Put The Hip In Chips
Meet the Hip Hop Chip Shop, our next wild card competing at the British Street Food Awards. They are for real. And they intend to “Get Rich Or Die Frying”. These Manchester music-mad chefs do the business out of a massive stainless steel boombox (chosen because it’s looks just like a massive stainless steel boombox). But their sustainable coley is from the classic English fried fish tradition, “and once people taste the food, I think they realise it’s not just style over substance”. PS They will be DJing over the weekend, if the queues ever die down….
Name of trader: The Hip Hop Chip Shop
Name of van: Ruckus
How it got its name: After a Wu-Tang Clan song called “Bring Da Ruckus” — the chorus has naughty words in it.
Description of van: It’s a massive stainless steel boombox, designed by the artist Stanley Chow and edited by graphic design agency, Instadesign.
What makes your food different?: It’s untraditional fish & chips. We use the standard fish & chip menu as a blueprint for our innovation sampling culinary inspiration from around the globe.
What difference would it make to you to win a British Street Food Award? We’ve invested all our life savings into this, as a start-up, in such a competitive industry getting any sort of recognition for your graft is priceless.
What got you into street food? My background is in advertising, I had this idea in 2010 but I lacked the culinary expertise to execute my vision. My business partner, Luke Stocks, has been a chef for 13 years so we pooled our talents together to build the concept.
Are you qualified? I have a 1st Class Honours in Business & Marketing Management, is that what you mean?
What’s your favourite kitchen utensil? Our Heavy Duty Commercial Hand Stick Blender. We make sure it has its own en-suite wherever we go.
Do you like dealing with the public? My mum always said ‘Don’t talk to strangers’ but that’s my favourite part of it — I love a good chinwag.
What’s the best thing about street food? The atmosphere, it feels good to be part of a movement where everyone is trying to forge their own path and has a story to tell.
What’s the worst thing about street food? Grease. Not the musical, but the oily substance.
Where was the best street food you’ve ever eaten? My favourite traders are Arepa Arepa Arepa and Fu Schnickens.
Do you like twitter? Yes, most our business has come through larking about on twitter, it does often feel like you’re talking to yourself but it’s a cheap therapist.
Do you like Citroen H vans? They do look good, but when there’s 920,000 of them serving food, they do lose the appeal as a food truck of choice.
Where do you want to be next year? We want to have a bricks and mortar premises in the North West or Yorkshire, whilst building the wedding and corporate event side of the business.
Where do you want to be in five years? We really do have big ambitious plans for this, I genuinely see this as a worldwide brand. Japan. Barcelona. US. Who knows?
If you had to give advice to someone starting out in the world of street food, what would it be? Stick to one product, perfect it and do it well consistently. Make sure you have enough money to make mistakes too.