Portsmouth independent business Fries Love opened a restaurant in Portsmouth’s city centre earlier this year. From starting up in 2018 with a potato shaped food trailer and inspired by the Belgium chip shops in Amsterdam, they share their story of starting up and their determination to never give up.
Fries Love was founded by Anna & Jack in 2018 and came to life in the seaside town of Bognor Regis. The name of the brand is inspired by the fact that almost everyone loves fries. The business started out as a potato shaped yellow colour food-trailer at events. This trailer works as an amazing attraction for any occasion. Earlier this year Fries Love expanded their activity and opened a restaurant in Portsmouth.
What have been some of the challenges you’ve faced since starting up and how have you overcome them?
As a new business we had to learn a lot, for example how to promote our product and educate customers what we sell. The concept of our business was brought from Amsterdam where on every corner you can find Belgian chips shops. Delicious chips are served there with different sauces, however we found that this wasn’t enough for a British customer, so we had to quickly adapt our business to customers’ needs and modified our menu. On the top of our chips, we put sauces, but also different toppings – vegan, vegetarian and something for a meat lover.
What advice would you share with other businesses starting out?
Never give up. Beginnings can be hard, but if you believe in your product and you do something with a passion your customers will see it and will come back to you.
You are already a winner because you’ve been brave enough to take that risk and open your business.
Fries Love are constantly tweaking their menu to offer new delights such as Japanese fries and Korean style corn dogs. They are planning to offer more events in the restaurant and attend many more outdoor events.