New fish and chip shop Just Add Salt shop opens in North Rockhampton

Two chefs have unlocked their own childhood memories, using family recipes and family values to create memories for other families. Here’s where they’ve opened.

Just Add Salt, a new Fish and Chip shop in Norman Gardens, was opened by Chefs Jessica Andrews and Jesse Smith.

It’s a food experience that’s created memories for young and old, now two Rockhampton chefs are using their culinary skills to create memorable moments for other families.

Just Add Salt, a new fish and chip shop, opened in Norman Gardens on April 27, bringing a piece of the beach to the Beef Capital.

Owners Jessica Andrews and Jesse Smith, both chefs, have worked together for a number of years and are both passionate about food and incorporating their own childhood memories.

As well as fish and chips and seafood, the business also offers burgers made using Jessica’s own family recipes, making huge quantities of patties daily.

“It (fish and chips) is one of those things everyone knows from when they were a kid,” Mr Smith said.

Beach vibes: Just Add Salt has in-house dining with the design of the venue bringing a touch of the beach to the Beef Capital.

“You could buy an amount of chips and a couple of fish fillets and then go to the park and feed the family and it's usually done when you’re sitting on the coast, picnic style.

“I think for me, it’s memories of when you got fish and chips, you knew it was a treat.”

“It just reminds you of the beach and it’s calming.”

Mr Smith said they had been run off their feet since opening the new store on April 27.

He said they had originally planned to have a coffee machine in store, but had delayed installing it because of how busy they had been.

“We don’t have the ability to stock up, so we decided to get rid of that and just stick to what we’re doing right now and fine tune and develop our skills and direction as best we can,” he said.

Ms Andrews added: “The response has been very good... we’re building and learning each day.”

Jessica and Jesse will look at expanding their offerings of food when they have fine tuned their current menu items and grown their team.

Located in the Oasis Centre in Norman Gardens, near the Bluebirds United Sports Club, the pair said customers had come from all over the region.

“The area was kind of lacking a fish and chip shop, I do know there’s one close by, but I think when you’ve got a place that’s so easy to get in and out of quick enough, and you don’t need to go to a place that’s so busy,” Mr Smith said.

“There’s a lot of community areas like the school in the area as well... we get people come from southside and The Caves as well and regularly too.”

Mr Smith said while they were keen to expand their menu, food offerings and flex their creative, they would be fine tuning and perfecting their current offerings first.

Just Add Salt, a new fish and chip shop in Norman Gardens, was opened by chefs Jessica Andrews and Jesse Smith.

“With the amount of people coming through the door... we just don’t have the space to start throwing in the extra objects at the moment,” he said.

The pair is doing long hours, sometimes working between 15 and 18 hours a day, to make their business the best it can be.

“We sort of bounce off each other, we can walk out of here at 11.30pm and at 12 or 1 o’clock in the morning and we’re still going saying ‘we should do this or this’,” Mr Smith said.

“Then at six o’clock we’re back on the phones again.”

Just Add Salt is located at the Oasis Convenience Store complex on Bruigom St in Norman Gardens and is open seven days a week between 11am and 8.30pm.