Harry Ramsden's
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harry Ramsden's is a worldwide restaurant chain dedicated to traditional British-style fish and chips.
Based in the UK, the business has over 170 owned and franchised outlets internationally, and serves around 10 million people annually. It has locations in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and Walt Disney World Resort in the U.S. state of Florida.
The business was started by Harry Ramsden (1888–1963) in 1928 in a wooden hut in White Cross in Guiseley near Leeds in Yorkshire, northern England. Three years later he moved into a 'fish and chip palace', complete with fitted carpets, oak paneled walls and chandeliers. The original hut still stands on the same site adjacent to the main restaurant, which holds the Guinness World Record for the largest fish and chip shop in the world, seating 250 people, serving nearly a million customers a year [1].
The restaurant is famous for the Harry Ramsden challenge where patrons who manage to finish a very large meal of fish and chips receive a certificate and sometimes a complimentary dessert depending on the individual restaurant.
In 1988, it was floated on the London Stock Exchange. In October 1999, it was bought by the Granada food service company for £20m, who added the brand to their motorway service stations (and Little Chefs). The average price of fish and chips at their restaurants at re-named Moto service stations is at least £7. Granada became the Select Service Partner UK Ltd division of Compass in 2000. SSP Group was essentially the travel catering division of Compass - all the brands found at Moto service stations. In April 2006, the company was split in two when Compass sold off SSP for £1,822m; the airports and railway station division was sold to EQT Partners of Sweden (who also own Findus) and the Moto service station division was bought by Macquarie Bank of Sydney, Australia. These are simply equity companies, and all running of the company is done by SSP, based in Weybridge in Surrey. Compass can also use the Harry Ramsden brand at its outlets in offices and universities.
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[edit] Licensing of the brand
Under the name of the brand, Premier Foods make mushy peas (since April 2006), and Ross Youngs (owned by Heinz since October 1999) make frozen fish and oven chips. These licenses are administered by Golden Goose of Shoreditch.
[edit] The Challenge
A certificate is issued to those who can complete the Harry Ramsden's Challenge. The certificate is awarded to anybody who can devour a giant piece of battered cod, extra large portion of chips and a large serving of both mushy peas and tartar sauce. The time challenge is discouraged, however.
[edit] Trivia
- Harry Corbett of Sooty fame was a nephew of Harry Ramsden and played the piano in his uncle's original restaurant. [2]
[edit] External links
- Harry Ramsden's website
- Reviews at Ciao!
- Review of oven chips at Ciao!
- Four more reviews
- Review of Manchester restaurant at DooYoo
- Paging system for customers
- Moto outlets
- Bought by Granada in October 1999
- Split in two in 2006
- Document about sale of SSP UK
- "Plaicebook" is a UK based blog celebrating Fish and Chip shops
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