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It’s been a good time, and a long time, for the Gibson family in the Saskatoon restaurant scene.

Gibson’s Fish and Chips celebrates 60 years of service to the city. Four generations of Gibsons cut potatoes and made dough at the restaurant, now located near the intersection of East Eighth Street and Louise Avenue.

This week, the family establishment reached its final milestone.

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“It seems like a long time,” Jonathan Gibson said.

But life goes by quickly, he adds.

Gibson said his father started the business and now his grandchildren help out at the restaurant.

These 60 years of activity have not been without difficult moments, but they have worked hard and have had to keep going. when times got toughhe said.

“Restaurants have changed a lot in Saskatoon.”

Gibson said there are now a greater variety of restaurants in the city, but the cost of operating a restaurant has increased, so smaller ones are becoming more common.

He has worked at Gibson’s Fish and Chips since he was 13 and will soon celebrate his 70th birthday.

“Don’t give up on what you want to do and what you believe in,” he said. “Know that if you do your best, you will get rewards down the road.

“Running your own business is challenging, and the hours you put in, and you hope you’re doing the right thing.”

He noted that the batter made for fish and chips has been passed down in the family for 60 years.

“We have been blessed,” he said.

“We are very grateful and very grateful to the customers who have supported us. »

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Gibson said anyone starting a business right now faces challenges and that Gibson is very fortunate to have a fan base built over six decades.

“We have a large customer base that extends all over Saskatoon and throughout the province,” he said, adding that people have come 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.

“Often when we took vacations, I would send my wife on vacation with the kids, but I would work here,” he recalls.

He said they eventually decided to take some time each year to spend time with family, hoping customers would come back when they returned. The company now takes Sundays off, which Gibson considers a luxury.

“I look at other small restaurants and the hours they put in, the incredible number of hours they put in,” he said. “I feel really lucky to know that we put in those hours over the first 30 years.”

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