Good Friday is showtime for fish and chip shops. These London eateries are ready

It may be called Good Friday, but it's a actually a great Friday if you're a fish and seafood restaurant.

For more than a week, seafood shops across London have been stocking up on cod, haddock, and halibut, and wading through a flood of orders ahead of their busiest day of business.

Ahead of the holiday, CBC News caught up with the owners of three local fish and chip restaurants to hear about their Good Friday plans, and to find out how they prepare for such a busy day.

Luan's Seafood & Grill

Having survived 31 Good Friday's as a restaurateur, Luan Jonuzi knows a thing or two about what to expect on the big day. 

The owner of Luan's Seafood and Grill on Wellington Road (previously known as Irene's) says he's prepared, with extra staff on deck and nearly 600 pounds of Alaskan halibut on ice, along with cod and haddock, all to feed an anticipated 700 to 900 customers.

"I'm prepared for 900-plus. We will see. Time will tell on Friday," he said on Wednesday. 

The restaurant will close its dining room, so staff can focus on the mountain of Good Friday pre-orders that have come in during the week – about 90 per cent of all orders. The remainder will come Friday, he says.

"We don't cut off, because we just go. We just go, go, go, that's no problem," Jonuzi said about day-of orders.

"I know we will be overloaded by far… between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. but we'll do our best."

Workers have been cutting roughly 150 pounds of fish per day from the daily deliveries. About 90 per cent of the restaurant's overall orders are for halibut, Jonuzi says.

At least eight kitchen staff are needed, up from the usual five, each focusing on one task. Jonuzi is bracing himself for a long day dropping fresh fillets in the fryer. "It's hell. Good Friday is hell," he joked.

After those fryers have been turned off, Jonuzi says he'll take the staff out to a restaurant to relax.

"So they can be served for change."

Olde London Fish & Chips

With hundreds of takeout orders comes hundreds of takeout boxes, and Olde London Fish and Chips knows that first hand. 

The kitchen of the Southdale Road eatery is filled with bags of takeout boxes, ready and waiting for Friday's fish and chip orders – and there's more where that came from.

"(There's) some in my house, and I've got a big load in my car," owner Keri Phillips said.

To fill them, there's an equally large amount of fish and pre-cut french fries in the walk-in fridge, along with extra staff on the schedule.

It's all to keep ahead of the deluge of pre-orders that continue to arrive ahead of Good Friday, when the restaurant sees three to four times its normal business.

"We've been getting orders probably for the last week and a half," Phillips said. Family orders are the most popular item. "(On Thursday) the phone will be off the hook. I've got two extra staff just to help with the phones."

Last year, the shop sold roughly 1,300 pounds of fish, and pre-ordered 90 pounds of cut cabbage, and 50 18kg (40lbs) bags of potatoes.

To make things simple, it's just haddock and halibut up for order, Phillips said. Chicken and shrimp will be for those in the family who aren't fish fans. 

Those who don't want to wait should pre-order, she said.

"Hopefully, by 8:30-8:45 p.m. we'll all be on our way out," she said.

"Everybody's done by the end of the day, but we all pitch in and just get everything organized for the next day."

The Take Out Fish & Chips London

Good Friday's may be busy, but Kim Kennedy says they have one advantage over other Fridays.

"It's organized," said Kennedy, manager of The Take Out Fish and Chips, located at the corner of Oxford and Second streets. 

To bring some order to the chaos, the restaurant has segmented Friday into 15 minute order slots customers can choose from.

"If you knew how to cook every single meal at every single day, the stress level would be way different," she said.

With the format, the business knows how much food to prepare at a given time, said owner Mohammad Rahman, adding the kitchen can cook between 18 and 22 pieces of fish in a 15-minute slot.

"That's why we don't overbook it, so that we can cook it," he said with a laugh. 

"I had one lady who missed out one year, and she called me three months in advance. She says, 'I don't want to miss out this year!'" Kennedy said.

The restaurant's freezer is filled with 14 4,5kg (10lbs) boxes of cod, haddock, and halibut fillets waiting for their turn in the oil.

Orders will go out in handmade bags Kennedy has created of newsprint, and Rahman says he plans to come into the kitchen early Friday to get french fries ready. 

"We are not cooking anything (the) day before, we're going to start on Friday, everything on Friday," he said.