Firm peels open a new market

READY for shipment . . . (left to right) Rod Pickering, Austin, Peter, Andrew McArthur and Ian Conway with the peelers

TWO potato peeling machines made in Moorside have been shipped to a fast-food business in South Africa.

Stigwood and Sons, in Grafton Street off Ripponden Road, has manufactured the twin, 56lb machines for Champs Crispy Fried Chicken in the Eastern Cape.

The order, which with shipping and extras is worth in excess of £10,000, is one of the biggest of the current financial year for the family business started in 1965 by Austin and Barbara Stigwood, from Moorside.

One of the smallest manufacturers of potato peeling machines in the UK, the company manufactures equipment for chip shops and fast-food outlets throughout the country.

“This latest order came out of the blue through our website,” Peter Stigwood said.

The machines have been customised for the new client, which required a slightly different specification.

Peter looks after the day-to-day running of the business, with his father now restricted to occasional office duties.

Austin said: “We have made machines for places in Tenerife and Lanzarote in the past but this is the first from as far as South Africa.”

Champs Chicken, established in 1995, has outlets in Fort Beaufort and the neighbouring town of Alice, where many Scottish settlers made their home in the early 1800s.

Peter Stigwood concluded: “We are one of the smallest manufacturing business in this industry, we have only two products, 28lb and 56lb peelers and we would love more export orders.”

In addition to Peter, the firm has three other engineers — Ian Conway, from Greenacres, Andrew McArthur, from Shaw and Rod Pickering, from Hathershaw.