Thanks a million: Mossman's nears milestone sale on fish and chips

Aug. 3—Every restaurant worth its salt (or fryer) has a signature dish. The item that helps put it on the map when it opens and keeps people coming back over the years.

For Mossman's Coffee Shop, it's the fish and chips, made from a recipe perfected by founder Clarence Mossman and served since 1952.

Now the restaurant and catering business is nearing a milestone: selling its millionth order of fish and chips. Expecting to hit the landmark sale later this month, Mossman's is gearing up for a celebration with prizes for four lucky customers.

Rick Mossman, who carries on his grandfather's legacy, said they sell on average 1,000 orders a week between the Westchester location and the one in the southwest.

(That tally pales in comparison to Good Friday, which nets 1,000 orders in a day between the two locations, Mossman said. "It's kind of fun, like watching fish swim upstream. They (the employees) are like a well-tuned orchestra.")

He believes the dish's classic formula accounts for its popularity among customers, many of whom have been coming in for decades.

"We have some signature items on our fish and chips plate," he said. Every one comes with homemade bread that we make in the restaurant. The coleslaw is my grandfather's recipe and the batter is our own special recipe.

"My grandfather passed away 35, 40 years ago and we're still using his recipes in his handwriting in the recipe book."

For the dish, Mossman's uses cod loin, pulled from supply orders of 44,000 pounds of fish. Mossman said they buy two of those large orders a year sourced from Alaska/Russian waters.

And when an ingredient for Mossman's tartar sauce was discontinued, Mossman jumped into action.

"For the tartar sauce, we used to get a (seasoning) mix but the Lawry 's seasoned salt people stopped making the mix. I called them and it took 45 minutes but I got their recipe and added it to mine and we've been using that for 25 years."

Plans for the monthlong celebration hit a delay with a small kitchen fire that closed the Westchester location in mid-July. Mossman said the shop should reopen either Friday or Monday.

Once both coffee shops are ready to go, diners will be able to enter the contest by ordering fish and chips and filling out a form provided by their server. The restaurants will keep all the forms and determine who purchased the millionth order as well as the three preceding it.

All four customers will win prizes starting with the grand prize of a $1,000 voucher for Princess Cruises.

Second place is a $500 voucher for airfare. Third place (999,998) is a three-day, two-night stay in Huntington Beach. And fourth place is a fish fry for six.

Travel is great but Mossman knows where his loyalties lie: "As far as I'm concerned whoever gets the fish fry gets the best prize."

As of Monday, Mossman said the sales count was at 995,149 with just under 5,000 more to go.

Prizes will be awarded at a celebration on Aug. 31 but smaller giveaways will be held in the restaurants as well as on Mossman's social media accounts leading up to the big day.

Mossman, 64, has surpassed his grandfather's run as a restaurateur and doesn't expect to retire anytime soon. But he keeps a bank account going, which he adds to each week, that he will give to one of his managers to serve as a down payment on the business should they want to take over one day.

"At any given time, you can count the experience of my staff on hand and there's 100 years of experience," he said.

"They're empowered to salute the flag and flip me off — and they do that once in a while."

Stefani Dias can be reached at 661-395-7488. Follow her on Twitter at @realstefanidias.