YORKTOWN — The Chipper, a restaurant that specializes in beer battered fish & chips, is seeking potential franchise opportunities across Hampton Roads.
As of May 2022, the restaurant can be found at two locations:
- Yorktown: 5619 George Washington Memorial Highway, Yorktown Virginia 23692
- Virginia Beach: 5604 Princess Anne Road, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23462
The owner, Patrick O’Carroll, opened The Chipper’s doors for business in 2018. His inspiration for the menu items, and for the restaurant’s name, comes from his hometown of Dublin, Ireland.
“The fish and chips were a staple food in Ireland and England. Every neighborhood had a Chipper or two,” said O’Carroll. “The locals would call these places ‘the chipper.’ In England, it’s probably referred to as ‘the chippy.'”
O’Carroll has been in the restaurant business for decades and is known for opening Patriots Grill in Gloucester. Eventually, O’Carroll realized that the best-selling food item at Patriots Grill was the Fish and Chips. This led him to think about opening his own chipper.
“I’ve always thought about doing a Chipper,” said O’Carroll. “So when I came across the location, it just seemed like a perfect fit for that kind of concept because there was nothing like it in the area. Nobody’s ever done a real chipper over here before. At least not that I’m aware of.”
The Chipper offers both takeout and dine in, and the most popular menu items are the cod & chips and haddock & chips.
“We import a lot of foods too,” said O’Carroll. “We import curry sauce, mushy peas, and battered sausage. We also sell a lot of Irish and English candies, like chocolate.”
Other menu items include battered sausage, hand-breaded chicken tenders, sausage & chips, shrimp tacos, and a variety of burgers and sandwiches for patrons to try.
“All the fish is beer-battered fish across the board,” said O’Carroll. “We had to import the actual chipper because it’s a special kind of thick cut. There’s nothing over here that can do it. It actually looks like a mini wood chipper. It takes about 24 hours to prepare the chips for service, and we kind of follow a routine with that. By the time the customer gets it, it’s been worked on for, it could be 36 hours.”
O’Carroll says the best way to inquire about franchising is to head over to thechipper.com and send over contact information.
For more updates on The Chipper, please visit its official Facebook page.
