Gillys fish bar is a new family run business trading in all local villages around the Belvoir vales. They can provide services for private parties, weddings, charity events, concerts, festivals, markets, car boots and other events. read on for more about their history plus some advice on what to check when booking a provider for your event.

What do you need to know from an organiser in order to provide a comprehensive quote?

For us to provide the best quote to a customer, ideally we need the event date, what type of event is I.e wedding, festival, party. The number of guests (this is important as we don’t want to quote for too many people and only a few eat). And venue. We are a fish and chip van, so we preferably need to be outside. From this, we should be able to give a suitable quote.

What advice would you give to a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?

Ask providers what product they sell. Pizza van, buffet style, street food, fish and chips. Ask to see the providers menu, website. Are there any fixed menus they offer? What will your guests be getting for the amount.? Ask for pictures, videos of the van. It’s your event you need to know what’s going to be turning up!

Please tell us a little bit about how and why you started the business.

We are a family run business, with most of us working in the catering business for many years. We love good food, so there’s nothing better than producing the best food you possibly can.
We’ve been running a local fish and chip van for over a year now and have really got the locals talking. With our homemade beer batter, nana shells mint mushy peas and other little secret recipes. People are actually travelling distance to buy from us.
Recently we had a crash in the van, with the van slipping and getting written off. This was a big drawback for us and was not trading for nearly 3 months.
Here We are back better than ever, new van, new insides, new everything. The only thing that isn’t new is our staff and our perfect cooking of food.
We would not give you anything we wouldn’t eat ourselves. If we think the chips are not right or the fish is overcooked. It’s in the bin!! And we start again.
We trade around the vales and the Leicestershire/ Nottinghamshire/Melton Mowbray areas.
We’re very excited to get better and better.

Please tell us about a booking you've had through Add to Event, how did it go? Would you recommend us to others?

We’re new and so haven’t done an event as yet. But the bookings are coming in and we’re nearly booked up all August and Sept with only a few dates left.