MARCH 2024 16 with Kathy Adams and Pat Foster of Pete’s Fish and Chips I t’s impossible to speak on the legacy that is Pete’s Fish and Chips without first touching on its history: Peter Grant was a school teacher, coach, NCAA basketball player, and a PT Boat Skipper in the Navy during World War II. He got bit by a mosquito and came down with malaria and dysentery. The doctors back in Indiana told him in order to recover, he needed to move to a hot, dry climate. The doctor suggested Egypt or Arizona. As he didn’t speak Egyptian, Pete and his pregnant wife moved to the Valley. He was also a pro golfer and had golfed in the U.S. Open 25 years in a row. While at these events, he had seen fish and chip stands popping up around the city. In 1947 – with $900 in his pocket – Pete took a leap of faith and opened his own fish and chip spot. Since then, Pete’s has grown to eight locations – and that’s plenty, according to Pete’s daughters Kathy and Pat, who grew up in those kitchens and now run the operational side of the business. In 1987. Kathy and my dad had been working together for several years when my dad was shot in his apartment. The robber took a $30,000-coin collection, and it was a coin dealer that helped us find the killer and put him in prison in 1988. After my dad passed, I became involved, and Kathy and I have run it ever since. Mostly clerical now, and managing the eight managers who run our restaurants. Kathy’s son Kyle runs the store at 44th St., and Casey, her daughter, runs the Mesa location. Dave, my husband, manages the Tempe store. Three of the eight are managed by family members, and the other five might as well be family because they’ve worked for us forever. When you’re part of a family business, there’s always that option, but there are other options. We didn’t think we’d transition like we did, you know? We started working at Pete’s when we were old enough to hold a potato and peel it. There are four daughters, and we all own it, but Kathy and I run the corporation. Pat: I can’t tell you – but it has to do with my friends and free milkshakes. Kathy: I have a memory from the 44th Street store. When I worked there as a little girl, my dad had a soft-serve ice cream machine. Pat: It was so good! Kathy: Yes – and I was tall enough to reach up, put that ice cream cone underneath, pull the lever, and help myself to a free ice cream cone whenever I wanted. Fish, shrimp, chicken nuggets, sandwiches, burgers and specials. Fries, onion rings, drinks, and Pete’s sauce, which people from other states request all the time. People plead with us to send them a gallon of the sauce – sometimes we send it, but most of the time, not. 4121 N. 44th St. • petesfishandchips.com In the Kitchen Pete’s Fish and Chips, circa 1994. Peter Grant with Pat, Kathy and their sister Babs, circa 1962. The first Arcadia location stood on the NW corner of 44th and Indian School – where Starbucks is now.
17 MARCH 2024 The fish and chips. There’s nothing like it anywhere. We have people calling from all over the U.S. asking us to please open a Pete’s in their city… but we’re content with our eight locations. We’re known for our no-frills price, quality and service. We’re dependable – we’ve been around for 77 years. Especially now, with inflation and high prices, it’s true that at Pete’s, you can eat out cheaper than you can cook at home. Our walls are plastered with awards and certificates – we’ve run out of room in our office to hang them! Arcadia is a very foodie- centric place, and they picked us as one of the favorites. That was so flattering. It’s the same today as it was seventy- something years ago. It’s a fifth-generation business, and there’s comfort in that because businesses don’t make it like they used to. I see comments across our Facebook page, in emails or just in conversation that Pete’s is a staple. You know what you’re going to get. We specialize in not changing because we know what works. The one thing that has changed is we’ve gone from wooden picnic tables to metal ones. It’s a little more comfortable, but you can’t carve your name on the table anymore [ laughs ]. Oh boy. Pat and I could probably write a book from all our stories over the years. We hear from people who proposed 50 years ago at a Pete’s picnic table; we get celebrities and famous baseball and basketball players in here all the time. We’re in five cities: Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe, Tolleson and Glendale. That involves a lot of people growing up in those cities, and the place to go on Friday nights was Pete’s. Before and after football games – it’s almost like people grew up with Pete’s and are now taking their kids and grandkids there. It’s an honor to be part of the story that our dad started. Well, we’ve got concessions planned for our kids and grandkids to concede us – but other than that, we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing! ARCADIANEWSARCHIVES.COM Pete’s opened in 1947 near a golf range on Van Buren.