Cod off the menu at Rockfish restaurants

Rockfish restaurants will stop serving cod next month due to supply chain disruption and soaring prices.

Founder Mitch Tonks told CODE demand for the white fish is ‘driving up costs’, with a 35 per cent ‘tax’ on imported Russian whitefish imminent.

The chef said he has only ever bought the ‘best quality MSC cod’ from Iceland and Norway but has taken the ‘commercial decision’ to keep menu prices in his nine Rockfish restaurants affordable.

‘Prices are getting higher and higher,’ he said. ‘Cod prices have nearly trebled.

‘Supply chains all over the world are being disrupted – this is an economic issue linked to inflation.’

A portion of battered cod at the West Country group costs £18.95, but will be removed from menus on July 11. Instead, Mitch will make better use of British fish.

He told CODE: ‘I only buy the best cod I can, I don’t buy lesser produce from places like Russia, or which has been double-frozen.

‘I also don’t want people to think we’re profiteering. The quality of cod we get means we’d have to start charging £24, £25 per dish and I don’t think people are ready for that.

‘It’s not a major problem – the price of haddock is more stable. We get some from Norway and some from the UK. It’s a good opportunity to focus on British fish – hake is beautiful and we’ll be serving lots of it this summer.’

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