Free Fish Friday
There's more behind your Friday Fish 'n' Chips than you might think.
Before it reaches your local fish and chip shop, your fish has already been on quite a journey.
From fishers out on the water, to processing teams preparing the catch, suppliers and transport teams getting it where it needs to go, and small local businesses cooking it up for a Friday night feed.
Three in four Kiwis eat fish every week, but only one in 10 of us catch it ourselves. For most of us, enjoying New Zealand seafood depends on a whole network of people and businesses helping bring it from the ocean to our plates.
Behind Your Friday Fish is about unwrapping a little more of that story.
FREE FISH FRIDAY – ON US!
Seafood New Zealand is partnering with 10 fish and chip shops around the country for Free Fish Friday on 9 October 2026.
For that day only, the first 50 eligible customers at each participating store will receive an extra piece of fish with their fish and chips order, on us.
It’s a small shout designed to start a bigger conversation about the people and businesses behind one of New Zealand’s favourite Friday feeds.
Free Fish Friday offer valid Friday 9 October 2026 only, at participating stores and while stocks last.
Meet the Free Fish Friday stores
For Free Fish Friday, we’re partnering with fish and chip shops around New Zealand.
Each has its own story and connection to New Zealand seafood – from fishing families and fishmongers to small local businesses that have been serving their regulars for decades.
Whangārei
Fish to Fish
Former commercial fisherman Brad Leggott and Dagny Leggott built a reputation for tasty seafood at Stumpy’s Takeaways in Whangārei.
Now at Fish to Fish, they’ve extended their support for the local seafood industry. The couple buy exclusively from small, family-run Northland fishing boats for their takeaways and supply seafood to around 50 restaurants across the region.
Auckland
Mairangi Bay Fisheries
Kelvin (Chung Kui) and Christine Chow have run Mairangi Bay Fisheries for more than 20 years.
Taking fish and chips down to the beach has become a ritual for plenty of locals. The store also sells fresh, smoked and frozen seafood for customers to cook at home.
Thames
The Wharf
Wellington
Wellington Sea Market (Cuba Street)
Back in 1947, the Meo family established a fish factory on the site of this bustling takeaway and fishmonger.
Tony Basile joined the business in 1979, raising his and wife Rosina’s five children in the business. Son Dion still buys from local fishers, some of whom have supplied it for decades.
Lower Hutt
Wellington Sea Market (Lower Hutt)
Nelson
Milton Street Gourmet Takeaway & Café
Chef-owner Tony Carpenter previously cooked on luxury yachts and worked in hospitality overseas before setting out on his own in Nelson.
Milton Street Gourmet Takeaway & Café is now a long-running local eatery serving fish and hand-cut chips alongside other favourites.
Hokitika
Hokitika Townchip
Christchurch
Little Fish Co.
Part of United Fisheries, the Christchurch seafood company founded in 1974 by Kypros Kotzikas, Little Fish Co opened at Riverside Market in 2019.
Headed by Andrew Brown, a chef with more than 30 years’ hospitality experience, it sells fresh local seafood alongside sashimi, ceviche, sushi and cooked seafood, including fish and chips.
Queenstown
Erik's Fish & Chips
Erik’s Fish and Chips has been a Queenstown fish and chip destination for more than a decade.
Although founders Anna and Erik Arndt sold the business to Harri Sylva and Ben Clist in 2025, the Erik’s name and legacy continues, including its 100% coeliac-safe, gluten-free menu alongside classic Kiwi-style offerings.
Invercargill
Harbour Fish
Fisherman Damon Cooper bought a small Port Chalmers seafood business in 2003, which brother Aaron helped grow into a southern success.
Their Invercargill Harbour Fish store, formerly King’s Fishmarket, has an even longer family history. Managers Greg and Barbara King can trace their seafood lineage back more than 100 years.
There's a lot behind New Zealand Seafood
The story goes well beyond the fish itself.
New independent research commissioned by Seafood New Zealand found that commercial fishing and seafood processing:
That contribution reaches coastal communities, processing facilities, suppliers, transport and logistics businesses, retailers, hospitality businesses and households around the country.
Not near a Free Fish Friday Store?
That doesn’t mean you have to miss out on what’s behind your Friday fish.
Fish and chip shops around New Zealand are part of the network that helps make locally caught seafood accessible to Kiwis.
So whether it’s 9 October or any other Friday, you can get behind the campaign by supporting your local fish and chip shop, checking out the New Zealand seafood on the menu and finding out a little more about where your fish comes from.
Own or run a fish and chip shop?
Free Fish Friday is taking place at 10 selected stores, but it doesn’t stop there.
We’ve created a range of What’s Behind Your Friday Fish resources for fish and chip shops around New Zealand to download, display and share.
Use them to help your customers discover more about the people, businesses and journey behind their Friday feed.
Download the campaign assets:
Whether you put up a poster, share a post or start a conversation with your customers, you can help unwrap more of the story behind New Zealand seafood.