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It’s been a good time, and a long time, for the Gibson family on the Saskatoon restaurant scene.
Gibson’s Fish and Chips is celebrating 60 years of serving the city. Four generations of Gibsons have cut potatoes and made batter at the restaurant, now located near the intersection of Eighth Street East and Louise Avenue.
This week, the family establishment reached its latest milestone.
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“It seems like a long time,” Jonathan Gibson said.
But life goes by in a hurry, he added.
Gibson said his father started the business, and now grandchildren are helping out with the restaurant.
Those 60 years of business didn’t come without some rough times, but they worked hard and had to stick it out when times got tough, he said.
“Restaurants have changed a lot in Saskatoon.”
Gibson said there’s a bigger variety of restaurants in the city now, but the cost of running a restaurant has increased, so smaller ones are becoming more common.
He’s been working at Gibson’s Fish and Chips since he was 13 and will celebrate his 70th birthday shortly.
“Don’t give up on what you want to do and what you believe in,” he said. “Know that if you try your best, there are rewards down the road.
“Running your own business is a challenge, and the hours that you put in, and you hope that you’re doing the right thing.”
He noted that the batter made for the fish and chips has been passed down through the family for 60 years.
“We’ve been blessed,” he said.
“We’re very thankful and very appreciative of the customers who have supported us.”
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Gibson said anyone starting a business right now is in for a grind, and that Gibson’s is very fortunate to have a fanbase built over six decades.
“We have this broad customer base that goes throughout Saskatoon and throughout the province,” he said, adding that they’ve had people come over from the United Kingdom and the United States to try their fish and chips.
Until about 25 years ago, the restaurant was open seven days a week.
“A lot of times when we took holidays, I’d send my wife off on a holiday with the kids, but I was working here,” he recalled.
He said they eventually decided to take some time off each year to spend with family, hoping the customers would come back when they returned. The business now takes Sundays off, which Gibson calls a luxury.
“I look at other small restaurants and the hours they’re putting in, the amazing amount of hours they’re putting in,” he said. “I feel really lucky that I know we put in those hours in the first 30 years.”
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