The Ceres Podcast

In this episode, Stelios talks to Hugh Lipscombe, founder and chairman of the Chesterford Group. The Lipscombe family have been in fish & chips for 100 years, and Hugh founded Fish n' Chick'n in the 1970s. We discuss the founding and the challenges over the years, Hugh's professional pet hates, and the future of the Chesterford Group. Download your FREE copy of the Fish & Tips E-Book and boost your business today. 📮Join the Ceres email list to keep updated and get monthly offers. 📧 To send your feedback or suggest a guest, email The Ceres Podcast at stelios@worldofceres.com

PART TWO In this two-part special, Stelios talks to Alastair Horabin, the director of Seniors Group on the Fylde Coast. Alastair doesn't hold back in this episode, and in business, he doesn't mess about. Nine outlets and more to come, a central preparation factory that supplies his outlets. They talk about so much that it had to be split in two. Download your FREE copy of the Fish & Tips E-Book and boost your business today -> https://bit.ly/fisht1ps Join the Ceres email list to keep updated and get monthly offers. -> http://bit.ly/3zg0uIJ To send your feedback or suggest a guest, email The Ceres Podcast at stelios@worldofceres.com

PART ONE In this two-part special, Stelios talks to Alastair Horabin, the director of Seniors Group on the Fylde Coast. Alastair doesn't hold back in this episode, and in business, he doesn't mess about. Nine outlets and more to come, a central preparation factory that supplies his outlets. They talk about so much that it had to be split in two. Download your FREE copy of the Fish & Tips E-Book and boost your business today -> https://bit.ly/fisht1ps Join the Ceres email list to keep updated and get monthly offers. -> http://bit.ly/3zg0uIJ To send your feedback or suggest a guest, email The Ceres Podcast at stelios@worldofceres.com

In this episode, Stelios talks to Josette Foster, a regional director for the national federation of fish friers. As well as her role within the federation, she owns the multi-award-winning shop - Fish & chips at Weston Grove, which she started with her late husband, Richard. This episode has one topic: Fish & Chip Awards and Fish & Chip Awards only. If you would like to go to the Fish & Chip Awards 🏆🏆 in London, then click this link -> http://bit.ly/3CSZA7J Download your FREE copy of the Fish & Tips E-Book and boost your business today -> https://bit.ly/fisht1ps 📮Join the Ceres email list to keep updated and get monthly offers. 📧 To send your feedback or suggest a guest, email The Ceres Podcast at stelios@worldofceres.com

In this episode of the Ceres Podcast, Stelios talks to Andrew Crook, the president of The National Federation of Fish Friers and owner of Skippers Fish Bar in Euxton. They talk about the industry's current challenges, fish prices, commodity prices, double invoicing and VAT fraud. Download your FREE copy of the Fish & Tips E-Book and boost your business today -> https://bit.ly/fisht1ps 📮Join the Ceres email list to keep updated and get monthly offers. 📧 To send your feedback or suggest a guest, email The Ceres Podcast at stelios@worldofceres.com

In this episode of the Ceres Podcast, Stelios talks to Paul Goodgame, the managing director of The Chesterford Group. They talk about Paul's career progression and how he worked at TCG for 29 years and became operations director in 2010 and managing director in 2020. Paul discusses the challenges of covid19, inflation, aggregators, recruitment, and the elephant-in-the-room topic of VAT fraud. 📮Join the Ceres email list to keep updated and get monthly offers. 📧 To send your feedback or suggest a guest, email The Ceres Podcast at stelios@worldofceres.com

Dan is the founder of SixEight Marketing Agency, a South East Asian food nerd and a brand strategist who gets food brands more customers by telling a great story. Dan cuts through all the marketing jargon to put independents on the same path to success as the big corporates, if not better. He works with obsessive food brands to grow their loyal tribe, helping brands like Dishoom and Flat Iron stand out from the noise and get more sales using the power of their story. To find out more about Dan Nash: 💡 Visit SixEight Marketing Agency 💡 📮Join the Ceres email list to keep updated and get monthly offers. 📧 To send your feedback or suggest a guest, email The Ceres Podcast at stelios@worldofceres.com

Paul Gunning is the head chef and owner of Purslane in the stunning area of Stockbridge on St. Stephen Street. This fantastic restaurant is the epitome of rustic, casual fine dining. Paul is a brilliant podcast guest; we got into the nitty-gritty of what he likes about the restaurant business. To find out more about Paul or Purslane: 💡 Visit Purslane Restaurant Website 💡 📮Join the Ceres email list to keep updated and get monthly offers. 📧 To send your feedback or suggest a guest, email The Ceres Podcast at stelios@worldofceres.com

In this episode, Stelios talks to Stefano Nella from Nella Cutlery Services. Nella Cutlery Services have been sharpening knives for over 120 years; I love that Nella has been in business for this long, but they have evolved and stayed true to what they do. Nella Cutlery Services have been at the forefront of sustainability for a long time, even when it wasn't fashionable. Nella Cutlery also gets the most out of your money, no more broken mouldy boards, no more blunt knives. Put an end to the throwaway culture today. 💡 Visit Nella Cutlery Services 💡 📮Join the Ceres email list to keep updated and get monthly offers https://bit.ly/3zg0uIJ 📧 To send your feedback or suggest a guest, email The Ceres Podcast at stelios@worldofceres.com

Matthew Konen has been in the fish & chip industry since 2018; I wanted to get Matthew on the podcast because I knew that he had a lot of challenges turning Athena B around and still does. As we all know, there are loads of general challenges with hospitality at the moment, so it was interesting to hear how they are going about these issues. I love how optimistic Matthew is, it does not diminish how hard things are at the moment, but we all need to keep pushing hard through these challenging times. 💡 Episode Sponsor - Ceres Fishcake Mix 💡 To follow Matthew at Athena B, visit Facebook & Instagram. 📮Join the Ceres email list to keep up to date and get monthly offers. 📧 To send your feedback or suggest a guest, email The Ceres Podcast.

Stelios talks to the brilliant Amanda Stansfield from Granny Gothard's; they discuss building a great business with local and quality values and international ambitions. Oh, and let us not forget the ice cream. To find out more about Granny Gothard's, visit their website. To follow Amanda visit her profile on LinkedIn. To enjoy some amazing ice cream get yours from Waitrose or Ocado.

Stelios talks to William Crooks from Dennis Crooks Fish Merchants in Whitby in this episode. They discuss the history of Dennis Crooks but also the current happenings in the British fish industry. Visit Dennis Crooks Fish Merchants to find out more.

Mark & his brother Paul are third-generation family farmers with a deep love and respect for the countryside and agriculture. They started the Dingley Dell Pork brand around 15 years ago with the philosophy of animal welfare, taste, and sustainability. These remain the pillars and foundations of what they do today. Listen to Mark & Stelios discuss so many great topics about British farming, helping the bees and nearly everything pig-related. The first three listeners to contact us about this episode will win the Introductory Tasting Pack from Dingley Dell Cured. To learn more about Dingley Dell Pork, visit the following sites: Dingley Dell Pork Website Dingley Dell Cured Dingley Dell Cured Facebook Mark Hayward Twitter This podcast was brought to you by www.worldofceres.com.

In this episode of the Ceres Podcast, I talk to Andrew Crook, the owner of Skippers Fish Bar in Euxton and president of The National Federation of Fish Friers. To learn more about The National Federation of Fish Friers, visit https://www.nfff.co.uk To join our mailing list visit https://j.mp/3zg0uIJ

In the first instalment of the Ceres Podcast of 2022, we talked to Stuart Fusco of the Fusco Group in Whitby. To join our mailing list visit https://j.mp/3zg0uIJ

John Barnes has co-authored Altering Course the Covid Chronicles with Laura Cowan of Rockfish restaurants. It’s a collection of short stories about how companies, individuals and organisations found new ways to navigate their way through the pandemic—Hawksmoor Rockfish and Pizza Pilgrims all feature in the book. John has had a long career in hospitality which started as MD of KFC GB in the early 1980s. He was Chairman of Harry Ramsden’s for 11 years and has been a Non-Executive Director of several well-known pub and bar chains. John and Laura are both Directors of Rockfish who have sponsored the book. All proceeds go to the charity Mind. Ceres have bought ten copies of Altering Course. We will send out a copy for the first ten people to get in touch for free of charge. Just email us at info@worldofceres.com. Visit to purchase your copy of Altering Course. Join the Ceres Mailing List for great deals and up-to-date news.

Bobby Joyce is Sales & Marketing Director at the well-respected fish merchants Smales based in Hull. This is Bobby's second time on the Ceres Podcast, we just wanted to catch up, and with everything happening, we think it is perfect timing with all the cod & haddock availability issues. Want to know, follow Bobby on Linkedin or visit the Smales Website. Join the Ceres Mailing List for great deals and up-to-date news.

Mitch Tonks is a prolific and award-winning restaurateur. He has 9 restaurants, The Seahorse in Dartmouth which won the Observer Food magazine UK restaurant of the year and numerous other awards, and 8 Rockfish seafood restaurants in Devon and Dorset. Mitch, recently called ‘Mr Seafood’ by Nigella Lawson, has also just launched the first ever range of British tinned seafood and has another exciting launch happening in Jan 2022. Keep an eye out. Mitch’s latest book, The Rockfish Cookbook, is available online and in the restaurants, along with the 6 other books he has written (The Seahorse recipes, Fish, Fish Easy, The Aga Seafood cookbook, Fresh the fishmongers cookbook and The Seafood café cookbook). To find out more about Mitch Tonks you can visit the links below: Personal - Website | Instagram | Twitter Rockfish - Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook The Seahorse - Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook For great deals and up to date news, join the Ceres Mailing List.

Jamie Sergeant is a leading British digital entrepreneur, creative industries influencer and respected university lecturer. His global thinking, ability to spot and incubate raw talent, and identification of market potential have been crucial to his enterprise’s commercial expansion into major international markets. His Bournemouth-based (HQ), multi-award winning, digital transformation agency, Crowd (www.thisisicrowd.com), operates in 11 major cities worldwide. Following this rapid and successful expansion, particularly his recent inroads into China. Why not follow Jamie Sergeant on Linkedin or Twitter. Learn more about Crowd on their website or Facebook. Download Crowds Sustainability guide. Join the Ceres Mailing List for discounts every month.

Sarah Lock, owner of Harbourside Fish & Chips, many people don't know that Sarah is also the owner of five outlets in total and soon to be seven in the southwest. We have an excellent conversation about being a leader of people, motivating and growing teams, and working with aggregators.