Profile: Phillip Murphy

And from those humble beginnings of just one family-run restaurant and takeaway the couple now have a string of four, soon to be five, restaurants across Yorkshire with an annual turnover of £7m.

Their venture into fish and chips began when they realised that as a working couple, they would lose half their income when Mrs Murphy had to give up her job to look after their children.

Both had come from backgrounds where their families had run their own businesses and both had helped out.

The couple sold their house and ploughed just about everything they owned into buying the business and lived in the flat above the restaurant and takeaway for a few years.

From a small fish and chip shop in Tadcaster which took just £200 on a really good week, the couple went on to build up the Wetherby Whaler Group shop by shop.

“It is a tradition – we appeal to people aged from two to 92,” said Mr Murphy. “The silver-haired brigade is a significant part of our business, but people of all ages come and we are particularly busy at weekends when families come out. Even now times are tough people forego going out for a £100 meal but will still come out for fish and chips.”

Fish and chips has therefore proved to be relatively recession-proof, although in all the years Mr Murphy has been trading it is only the current downturn which has given them a year where turnover dipped.

“For the first time in our history, during 2009 or 2010 we actually lost turnover. It was only 1 to 1.25 per cent but it was significant because it was the only time this has happened.”

In all his years in business he has never had to make anyone redundant. He also prides himself on growing his management team as the business has grown.

The company employs about 200 people and key senior staff include the group restaurant manager Jayne Ruston, who began as a part-time waitress.

“People have grown with us. No-one really goes into this as a career choice. One of my managers started working for me at 15 and after leaving and returning three times is now a junior manager,” said Mr Murphy.

It was their growing family which prompted Mr and Mrs Murphy to make the second crucial decision. A business which included a fish and chip restaurant and a takeaway in Wetherby called The Wetherby Whaler and the Fish Inn became available and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to expand.

“It was a big step up for us,” said Mr Murphy. “We had a lot to do. For the first 12 months we put everything back into the business.”

The couple set about refurbishing the restaurant and rebranding both businesses under one name – The Wetherby Whaler.

The business employed four or five full-time staff and about 20 part-timers, and had a significantly larger turnover to what the couple had been used to. The refurbishment of the restaurant generated a further increase.

“The beauty of Wetherby is the regulars – we have lots of families who come just once or twice a year. When they come to visit relatives locally they pop in for fish and chips – some from as far as Edinburgh.”

It was another eight or nine years before a second opportunity came up to buy a similar business in Pudsey, which Mr and Mrs Murphy eventually rebranded under the Wetherby Whaler name.

With two successful businesses running profitably in their own right, Mr Murphy began looking for something in York. “I had always wanted something on the York side of Tadcaster.”

The agent Mr Murphy was working with found a piece of land off the York ring road which he bought allowing him to plan and construct his own purpose-built restaurant.

The new venture cost £1m-£1.2m to complete, but it also gave one of his daughters an opportunity to join the business.

Caroline, now 38, had recently graduated from university and had previously helped out. Being saddled with her university debts she asked if she could be involved in the new business.

“I said she had to commit to two years to get the business off the ground, and all these years later she is now pretty much our general manager,” said Mr Murphy.

Mr and Mrs Murphy’s other daughter Joanne Westmoreland, 40, now runs the 150-seat restaurant at York, which underwent a refurbishment about two years ago; investment in refurbishments being one of the keys to the success of their businesses.

“We are not slow to spend money on the business, that is important,” said Mr Murphy.

Mr Murphy then took another opportunity to build a restaurant from scratch, this time in Wakefield, and although it is now successful, it did not follow the business model of the York launch as hoped.

“There was a big difference. York was on the ring road, so while we were building, hundreds of thousands of people drove past and knew what was going on, so on day one we were inundated with customers.

“But with Wakefield, we didn’t have that visual element, so it was a bit disconcerting on day one not to have the people flock in. It was about six weeks before we were where we wanted to be. It is now just about our number one branch in terms of turnover – sometimes it is York and sometimes Wakefield.”

Now, in what Mr Murphy sees as the final expansion of his business, the Wetherby Whaler is looking forward to the re-opening of the former Harry Ramsden’s 190-seat fish and chip restaurant in Guiseley at the end of May. The restaurant was the iconic fish and chip entrepreneur’s first restaurant and opened initially in 1931. Mr Murphy has gone to great lengths to try to maintain the historic features including high ceilings, chandeliers, stained glass and oak panelling for which it has become renowned. There will even be a baby grand piano.

“It will have quite a ‘wow’ factor,” said Mr Murphy.

The £500,000 refurbishment includes the installation of a £58,000 range imported from the Dutch-based manufacturer Kiremko – the biggest the company has installed in the UK.

The 7.3m long range took two hours, 10 people and the removal of a window and railings outside the restaurant to get it into the building. The grand opening will include a visit by Harry Ramsden’s daughter, Shirley Dillon, who is now in her 80s and living in Ireland.

Other guests invited include twin sisters Mavis and Wendy Raistrick, who walked the 4.5 miles from Horsforth to Guiseley in 1952 to celebrate Harry Ramsden’s retirement celebrations when he offered fish and chips at ‘a penny ha’penny’ – the price they were when the restaurant opened in 1931.

Phillip Murphy factfile

Name: Phillip Murphy

Job title: Managing director, the Wetherby Whaler

Date of birth: 1943

School: Highfield Secondary Modern, Bradford

First job: Lab assistant

Car driven: Audi A4/Aston Martin DB9

Favourite holiday destination: Barbados and Australia

Last book read: Penguins of the World – lots of brilliant photos

Favourite film:  Midnight Cowboy

Favourite song: Bridge Over Troubled Water

Interests outside work: Leeds United, photography and travel

The thing most proud of: My family