Little Chef
Encyclopedia
Little Chef is a chain of roadside restaurants in the United Kingdom, founded in 1958 and owned by the UK private equity
group RCapital. Little Chef's previous owners were The People's Restaurant Group Ltd., a company belonging to British catering entrepreneurs Simon Heath and Lawrence Wosskow, which went into administration
on 3 January 2007. Every year, the restaurant serves around 20 million customers, and is famous for its 'Olympic Breakfast'.
Little Chef had five restaurants in the Republic of Ireland, but they were sold to Egan Hospitality with two rebranded
as Metzo
in 2005 and the rest as Eddie Rockets
. At its peak the Little Chef chain had about 435 restaurants, however as of February 2011, Little Chef only has 162 restaurants.
The Little Chef brand was, for many years, in decline due to poor investment from owners and poor quality food and service. However, following changes made by Heston Blumenthal
as part of a Channel 4
documentary entitled Big Chef takes on Little Chef, the company's image has increased dramatically. Changes included a new restaurant design, new higher quality menu and more approachable staff. As a result of his efforts, Heston's trial restaurant at Popham managed to get into the Good Food Guide
, and the new design is being rolled out throughout the restaurant chain.
opened the first Little Chef, with 11 seats, in Reading
in 1958. It was modelled after roadside diner
s he had seen in the United States. By 1968 the business had expanded to twenty five Little Chef Grill bars, mostly featuring "cafeteria" self-service: the two most expensive of the thirty two dishes on the menu were "gammon steak with fried egg, pineapple and french fried potatoes" and "rump steak with onions, tomatoes and french fried potatoes". Both dishes were offered at 9s 6d (equivalent to £0.475). By the end of the 1960s Little Chef had become part of Gardner Merchant, itself a subsidiary of Trust Houses, which merged with Charles Forte
's hotel and catering empire in 1970 to become Trust House Forte. By that time, Trust House Forte had 44 Little Chef restaurants.
However, in 1995 Trusthouse Forte announced plans to start converting Happy Eaters to Little Chefs, with fourteen being converted by July.
), and Little Chefs were opened at larger Trust House Forte service areas on motorways and trunk roads. In 1987 these service areas became known as Welcome Break
after the acquisition of the smaller Welcome Break group of motorway service areas and the Happy Eater
roadside restaurants, Little Chef's main rival at the time, in 1986 as part of the break-up of Imperial Group
. Under Forte ownership Little Chef and Happy Eater retained their separate identities.
Little Chef had a spin off brand called "Little Chef Express" which Forte developed in 1995 as a rival to fast food outlets. The first Express outlet was at the Markham Moor service station (A1 North), though only as an addition to the existing Little Chef menu there. However, only five restaurants were ever built on the roadside, and the idea was re-developed when Little Chef was taken over by Compass, with the Express take outs being set up in food courts, including one in the Eurostar terminal.
In 1996 the catering and broadcasting conglomerate Granada successfully mounted a hostile takeover for the Forte group. The Welcome Break chain was sold by Granada, the Little Chefs at those motorway service areas becoming a similar table service restaurant, Red Hen.
In 1998, Granada bought AJ's Family Restaurants, another Little Chef rival, from the "Celebrated Group" and converted all of its fifteen sites to Little Chefs. AJ's had originally been set up in 1986 by two Happy Eater directors, following Happy Eater's sale to Forte.
to form Granada Compass plc, but the two demerged in 2001 leaving Little Chef as part of Compass. At about this time some Little Chefs began serving Harry Ramsden's
meals, a cross-branding exercise by Compass who also owned Harry Ramsden's, though this ended in June 2004.
The private equity
business Permira
bought Travelodge and Little Chef from Compass Group
in December 2002 for £712 million, forming a special purpose vehicle called TLLC Group Holdings. Those Little Chefs at Moto
motorway service areas – formerly the Granada motorway service areas, and owned by Compass until 2006 – were owned by Moto and operated as franchised outlets.
In August 2004, Little Chef announced it planned to change their logo, to a slimmer version of 'Fat Charlie', the chain's current mascot. Little Chef's chief executive Tim Scoble said that this was " the start of a re-image programme for Little Chef" and that the chain "has become a little bit dated", but now wishes to "take it forward into the 21st century". He also noted later on that "We get accusations that he's overweight and a lot of people have also written in to say it was a small child carrying hot food, which they said was dangerous". However, the idea was dropped after 15,000 customers complained.
In 2005 the company was sold to catering entrepreneurs Lawrence Wosskow and Simon Heath for £58 million. TLLC kept hold of Travelodge, and The People's Restaurant Group Ltd was founded by the new owners of Little Chef, however they continued trading under the same name.
In March 2006, the People's Restaurant Group sold 65 of its sites under a leaseback
deal for £59 million to Israeli property group Arazim.
payments and had lost nearly half of their branches in five years. Furthermore, Laurence Wosskow suffered a heart attack and subsequent ill health earlier in the year, and was unable to help turn the company around. On 21 December, Little Chef announced they were in urgent rescue talks with a group of American investors, in the attempt to secure rescue funding. It had been suggested at the time that PricewaterhouseCoopers
was on standby to act as administrators for the company; however a source close to the company was quoted as saying “We are still very hopeful that this situation can be resolved.” At the time, the People's Restaurant Group was being advised by KPMG
's corporate recovery arm.
In December 2006 it was widely reported that Little Chef had been taken into administration, , and the company was then rescued on 3 January 2007 by RCapital, a UK private equity group, which paid less than £10 million. 38 of the 235 branches were not included in the sale and were closed immediately; the remaining restaurants continued to operate normally.
By December 2007 a number of sites not leased from Travelodge or Arazim (Little Chef's two main landlords) closed, as Little Chef had not been able to reach agreements with the individual landlords. As all the franchised outlets at Moto sites closed during 2008/2009, the chain was further reduced. However, during 2008–09 some closed branches from 2007 were re opened at Warwick
(A46
), Shiptonthorpe
(A614
), Malton
(A64
) and Ings
(A591
). This took the total in Summer 2009 to 177. There was a belief that Little Chef would like to boost their number of sites to 200 again and had targeted Yorkshire and the North East as an area for potential growth; however, in 2009 two more branches closed (Guildford
(A3
) and South Cave West
(A63
)) and another thirteen closed in 2010, taking the total number to 162 in August 2010.
From its inception until the mid 1990s Little Chef had relatively little competition from other chains. However, by the early 2000s, the business was seen to be in decline, sometimes attributed to owners from Granada onwards having extracted too much money from the business without investing in updating the format. Britain's roadsides had become saturated by fast food restaurants such as McDonald's
, KFC
, and Burger King
. Granada opened several Burger Kings within or adjacent to their Little Chef sites as a response, making Little Chef the largest Burger King franchise in the UK.
A further challenge to Little Chef was the rise of pub restaurants which catered both for the business and family markets. Recently refurbished service stations began to offer additional choices such as Marks & Spencer Simply Food and coffee chains such as Costa in place of Little Chef outlets, which appealed to people not wanting to spend a long time over a meal. Furthermore, the construction of the motorway network meant that A-roads (along which Little Chef outlets were usually situated) were no longer used for long-distance travel.
In 2005 it was announced that 130 underperforming restaurants were to be closed, reducing the chain to 234 restaurants. Prior to that however, Granada had been gradually reducing the number of restaurants, from well over 300 at one time. During 2005 Travelodge Hotels Ltd (the new name for TLLC) made various announcements about the sale of some or all of the restaurants, until in October the chain was sold to The People's Restaurant Group Ltd, who planned to modernise the restaurants and introduce self service.
Changes introduced during 2006 included the opening of coffee shops under the name Coffee Tempo!
within several larger branches. These 'grab and go' units were developed by Nick Smith, who joined Little Chef as development director after leading the design and implementation of the Wild Bean Café format at BP
petrol stations. Little Chef also introduced a takeaway menu. Both initiatives were aimed to increase the appeal of the brand to customers unwilling to spend a long period waiting for table service.
The People's Restaurant group slashed menu prices in an attempt to attract customers. Unfortunately, the only outcome of this was less money going through the tills. It would appear that Little Chef completely ignored the competition it was faced with, not to mention the fact that restaurants had become run down and staffed minimally.
was to appear in a Channel 4
documentary programme to revamp the Little Chef chain; the programme was broadcast from 19 to 21 January 2009, and involved Blumenthal introducing a new menu and organising a refit at the Little Chef in the village of Popham
, near Basingstoke
. The trial was successful, with a promise from the owner that none of the dishes would change without Blumenthal's consent. Heston Blumenthal returned to Popham in February 2009 to review progress, and the owner promised that if there was a profit within three months the redesigned format would be spread to all branches. Furthermore two more former Little Chef branches would reopen, in Ings and Malton. It was later announced that a further two Little Chef branches, at York and Kettering, would be refurbished in the style of the trial in Popham.
or cod
, all with chips
. Pasta and salads were introduced in the early 1990s. For dessert, pancake
s have always been the most famous items, with a choice of toppings. There is also a children's menu and a new takeaway menu. Little Chefs offer each diner a free lollipop on leaving.
Prior to the company going into administration, the People's Restaurant Group had begun to modernise the Little Chef menu, introducing 'subs' and panini
.
In November 2008 during the revamp, Heston Blumenthal
wrote the new menu featuring some of the features famous in his restaurant, The Fat Duck
, modernising old British classics. His original menu featuring Lancashire Hotpot
with an oyster and buttered roast potato soup got scrapped after taking too long to make and the board of Little Chef disliking it. When shown that menu and given the option in a branch of Little Chef people thought it was "too posh" with 5:1 preferring the old menu. His altered menu featured such dishes as spit-roast chicken, a new Olympic Breakfast, ox cheeks, and new healthier options. The Telegraph newspaper reported in May 2009 that after a seven month trial, the Heston Blumenthal menu was to be rolled out across the entire Little Chef estate, initially at further test sites, and that only minimal changes would be made for logistical purposes.
The new 2011 menu is based upon the one designed by Heston albeit with many of the traditional Little Chef dishes still available. The new concept 'Good to Go' delis serve sandwiches and takeaway meals in several refurbished restaurants.
A 'Good to Go' deli offering was introduced in the new concept restaurants, making bespoke sandwiches as well as takeaway meals appealing to customers on the move. 'Good to Go' sits alongside the traditional sit-down Little Chef format.
In May 2011 the company reported a 47% increase in food sales.
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
group RCapital. Little Chef's previous owners were The People's Restaurant Group Ltd., a company belonging to British catering entrepreneurs Simon Heath and Lawrence Wosskow, which went into administration
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
on 3 January 2007. Every year, the restaurant serves around 20 million customers, and is famous for its 'Olympic Breakfast'.
Little Chef had five restaurants in the Republic of Ireland, but they were sold to Egan Hospitality with two rebranded
Rebranding
Rebranding is the creation of a new name, term, symbol, design, or a combination of them for an established brand with the intention of developing a differentiated position in the mind of stakeholders and competitors....
as Metzo
Metzo
Metzo is a restaurant chain in the Republic of Ireland, that is owned by Egan Hospitality.Some restaurants are located next to a Travelodge hotel....
in 2005 and the rest as Eddie Rockets
Eddie Rockets
Eddie Rocket's is an Irish restaurant chain. It offers American-style food in 1950s' style diners...
. At its peak the Little Chef chain had about 435 restaurants, however as of February 2011, Little Chef only has 162 restaurants.
The Little Chef brand was, for many years, in decline due to poor investment from owners and poor quality food and service. However, following changes made by Heston Blumenthal
Heston Blumenthal
Heston Marc Blumenthal OBE is an English chef and owner of The Fat Duck, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Bray, Berkshire voted Best Restaurant in the UK by The Good Food Guide 2007 and 2009, and voted best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine in 2005...
as part of a Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
documentary entitled Big Chef takes on Little Chef, the company's image has increased dramatically. Changes included a new restaurant design, new higher quality menu and more approachable staff. As a result of his efforts, Heston's trial restaurant at Popham managed to get into the Good Food Guide
Good Food Guide
The Good Food Guide is an annual guidebook to the best restaurants in the UK, published by Which?books.The Good Food Guide was first published in 1951 by Raymond Postgate, an enthusiastic gourmet, who was appalled by the standard of contemporary catering. He recruited an army of volunteers to...
, and the new design is being rolled out throughout the restaurant chain.
History
Conception and early years
Caravan manufacturer Sam AlperSam Alper
Samuel Alper OBE was a London born caravan designer and manufacturer responsible for the famous Sprite caravan, founder of the Little Chef chain of roadside restaurants, a viticulturist who revived the ancient Roman winery at Chilford Hall, a sculptor, the founder of the Curwen Print Study Centre...
opened the first Little Chef, with 11 seats, in Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
in 1958. It was modelled after roadside diner
Diner
A diner, also spelled dinor in western Pennsylvania is a prefabricated restaurant building characteristic of North America, especially in the Midwest, in New York City, in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, and in other areas of the Northeastern United States, although examples can be found throughout...
s he had seen in the United States. By 1968 the business had expanded to twenty five Little Chef Grill bars, mostly featuring "cafeteria" self-service: the two most expensive of the thirty two dishes on the menu were "gammon steak with fried egg, pineapple and french fried potatoes" and "rump steak with onions, tomatoes and french fried potatoes". Both dishes were offered at 9s 6d (equivalent to £0.475). By the end of the 1960s Little Chef had become part of Gardner Merchant, itself a subsidiary of Trust Houses, which merged with Charles Forte
Charles Forte, Baron Forte
Charles Forte, Baron Forte was a British caterer and hotelier. His obituary in The Guardian obituary stated that: He created a worldwide empire of restaurants and hotels from virtually nothing-Early life:...
's hotel and catering empire in 1970 to become Trust House Forte. By that time, Trust House Forte had 44 Little Chef restaurants.
However, in 1995 Trusthouse Forte announced plans to start converting Happy Eaters to Little Chefs, with fourteen being converted by July.
1980 – 2000
By the 1980s, Little Chef was established as a chain of inexpensive roadside restaurants. In the 1980s Little Chef Lodge hotels were opened alongside some Little Chefs (the hotels were later rebranded as TravelodgeTravelodge
Travelodge refers to several hotel chains around the world. Current operations include: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand and Australia...
), and Little Chefs were opened at larger Trust House Forte service areas on motorways and trunk roads. In 1987 these service areas became known as Welcome Break
Welcome Break
Welcome Break is a company which operates thirty-five motorway service stations in the UK. It is the second largest motorway service area operator behind Moto.-History:...
after the acquisition of the smaller Welcome Break group of motorway service areas and the Happy Eater
Happy Eater
Happy Eater was a roadside restaurant chain in the United Kingdom, that ran from 1973 till 1996 and was notable particularly amongst a certain generation for the lego that was inside the restaurant for children to play with, and the imaginatively-shaped playground equipment outside.-History:Happy...
roadside restaurants, Little Chef's main rival at the time, in 1986 as part of the break-up of Imperial Group
Imperial Tobacco
Imperial Tobacco is a global tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom. It is the world’s fourth-largest cigarette company measured by market share , and the world's largest producer of cigars, fine-cut tobacco and tobacco papers...
. Under Forte ownership Little Chef and Happy Eater retained their separate identities.
Little Chef had a spin off brand called "Little Chef Express" which Forte developed in 1995 as a rival to fast food outlets. The first Express outlet was at the Markham Moor service station (A1 North), though only as an addition to the existing Little Chef menu there. However, only five restaurants were ever built on the roadside, and the idea was re-developed when Little Chef was taken over by Compass, with the Express take outs being set up in food courts, including one in the Eurostar terminal.
In 1996 the catering and broadcasting conglomerate Granada successfully mounted a hostile takeover for the Forte group. The Welcome Break chain was sold by Granada, the Little Chefs at those motorway service areas becoming a similar table service restaurant, Red Hen.
In 1998, Granada bought AJ's Family Restaurants, another Little Chef rival, from the "Celebrated Group" and converted all of its fifteen sites to Little Chefs. AJ's had originally been set up in 1986 by two Happy Eater directors, following Happy Eater's sale to Forte.
2000 – 2007
In 2000 Granada merged with the catering group Compass Group HoldingsCompass Group
Compass Group plc is a global contract foodservice and support services company headquartered near London, United Kingdom. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world and has operations in over 50 countries...
to form Granada Compass plc, but the two demerged in 2001 leaving Little Chef as part of Compass. At about this time some Little Chefs began serving Harry Ramsden's
Harry Ramsden's
Harry Ramsden's is a fast food restaurant chain based in the United Kingdom which offers fish and chips and assorted themed dishes. The business has 35 owned and franchised outlets throughout the UK and Ireland and serves around four million meals annually....
meals, a cross-branding exercise by Compass who also owned Harry Ramsden's, though this ended in June 2004.
The private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
business Permira
Permira
Permira is a United Kingdom-based private equity firm with global reach. The firm advises funds with a total committed capital of approximately €20 billion....
bought Travelodge and Little Chef from Compass Group
Compass Group
Compass Group plc is a global contract foodservice and support services company headquartered near London, United Kingdom. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world and has operations in over 50 countries...
in December 2002 for £712 million, forming a special purpose vehicle called TLLC Group Holdings. Those Little Chefs at Moto
Moto Hospitality
Moto Hospitality is a company which operates 58 motorway service stations across the UK.Moto is owned by a consortium of shareholders including Australian Pension Funds and European and New Zealand Infrastructure Funds and is asset managed by Macquarie Investment Bank...
motorway service areas – formerly the Granada motorway service areas, and owned by Compass until 2006 – were owned by Moto and operated as franchised outlets.
In August 2004, Little Chef announced it planned to change their logo, to a slimmer version of 'Fat Charlie', the chain's current mascot. Little Chef's chief executive Tim Scoble said that this was " the start of a re-image programme for Little Chef" and that the chain "has become a little bit dated", but now wishes to "take it forward into the 21st century". He also noted later on that "We get accusations that he's overweight and a lot of people have also written in to say it was a small child carrying hot food, which they said was dangerous". However, the idea was dropped after 15,000 customers complained.
In 2005 the company was sold to catering entrepreneurs Lawrence Wosskow and Simon Heath for £58 million. TLLC kept hold of Travelodge, and The People's Restaurant Group Ltd was founded by the new owners of Little Chef, however they continued trading under the same name.
In March 2006, the People's Restaurant Group sold 65 of its sites under a leaseback
Leaseback
Leaseback, short for sale-and-leaseback, is a financial transaction, where one sells an asset and leases it back for the long-term; therefore, one continues to be able to use the asset but no longer owns it...
deal for £59 million to Israeli property group Arazim.
Administration and rescue deal
In December 2006, it emerged that Little Chef were undergoing serious financial problems; they were said to be losing around 3 million pounds a year, struggling to keep up with rentRenting
Renting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for all property charges regularly incurred by the ownership from landowners...
payments and had lost nearly half of their branches in five years. Furthermore, Laurence Wosskow suffered a heart attack and subsequent ill health earlier in the year, and was unable to help turn the company around. On 21 December, Little Chef announced they were in urgent rescue talks with a group of American investors, in the attempt to secure rescue funding. It had been suggested at the time that PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....
was on standby to act as administrators for the company; however a source close to the company was quoted as saying “We are still very hopeful that this situation can be resolved.” At the time, the People's Restaurant Group was being advised by KPMG
KPMG
KPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands....
's corporate recovery arm.
In December 2006 it was widely reported that Little Chef had been taken into administration, , and the company was then rescued on 3 January 2007 by RCapital, a UK private equity group, which paid less than £10 million. 38 of the 235 branches were not included in the sale and were closed immediately; the remaining restaurants continued to operate normally.
By December 2007 a number of sites not leased from Travelodge or Arazim (Little Chef's two main landlords) closed, as Little Chef had not been able to reach agreements with the individual landlords. As all the franchised outlets at Moto sites closed during 2008/2009, the chain was further reduced. However, during 2008–09 some closed branches from 2007 were re opened at Warwick
Warwick
Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England. The town lies upon the River Avon, south of Coventry and just west of Leamington Spa and Whitnash with which it is conjoined. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 23,350...
(A46
A46 road
The A46 is an A road in England. It starts east of Bath, Somerset and ends in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, but it does not form a continuous route. Large portions of the old road have been lost, bypassed, or replaced by motorway development...
), Shiptonthorpe
Shiptonthorpe
Shiptonthorpe is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately south east of the market town of Pocklington and north west of the market town of Market Weighton...
(A614
A614 road
The A614 is a main road in England running through the counties of Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire.Beginning at Redhill, near Calverton in Nottinghamshire at a roundabout with the A60, the road meets the A6097 at a junction which looks like a roundabout but...
), Malton
Malton, North Yorkshire
Malton is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The town is the location of the offices of Ryedale District Council and has a population of around 4,000 people....
(A64
A64 road
The A64 is a road in North and West Yorkshire, England which links Leeds, York and Scarborough. The A64 starts as the A64 ring road motorway in Leeds and then is a dual carriageway for the rest of its route, except parts of the road from Malton to Scarborough.The road approximates a section of the...
) and Ings
Ings, Cumbria
Ings is a village in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. It lies on the course on the River Gowan and A591 road, to the east of the lake, Windermere....
(A591
A591 road
The A591 is a major road in Cumbria, in the north-west of England. The stretch of the road between Windermere and Keswick has been voted Britain's Favourite Road.-Route:...
). This took the total in Summer 2009 to 177. There was a belief that Little Chef would like to boost their number of sites to 200 again and had targeted Yorkshire and the North East as an area for potential growth; however, in 2009 two more branches closed (Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
(A3
A3 road
The A3, known as the Portsmouth Road for much of its length, is a dual carriageway, or expressway, which follows the historic route between London and Portsmouth passing close to Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. For much of its length, it is classified as a trunk road...
) and South Cave West
South Cave
South Cave is a town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately to the west of Hull city centre on the A1034 road just to the north of the A63 road. North Cave is approximately to the north west.- Overview :...
(A63
A63 road
The A63 is a major road in Yorkshire, England between Leeds and Hull.-Leeds – Howden:The route out to Selby is shadowed by the Leeds-Selby railway....
)) and another thirteen closed in 2010, taking the total number to 162 in August 2010.
Competition and decline
Several factors contributed to the decline of Little Chef, including increased competition from other chains and years of under-investment and neglect by numerous owners.From its inception until the mid 1990s Little Chef had relatively little competition from other chains. However, by the early 2000s, the business was seen to be in decline, sometimes attributed to owners from Granada onwards having extracted too much money from the business without investing in updating the format. Britain's roadsides had become saturated by fast food restaurants such as McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
, KFC
KFC
KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global...
, and Burger King
Burger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
. Granada opened several Burger Kings within or adjacent to their Little Chef sites as a response, making Little Chef the largest Burger King franchise in the UK.
A further challenge to Little Chef was the rise of pub restaurants which catered both for the business and family markets. Recently refurbished service stations began to offer additional choices such as Marks & Spencer Simply Food and coffee chains such as Costa in place of Little Chef outlets, which appealed to people not wanting to spend a long time over a meal. Furthermore, the construction of the motorway network meant that A-roads (along which Little Chef outlets were usually situated) were no longer used for long-distance travel.
In 2005 it was announced that 130 underperforming restaurants were to be closed, reducing the chain to 234 restaurants. Prior to that however, Granada had been gradually reducing the number of restaurants, from well over 300 at one time. During 2005 Travelodge Hotels Ltd (the new name for TLLC) made various announcements about the sale of some or all of the restaurants, until in October the chain was sold to The People's Restaurant Group Ltd, who planned to modernise the restaurants and introduce self service.
Changes introduced during 2006 included the opening of coffee shops under the name Coffee Tempo!
Coffee Tempo!
Coffee Tempo! is a chain of coffeehouses in the United Kingdom. Coffee Tempo! was developed in 2005 and offers snacks and hot and cold drinks.-Locations:...
within several larger branches. These 'grab and go' units were developed by Nick Smith, who joined Little Chef as development director after leading the design and implementation of the Wild Bean Café format at BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
petrol stations. Little Chef also introduced a takeaway menu. Both initiatives were aimed to increase the appeal of the brand to customers unwilling to spend a long period waiting for table service.
The People's Restaurant group slashed menu prices in an attempt to attract customers. Unfortunately, the only outcome of this was less money going through the tills. It would appear that Little Chef completely ignored the competition it was faced with, not to mention the fact that restaurants had become run down and staffed minimally.
Heston Blumenthal
It was announced in March 2008 that celebrity chef Heston BlumenthalHeston Blumenthal
Heston Marc Blumenthal OBE is an English chef and owner of The Fat Duck, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Bray, Berkshire voted Best Restaurant in the UK by The Good Food Guide 2007 and 2009, and voted best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine in 2005...
was to appear in a Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
documentary programme to revamp the Little Chef chain; the programme was broadcast from 19 to 21 January 2009, and involved Blumenthal introducing a new menu and organising a refit at the Little Chef in the village of Popham
Popham
Popham is a surname.As a surname Popham may refer to:* Alexander Popham, , MP in the Long Parliament* Alix Popham, Welsh rugby union player* Arthur E...
, near Basingstoke
Basingstoke
Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of...
. The trial was successful, with a promise from the owner that none of the dishes would change without Blumenthal's consent. Heston Blumenthal returned to Popham in February 2009 to review progress, and the owner promised that if there was a profit within three months the redesigned format would be spread to all branches. Furthermore two more former Little Chef branches would reopen, in Ings and Malton. It was later announced that a further two Little Chef branches, at York and Kettering, would be refurbished in the style of the trial in Popham.
Menu
Traditionally, a staple of Little Chef's menu has been all day breakfasts, although some can only be bought before 11 am. Nearly all the menu consists of traditional British fayre. Main meals options include burgers, grills, steaks, haddockHaddock
The haddock , also known as the offshore hake, is a marine fish distributed on both sides of the North Atlantic. Haddock is a popular food fish and is widely fished commercially....
or cod
Cod
Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
, all with chips
French fries
French fries , chips, fries, or French-fried potatoes are strips of deep-fried potato. North Americans tend to refer to any pieces of deep-fried potatoes as fries or French fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of deep-fried potatoes are...
. Pasta and salads were introduced in the early 1990s. For dessert, pancake
Pancake
A pancake is a thin, flat, round cake prepared from a batter, and cooked on a hot griddle or frying pan. Most pancakes are quick breads; some use a yeast-raised or fermented batter. Most pancakes are cooked one side on a griddle and flipped partway through to cook the other side...
s have always been the most famous items, with a choice of toppings. There is also a children's menu and a new takeaway menu. Little Chefs offer each diner a free lollipop on leaving.
Prior to the company going into administration, the People's Restaurant Group had begun to modernise the Little Chef menu, introducing 'subs' and panini
Panino
Panini are small, filled, bread rolls, which are sometimes toasted. They are Italian in origin, but now found in other countries.In Italy, panino is the word for a sandwich made with a bread roll. Sandwiches there are customarily made from a roll or loaf of bread, typically a ciabatta or a rosetta...
.
In November 2008 during the revamp, Heston Blumenthal
Heston Blumenthal
Heston Marc Blumenthal OBE is an English chef and owner of The Fat Duck, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Bray, Berkshire voted Best Restaurant in the UK by The Good Food Guide 2007 and 2009, and voted best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine in 2005...
wrote the new menu featuring some of the features famous in his restaurant, The Fat Duck
The Fat Duck
The Fat Duck is a restaurant run by chef Heston Blumenthal in Bray, Berkshire, England. The restaurant is known for its menu of unusual dishes, created following the principles of molecular gastronomy examples include: "snail porridge", "sardine on toast sorbet", "bacon and egg ice cream", and...
, modernising old British classics. His original menu featuring Lancashire Hotpot
Lancashire Hotpot
Lancashire hotpot is a dish made traditionally from lamb or mutton and onion, topped with sliced potatoes, left to bake in the oven all day in a heavy pot and on a low heat. Originating in the days of heavy industrialisation in Lancashire in the North West of England, it requires a minimum of...
with an oyster and buttered roast potato soup got scrapped after taking too long to make and the board of Little Chef disliking it. When shown that menu and given the option in a branch of Little Chef people thought it was "too posh" with 5:1 preferring the old menu. His altered menu featured such dishes as spit-roast chicken, a new Olympic Breakfast, ox cheeks, and new healthier options. The Telegraph newspaper reported in May 2009 that after a seven month trial, the Heston Blumenthal menu was to be rolled out across the entire Little Chef estate, initially at further test sites, and that only minimal changes would be made for logistical purposes.
The new 2011 menu is based upon the one designed by Heston albeit with many of the traditional Little Chef dishes still available. The new concept 'Good to Go' delis serve sandwiches and takeaway meals in several refurbished restaurants.
2011
In 2011, a further ten new concept restaurants opened at Doncaster, Markham Moor North, Shrewsbury, Black Cat, Fontwell, Weston on the Green North, Wisley South, Ilminster, Podimore and Amesbury with a view to investing £20 million in updating the brand across the estate. New menus have been introduced and restaurants have been refurbished based on the style which celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal designed in 2009. A full rebranding exercise was undertaken by Venture Three, which was hailed as a great success by the graphic design community. As part of its modernisation the company used its new branding to create a presence in the digital arena on Facebook. and TwitterA 'Good to Go' deli offering was introduced in the new concept restaurants, making bespoke sandwiches as well as takeaway meals appealing to customers on the move. 'Good to Go' sits alongside the traditional sit-down Little Chef format.
In May 2011 the company reported a 47% increase in food sales.
External links
- Reviews:
- Channel 4Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
: http://www.channel4.com/4car/feature/4car-writes/2005/2005-03-01-little-chef.html - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
: http://travel.guardian.co.uk/restaurants/story/0,,1449178,00.html - Leicester Mercury
- Channel 4
- Business articles:
- Little Chef chain says goodbye to Fat Charlie, a 2 March 2006 article from CatererSearch
- UK's Travelodge sells Little Chef for 52 mln stg, an article from ReutersReutersReuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
on 20 October 2005 - Permira close to selling Little Chef chain, a July 2005 article from The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Little Chef set to become smaller, a February 2005 BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
article - Compass sells Little Chef and Travelodge, a December 2002 BBC article
- Reviews of the TV show Big Chef Takes on Little Chef