Thanh Bang Lu, who has owned well known Captain Ben’s fish and chip shop around the corner from the university campus since 1992, said he is retiring to get some well-needed rest.
"I need some rest because my neck and back is all sore,” he said.
Lu said he loved every single day he worked at the shop and wanted to thank his many loyal customers.
"We see a lot of people who used to come here when they were students who come back and visit the shop and say hello.
"Some people bring back children and they tell the children this is where they got their food when they were at university.
"I am always very happy to see them and the next generation.”
“I come here for lunch like three or four times a week,” he said.
University of Canterbury Student Association student executive president Tori McNoe described Lu as an "icon".
"He has been a pretty big icon for students over the years. It goes from supporting student rugby teams to creating a burger for someone in their name who was running for president of the student exec,” she said.
Lu will now hand over the ownership and management of the business to his nephew Mark Trinh, someone he described as a "tall, young and very experienced captain".
"I left it to him because he is a good chap. He is younger and stronger than me.”
"Last Sunday, someone from Timaru came all the way up here for some fish and chips," he said.
Lu said egg fried rice, fish and chips, chicken burgers and potato fritters were his most popular dishes over his 28 years in charge of the store.
He said the secret to good fish and chips was “time to work.”
He will still be at the shop from time to time.
"If my nephew is stuck and he needs help I will go there."
