Here we go then ! Finally opening on Monday ....

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

Looks fantastic !!

From a business perspective change the Bing/RAC map for a Google map and set the place up on Google Places then bug customers to leave a review on your google places. (offer a free shake for every review)?

The latest version of Igo8 Satnav software stuff will interact with "google places" (if your satnav is internet hooked) and will display "places in the area" from a google search, but getting a few genuine reviews on the "places" page makes for valuable and FREE publicity.

I'd also create a sense of thriving business perhaps fill the place with friends and family etc for a photo shoot for publicity/web pictures. Even make it a fancy dress theme to reflect the retro design ? That's get a picture in the local paper for free I'm sure.

I like the look of it and the menu looks good. If I were in the area I'd certainly pop in... Congratulations and the very best of business.

Pete

[Robin]

Oil? Ok, so what about those of us who want proper *British* chips fried in beef dripping?

[ARWadsworth]

That is why I do not fry my own chips. There is a chip shop within half a mile of my house that sells proper British chips. A phone call means that I do not have to wait if there is a queue.

[Robin]

FWIW we have used Lonely Planet,Tripadvisor etc to find some excellent burgers and chips overseas - not so much in tourist places but en route between them. So I'd have thought it'd be worth you encouraging your fans give you reviews on Tripadvisor and the like. As Terry Fields said, it all adds to your profit.

[Arfa Daily]

They are, at least initially, a commercial grade of par-cooked chip. We might change that when we get a better feel for how many are used. The trick to getting a good crisp chip, is to start them at the lower temperature of

160 to ensure that they cook through, and then 'hold' them until as late as possible. They can then be finished off in 180 degree oil just before the rest of the order is ready. That ensures that they are crisp on the outside, fully cooked through, hot, and don't sit sweating in the scuttle for any longer than they have to, which makes them soggy. I have to admit that I'm not a great lover of chips, due to them generally being cooked poorly, as you say, but I forced myself to try these in the pre-opening test sessions where we were getting used to using the equipment, and the cooking times, and I have to say that they were very nice, so hopefully, the punters will find them so, as well :-)

Arfa

[Arfa Daily]

You are only about 10 minutes out of your way on that route. Going west to east on the A14, the second Kettering turn is the A509. If you come off there, left would be into Kettering, and right would be to Wellingborough. Heading that way, it's only a couple of miles to the next roundabout, which is the one on the map. Left there, and then immediately right - well 100 yds - and you are with us. Fell free to drop in and see them. Wife, daughter and S-i-L should be there.

Thank you - appreciated !

See reply to Tim S below

Arfa

[Arfa Daily]

Indeed you do. I was never very good at maths - except where there was a need for it in a subject that I was interested in, such as physics, or chemistry. I can do the maths needed for my day to day stuff in electronics, in my head without a second thought. Teachers could never understand how I could be an A grade student in physics and chemistry, and yet a D minus in maths ! Doing the calculations for chord length and so on were a bit challenging in that I could not remember for the life of me, the formula for doing that. Once I had looked it up on the 'net, and applied it to my drawings, it all came flooding back, and I really enjoyed the practicality of confirming what I had calculated, when it was all cut out, and went together exactly as designed ...

When you think back, we had some bloody good teachers back then. This level of geometry was actually being taught to us in the final year at junior school, and we would have been expected to tackle a problem such a chord calculation in our first year at senior school, without help. Now, judging by my kids when they were still at school, most of the teachers wouldn't even be able to define a chord, let alone calculate one ...

Arfa

[Arfa Daily]

src="

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> I didn't say it yet, but good luck (to Arfa) - looks like a good location

Thanks for that - I'll pass it on. And thanks for the good wishes - it's appreciated. They've been open now for about a half hour, and there hasn't been any panicked phone calls yet, so hopefully, everything's working well ! I shall pop up there later, and see how it's all going. It should be ok. They had the cafes for long enough, so are well versed in serving hot food to the general public, which is probably a good step in the right direction towards a smooth launch night. :-)

Arfa

[Nightjar]

Cooking chips is a three-stage process.

First, parboil chipped Maris Piper or Arran Victory potatoes. Dry on kitchen towel and cool.

Second, fry at 170C*, until soft, but not browned, usually about five to six minutes. Dry and cool the chips. They can be stored for quite a while in this state in the fridge.

Third, when ready to serve, brown at 190C for a couple of minutes or so, then dry on kitchen towel.

• Some sources put the lower temperature as low as 130C, but with a longer cooking time. Some put it as high as 190C, with the higher then at 200C

Colin Bignell

[Robin]

IIRC one of the benefits of refined beef dripping is that it has a high smoke point compared with refined vegetable oils and so facilitates a really hot last dip.

[Steve Firth]

I'd thnk carefully about setting up a web site that is run from a Content Management System (CMS) such as Joomla. This gives you a way to have a very nice looking corporate website which you can easily update, with news, you can have photo albums you can have different levels of membership giving browsing to unregistered users and more detail for users who register with a username and password. You can have members of your family and friends appointed as authors who can submit news articles for the website. The newest items will go into the headline and "push" other items down but the old stuff will all be indexed and available for searching. It's an incredibly powerful system with a lot of add-ons to make it do what you want. Any reasonably competent web person could set it up for you and make whoever you want an editor so that they can edit and veto posts.

You could even have a customer blog feature with you acting as moderator to screen out the nasty bastards if you wanted.

Sadly my provider has ballsed up their SQL implementation and lost the sites I had created using Joomla, otherwise I could have given you some URLs to have a look at.

[Andy Champ]

It probably doesn't matter to Arfa, but this does of course exclude vegans. Olive oil is supposed to be pretty good - but not cheap :(

I quite like the old soggy chippy chips.

Andy

[Robin]

And vegetarians, and Hindus, and ... - none of whom seem to show much sensitivity to my cultural heritage of eating chips cooked in the traditional saturated animal fat :(

[D.M.Chapman]

Nice idea, but I'd avoid that if possible unless you really know what you are doing (or, you are hosting at somewhere who does...).

Plenty of security holes in Joomla etc - patches are usually quick to be released but unless you are quick to install you are a target. It's overkill for a site like this IMO. If you want the community stuff, then have a facebook page. As much as I hate facebook, I seem to be in the minority (probably not on this group mind.. ). It works, people understand it. You look trendy with the young folk. Older folks and people who don't like the idea of facebook are most likely the sort who won't want to give up their details to $yetanotherrandomsite.

Also plenty of history of managed installs not being maintained properly and cocking things up.

Ah, just like that. Overcomplex.

There is a place for CMS setups - just not here.

Darren

[John Rumm]

You are right it does, but that PDF is all graphic. (vis you can't select the text)

[John Rumm]

Don't know if the pin is in the right place, but:

[John Rumm]

src="

">>>> />View >

href="

">>>> style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">LJ's Burger and Shakes in a >> larger

>>>

Yup, good luck from me also. Keep us posted with how its going.

[Arfa Daily]

That's pretty much it !

Arfa

[Arfa Daily]

That's pretty much how ours are done, but with slightly different temperatures. Most takeaways just throw 'em in and let them cook to something that 'looks' about right. Often that results in a chip that's either soggy inside, or just to the left of properly cooked, and still a bit 'potato-y' inside. About the most inconsistent chips that I know, are from the chip shop (!) in my village. The guy that owned it before the current clowns, was a 'real' chip shop man. He used to test the chips by picking a shovel-full out of the oil, and pinching a couple. They were always perfect ...

Arfa

[Arfa Daily]

Our chippy used to fry in groundnut oil, and that was pretty decent. Imparted a very nice flavour to the chips, without sort of 'flavouring' them. if you see what I mean ...

Arfa