.

The other area where I believe we get unfairly treated is not being able to offset our purchases against VAT.95% of our purchases are zero rated leaving us to pay tax on virtually everything we sell.Other business sectors with zero rated purchases, such as the car sales and antiques industries, enjoy special rules whereby they only pay VAT on the value which they add to the product.For example, if a car dealer buys a car for £2,000 and sells it for £,3000, VAT is only due on £,1000.

These are just two areas that we can explore. I would be very interested to hear your views before we mount the campaign.It is intended that we involve local M.P.s and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.He claims to be a fair man prepared to listen to the electorate. Further details of the campaign will be in the next issue of the Fish Friers Review when we hope to be in a position to report on the backing we have achieved.

I am an owner of two fish and chip shop businesses. One of which is VAT registered and one which is not. After reading in the fish friers review, the article on Unfair Treatment on VAT. I couldn't agree more with what you were saying, so much so that i have written this letter. The topic has been bugging me all week, after reading your article. I've always disagreed with the way VAT is applied to certain businesses and not others. How can it be an equal market if a shop up the road from you can undercut your prices and still make the same percentage profit. Simply because that shop doesn't pay VAT. How is that fair! Surely if VAT was charged to all businesses from the first pound taken, BUT at a significantly lower rate. Such as 7% for example, H M Revenue & Customs would still get the same return. Small businesses would have the strangle hold of VAT payments reduced and finally see some money for themselves for all there hard work and everyone would operate on an equal playing field.

I'm confused and angry to find out that supermarkets and bakeries alike are basking in joys of dodging the VAT bracket by some stupid loop hole in the law. When i go to Morrison's to buy a cooked chicken it is ALWAYS HOT! I never once thought that this would be VAT exempt. This needs addressing, it cannot be one rule for one and one rule for another. Either we all pay VAT on these products or we all don't, its that simple. I sell chicken and pies in my shops, therefore couldn't i just state that they are intended to be sold cold like the supermarkets and bakeries do. If they happen to be warm like they always are in the bakeries and supermarkets that just how it goes. This would probably save me hundreds of pounds over the financial year. It certainly seems the VAT man has it in for us, or more like we are an easy target. Our business buys most of its goods which are zero VAT rated so why cant we just pay the VAT on the value they add to the product only. This is a special rule implied to only the lucky few industries, again dual standards! This year has been one of the hardest financial years ever, through no fault of my own. But it seems it is left to business owners like myself to bail out the mistakes of others and the spongers of this country.

To add to the agony why don't we increase the level of taxation in the form of 20% VAT. Incredible, that the Chancellor thinks this is attainable in the middle of a recession. Will it really benefit the countries economy to kill off small businesses. I have never seen so many empty premises in towns and cities around the country, this will be nothing compared to what it will be like in 12 months time after 6 months of paying the new VAT. When will this blindness stop? We simply want an equal opportunity to run our businesses. It feels like we are discriminated against because we are easy pickings, heaven forbid the government would challenge the likes of Tesco's or Asda in court over these VAT technicalities.

Good Afternoon Denise, your recent article in the FF Review on the subject of VAT.I think that both yourself and Bill have nailed exactly the unfairness as how the vat is applied to our particular food business, if at all the vat should only be applied to the added value part of the sale.

But really, Fish and Chips has been a staple food of these isles for 150 years,the ingredients are simple, unlike other takeaways that could be classed as luxury items that are not nescassary to sustain basic nutritional requirements.

Unfortunately Fish and Chips has been lumped in with all of our competitors wares as a lucrative source of taxation.

We only cook to order there is no fish in the cabinet and very few chips stored so are we not able to claim just cooked status?

Unfortunately with regard to us lobbying MPs we have our business on the Isle of Man so we do not have any MP representation,but as a member of the federation i wholeheartedly support your campaign as this impending increase will be difficult to pass on it will probably have to come off our very small margin and could lead to some chippies not surviving.

Unfortunately our customers do not understand that fish and chips for £5.00 means £1.00 of that is vat that we collect for the taxman whilst he lies in bed at night and we are working all hours.

Hi As a director of Chips Ahoy at Scurlage Swansea I am in total agreement with the artical in the Fish Friers Reveiw.

This is crippling the small chip shop which is just over the VAT theshold. In January it will mean we have to increase prices and loose customers or have our slender margins cut. We are a new business just over 1 year old and still learning. I suppprt the Federation in the matter.

Hi. My name is Andy Nankervis. I run Goring fish bar in Worthing. I have had this business for one year. Before that I had another fish & chip shop for 12 years. My wife Tina and my son Paul are partners. We also have two staff. I have always struggled with VAT. It's seems such an unfair tax. You work, earn your money and pay income tax. Then when you spend it you are taxed again. As for the fast food business we are penalised " Big time". Like you've said, it comes in zero rated and goes out with VAT on it. And we are unpaid tax collectors. And why are bakeries and supermarkets aloud to get away with it. It's very very wrong. I cannot think why any logical thinking person can't sought this out. I hope this letter helps. Kind regards

I wish to add my support to your campaign for a fairer system to the current VAT inequalities that we see at the moment.

Whilst in a perfect world I would like to see a 0% charge for our industry, I think that would be unrealistic in our current economic climate. However I do feel very strongly about the fact that supermarkets and High Street bakeries have an unfair advantage.

I will often check my local supermarket's hot counter for products that they sell and the prices. For example yesterday I could have bought a sausage and potato wedges with a dip for £2.20. In my shop that would cost the same, but I have to charge 17.5% VAT. Mine is kept warm in a hot box, and so is theirs. What is the difference? Why do I pay and they don't?

In my opinion it is about time that the supermarkets bullying tactics is taken to task, and we stand up and fight.