FACTS Ltd, which has been trading for three years, turns about £400,000 annually. The acronym stands Fish And Chip Technical Supplies. The business is jointly owned by two brothers, Don and Rick Stark. Don failed most of his school examinations and his Careers Guidance Officer told him he was not cut any job which involved simple Arithmetic. However, he was not put . He put a lump sum, which included all the money his grandparents had left him, into a business account and persuaded his younger brother Rick to lay nearly all his savings to support the launch of their new company. Rick lay a small proportion of his savings to finance his Open University degree in Digital Electronics. Their joint capital did not come very much, but the performance of FACTS in its first year of operation came the targets that they had been advised to go .
When the two brothers brought their first set of accounts, it seemed that the profitability of FACTS Ltd depended on sales of their computerized chipping machine, a revolutionary device for cutting potatoes into exact shapes and sizes. When the next set of figures came , it was clear that the same masterpiece of digital technology, robotics and razor sharp cutting equipment was making all the money. Sales of "Macrofish" and "Microfish", their twin high speed ovens for baking large and small fish, had fallen . Customers preferred their fish fried and medium-sized. The brothers now plan to cut these items to cut their losses. They will also pull areas of Britain where there are few Fish and Chip shops to cut transport costs.