Mario’s Giffnock – The runner-up for Best Fish and Chips in the Scottish Italian Awards 2018!

Mario’s Giffnock is a true family business and they definitely make for an interesting and inspiring read.

Tracey and Michael from Marios Giffnock are some exceptional customers of ours! They have managed to scoop up a fantastic award from the Scottish Italian Awards. So, I wanted to get to know our customers a bit better and see how they run their business.

How have you celebrated your recent award?

We were absolutely thrilled to win this award! We had never entered any competitions before and were very nervous in the lead up to the award ceremony so it was a real treat to come second in the whole of Scotland! Our staff are the backbone of our business (some have been with us for decades) and we were so pleased they got to share the thrill of winning! They work hard and know our regular customers very well so deserve recognition for all that they do!

What tips would you offer to those entering awards?

GO FOR IT!! Don’t doubt yourself or your product! Believe you can and you will! Most importantly of all…buy a beautiful dress!

Describe your shop in 3 words.

Modern, Warm, Friendly.

What made you choose Florigo?

We chose Florigo for our refurb after trawling around Fish and Chips shops looking at other peoples ranges! Florigo were able to design and fit the perfect range for our space and tailor it to our needs! The designers worked closely with us to create the perfect machine and it looks fantastic too!

Your Florigo is now over a year old, how are you finding it compared to life before the Florigo?

Florigo’s round chip pans have to be THE best thing since sliced bread!! They cook so quickly and evenly they really are amazing!! The range we owned prior to our Florigo was very slow to start up, our Florigo heats up quickly and temp control is easy and quick! All in all a brilliant piece of machinery!

What does it mean to you to contribute to the local community?

We have very strong links with our local community! We provide Gift Vouchers for all our local primary and secondary schools Fairs and Fetes! We’ve also helped out with “World Food Days” supplying Pizza or even Haggis for Scottish representation!! In the future I’d like to do some fundraising events for UK Crohns and Colitis Charity as they’ve been such a great resource for us as a family!

What do you see for the future of Marios Giffnock?

At some point in the future, we’d love to add a Pasta section to the menu!

We hope to continue to provide our customers with a consistently GREAT product whether it’s Fish. Pizza or Ice Cream!

What inspired you to open a Fish and Chip shop?

Fish and Chips are in our blood! Michael’s father opened our shop way back in 1984 when he arrived in Glasgow from Italy and we’ve been trading ever since! In March of 2018 we decided to undertake a full refit of the shop! We took it all the way back to the bare bones, reconfigured the space and completely transformed the premises! We rebranded ourselves but kept our name as a tribute to Michael’s father Mario who started the business all those years ago!

What’s your favourite part of the job?

For me (Tracey) it’s our customers! We have customers who travel miles for our fish and it makes me so proud that they love us enough to do that! I’m also incapable of shutting up so I love a good blether with regulars and newbies alike!

Michael’s favourite part would be his ongoing obsession with creating the PERFECT fish supper! He believes that every day brings a new learning experience…you never know it all!!

What’s your least favourite part of the job?

For me it’s  “missed pickles”, I despise someone going home without their Pickled Onion …weird I know…

For Michael it’s prepping potatoes in winter, brrrrrr

Do you have anything extra special on the menu?

During our refurb, in a moment of madness, we decided to install a HUGE woodfired pizza oven! It makes a fantastic pizza!

We’re incredibly proud of our Haddock! We use a fresh Angel Cut Haddock that’s deboned by hand and not machine! This means it’s very rare to find any bones in the fish!

Can you tell us a bit more about your day to day life?

Our day starts at 11.30am when Michael and I arrive to prep for our lunchtime opening and for later in the day! We’ll spend the next few hours taking deliveries from our suppliers, serving our lunch customers, replenishing stock ready for the evening shift and making our supplier orders!

We close from 2pm til 4pm and that allows us to get the Woodfired Pizza Oven heated up ready for 4pm when all the crew arrive for the evening shift!

We have 3 children aged 17, 14 and 12, so if we’re not in the shop we’re invariably being a taxi service for the kids!

Our 14 year old son became very sick this last summer and was diagnosed with Crohns Disease so our award meant even more because we still managed to achieve it during an incredibly difficult and stressful time!