British love for fish and chips batters recession.

Byline: Karen Dent

BRITAIN'S continued taste for fish and chips has helped a Tyneside company boost its turnover by pounds 3m and resulted in a rise in profits of more than pounds 56,000 despite the recession.

Henry Colbeck, which supplies 1,500 products to the trade ranging from cooking oil to bespoke packaging, says fish and chips' image as a value for money meal helped it to increase turnover to pounds 39.5m from pounds 36.5m in the year to the end of March.

The just-published results also showed that pre-tax profits at the Team Valley-based company - the world's biggest independent supplier to the industry - rose to pounds 410,795 from pounds 354,661 the previous year.

Marketing director Duncan McLean said: "Fish and chip shops are not at all recession-proof but there is an element of insulation. People will trade down because it is still regarded as an excellent value for money meal.

"You can still get fish and chips for two people for under pounds 10."

He pointed to the comparatively higher costs of other takeaways, such as Indian, Chinese and pizza, and praised modern fish and chips shops for reinventing themselves.

"The product is better and is better presented. Fish and chips is no longer seen as the down at heel option," said Mr McLean. "A lot of the better fish and chip shops have invested extremely wisely in their businesses over the last few years.

"At Colmans on Ocean Road in South Sheilds, the owner, Richard Ord, in the last three or four years has been a UK food hero for Living TV, the BBC's food and farming awards takeaway winner, and in 2008 was runner-up in the fish and chip shop of the year. It's very high profile."

Henry Colbeck, which employs 118 staff and has a plant at the Team Valley where it turns waste cooking oil into biodiesel to use in its delivery trucks, also credits "hard work and product innovation" for its strong set of results.

Mr McLean said: "There has been a whole raft of things from the development of new edible oils and fats to developing new packaging for fish and chips shops.

"We are about to launch a new range of packaging - a two compartment fish and chip box - to the industry, this is revolutionary. We also have biodegradable packaging - a material called baggasse - which is produced from sugar cane vegetation. It is completely biodegradable and compostable. This is a first in the industry."

Mr McLean said the company, which also has brand development and bulk oil divisions, is feeling pretty confident about the year ahead.

"With a fair wind and providing we continue to work as hard as we have done, we are looking ahead with a good deal of optimism," he said.

"I'm very pleased we're not supplying parts to the automotive industry or white goods to the likes of Currys.

"We are in an industry where there has been an element of insulation against the recession, but we're not recession proof."