An Auckland fish and chip shop owner says oil prices have tripled in three years as his family business tries to keep costs down and customers happy.
With inflation on the up and up, it seems even the traditional cost-saving Friday takeaway isn't as humble as it once was.
During Monday lunch at Jay Cao's humble family fish and chip shop in Auckland the comforting waft still fills the air.
Everything appears as it should: Cao slices, weighs, batters or crumbs fresh fillets of Hoki, Tarakihi, Snapper. He expertly fries, lets it lie, then wraps with wedges of lemon.
But what you can't see are the costs, the Kiwi fish and chippery is no longer a cheap way to feed the family and it's not just the price of fish.
"Everything's going up it's not just the oil it's around beef, chicken, pork, fish ... for customers it's just three percent up but for us it's everything so around thirty percent up," Cao said.
Thirty percent price hikes for raw produce are creating problems for the likes of the Cao family's The Fishmonger takeaway in St Heliers.
The rising cost of oil was one of the increasingly pricey items hitting the family takeaways the hardest, Cao said.
"[In] 2019, it was $32, $33 around that price for 20 litres but from now it's at least $90 for 20 litres."
The result was a business forced to run on finer margins, the constant balance of maintaining quality, availability, while not hiking prices too much.
The price of a chip packet has been going up yearly, and Cao said the rise would be sharper this year.
But his family takeaway is lucky: they are by the beach, which helps, and they are in a relatively affluent part of Auckland.
"We have to keep our quality to make the good food so yeah if customers are happy they will keep coming back," he said.
Near Fishmonger, the feeling amongst locals was it still remained a cheaper option.
"Two hoki battered and the chips and it's $19.50 with two cans, that's amazing this is the cheapest I've got so far," one local said.
Down at St Heliers beach, other fish and chip fanatics said they were still on board.
"I eat fish and chips quite regularly, I eat at Toby's and the price has just went up but it still feels like a cheap good meal," another said.
His order, for the record, mussels, a crab stick, squid ring, two fish and a dollar of chips.
Then there were those who said the only way to go was to catch and cook.
"We go out quite regularly and get our own snapper and it's great... I prefer it fresher," one man said.
Inflation has penetrated those classic Kiwi comforts but they are still frying at the The Fishmonger.
"Yeah I have to keep going, otherwise [there's] no choice, that's why we keep going," Cao said.
