The decline of Little Chef

Today I'm going to look at something that not so long ago was a familiar landmark that could be seen almost everywhere and a welcome sight for hungry travellers, but has disappeared in large numbers and is now quite an unusual thing to see: the humble Little Chef restaurant. I had noticed the gradual disappearance of Little Chefs from British roads but didn't realise just how drastically the company had shrunk until I discovered the brilliant Motorway Services Online and ended up spending many hours reading the fascinating information there, including a full history of the Little Chef brand.

This told me that from a peak of over 400 restaurants just 15 years ago, there are now a mere 70 Little Chefs left, which is the lowest figure since the early seventies and a hell of a decline for such a once-popular chain of eating places. Although in many locations they are now a rare sight, there are still two of them within a few miles of each other on my route home from the hospital, at Weston on the Green and Bicester, so for old times' sake I decided to eat at the former after an appointment this week and found it a very nostalgic experience. This is one of the handful of restaurants that were given the 'Wonderfully British' refurbishment a few years ago and has a reputation as one of the best Little Chefs in the country, and certainly I was pleasantly surprised by the clean and welcoming atmosphere and good quality food

A rare sight. The Little Chef at Weston on the Green in its current guise.

A lot of history...

The Little Chef story is very complex with a long history of takeovers, sales and mergers, and many different owners are involved, so given this convoluted and troubled background it maybe isn't so surprising that the brand is now in such a bad way compared with its heyday.

Trusthouse Forte

The Little Chef story began in 1958 and took inspiration from the portable roadside diners in the USA, the very first being a small 11-seat cabin located in a car park in Reading. That may not sound promising but it proved a success and just two years later Little Chef was bought out by the Trusthouse Group, who continued to expand it, such that in 1970 there were 44 Little Chefs in the UK. By 1972 that number had risen dramatically to a hundred as Trusthouse pursued a policy of offering huge incentives to transport cafes to become Little Chefs, and the brand made its first appearance overseas with two ultimately unsuccessful and short-lived sites in France.

Where it all began - the prefabricated American Little Chef that inspired the UK version
(http://littlechef.wikia.com/wiki/File:LittleChefDiner.jpeg)

Trusthouse merged with the Forte group in the 1970s to form Trusthouse Forte, and expansion of Little Chef continued with the opening of the first Little Chef Lodge motels, later renamed Travelodge after Forte acquired the rights to that name. The Little Chef and Travelodge brands would become synonymous with one another, and Little Chef first appeared at a motorway service station at Charnock Richard in 1982. By 1990 there were over 300 Little Chefs throughout the UK, and expansion into Ireland and Spain soon followed, although neither of these ventures were a great success and they were either sold off or closed down.

Happy Eater

Following the merger in the seventies, two senior managers had left to set up their own rival chains of family restaurants: former Little Chef managing director Allen Jones founded Welcome Break, while Michael Pickard (ex Trusthouse MD) formed Happy Eater. These quickly merged and the Welcome Break restaurants were rebranded as Happy Eater, but the name was retained and is now used on the former Trusthouse Forte motorway services that are no longer associated with Little Chef. The main difference between Little Chef and Happy Eater was that the latter promoted itself as being more child-friendly and its sites all featured outdoor play areas.

In 1986, Happy Eater was taken over by Forte (ironically given how it started life) and came into common ownership with Little Chef. Both were retained as separate entities for some years but by 1997 the Happy Eater name had disappeared and all remaining restaurants had been rebranded as Little Chefs. On reflection this may not have been the best strategy as in some places there were now too many Little Chefs in close proximity and they started competing with each other. This deal also included the rights to the Welcome Break name, which was applied to Forte's motorway services and started the once-familiar association between Welcome Break and Little Chef to motorway drivers.

Remember this logo? It disappeared almost two decades ago

AJ's Diner

Who remembers the short-lived AJ's chain? Following the takeover of Happy Eater, Allen Jones and Jane Pickard (Michael's wife) once again decided they didn't want to work for Trusthouse Forte and departed to form AJ's. The company struggled in the recession-hit 1990s and briefly peaked at 24 sites, most of which ended up becoming Little Chefs. The restaurants at Granada motorway services were turned into Little Chefs after Granada took over Trusthouse Forte, while four others were sold to McDonalds.

By 1998, AJ's was no more, having sold their remaining sites to Starvin Marvin's, who subsequently sold them on to Granada. They were all rebranded as Little Chefs but many were near existing Little Chef sites so they quickly closed and were sold off. What is now the Spice Hut on the A422 at Deanshanger first opened as an AJ's, but was only briefly a Little Chef as it was too close to the existing one at Old Stratford, and has been through various private owners since the demise of AJ's.

Granada

In 1995 Trusthouse Forte was taken over by rival motorway services operator Granada, the deal including the Little Chef, Welcome Break and Travelodge brands. This quickly resulted in a reduction in Little Chefs on the motorway network as the Monopolies & Mergers Commission ordered Granada to sell the Welcome Break operation, and the Little Chefs at Welcome Break sites were replaced by the latter's own 'Red Hen' brand, itself long-defunct. Meanwhile, Granada entered into a franchise agreement with Burger King which saw many of the existing sites become combined Little Chef and Burger King restaurants, an arrangement that continues to this day; indeed, you may not know that there are still some Burger Kings that are actually run by Little Chef. High prices and sometimes poor quality food and service led to the nickname of 'Little Thief' appearing around this time.

Little Chef and Burger King, a familiar combination
(by Margaret Clough [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

Having swallowed up Happy Eater and AJ's (and also the small Kelly's Kitchen chain), developed ties with Burger King and expanded into motorway services, the late nineties were the golden era of Little Chef but it wasn't to last. This period saw massive expansion with pretty much all of Granada's other restaurant franchises at motorway and A-road service areas removed in favour of Little Chefs, and many new sites were built as combined Little Chefs and Travelodges, sometimes also including a Burger King as with my local one in Buckingham. In hindsight they over-expanded and prioritised quantity over quality, as this was the time that standards started slipping at some older sites and the name acquired a poor reputation that has never really gone away. Numbers reached an all-time high of 439 sites in 2000, but this had already been reduced to 406 by the end of the following year.

More new owners

The brand has been through no fewer than five changes of ownership since 2000, as each new owner tried and failed to make a go of it, and the number of sites has steadily reduced during the 21st century. Granada merged with the Compass catering company in 2000, only to demerge the following year with Compass taking on Granada's hospitality business including Little Chef, Travelodge and the motorway services, which were rebranded as Moto.

After a couple of years, Compass sold Little Chef and Travelodge to the Canadian Permira company. although they seemed to have little interest in the former and sold it again in 2005 to the People's Restaurant Group, thus severing the connection between the Little Chef and Travelodge brands. As Little Chef had provided catering to most of the co-located Travelodges, which now opened their own in-house dining rooms instead, this must have been a bitter blow and numbers had dropped below 200 by 2007 against a background of severe financial problems.

A closed and boarded up Little Chef is an all-too-common sight these days
(by Mark Evison [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

 

Heston Blumenthal and Wonderfully British

The struggling Little Chef chain entered its 50th year in a difficult way by going into administration, and was rescued by venture capital firm R Capital. After years in the doldrums, the company reappeared in the public eye with the much-publicised involvement of celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal in relaunching Little Chef with a whole new image. The first 'Heston-ised' restaurant at Popham was a great success and even put Little Chef into the Good Food Guide for the first time ever, but despite grand plans only two other sites were ever given the full Heston treatment, and all of his dishes have since been removed from the menu, being seen as too pretentious for the chain's typical clientele.

By this time, the brand was suffering from years of neglect and under-investment, as for a long period Little Chef had faced little competition and become complacent, but now a new generation of family pubs and high-quality fast food outlets, such as Wetherspoons and M&S Simply Food, were appearing and a response was urgently needed. Ten more restaurants were refurbished by R Capital in 2011, but to a simplified style branded as 'Wonderfully British' and without Heston Blumenthal's involvement, and at the same time a new logo was introduced. Some former sites did briefly reopen as part of R Capital's expansion plans, only to close again within a few years, and during 2012 a large number of loss-making Little Chefs were closed, including my other local one at Old Stratford. In many cases, such as at Weston on the Green and Towcester, where they were positioned on both sides of a dual-carriageway, one side would close to leave its counterpart trading alone.

Little Chef today

In 2013, what was left of Little Chef changed hands again, being sold by R Capital to the Kout Food Group, its current owner. Kout have plans to revitalise the brand, but in the short-term this has caused some further closures and no new Little Chefs have opened for a very long time. Many of the survivors are now looking rather dated, having not seen any major investment since the Granada days, and have a very 1990s atmosphere that is long overdue for a refresh. The combined Little Chef and Burger King restaurants had been reduced by R Capital, but Kout have now reopened 15 Burger Kings at Little Chefs that previously featured them, and have also started to introduce Subway franchises to Little Chef sites. At present, Kout own just 70 Little Chefs, plus eight Burger King-only restaurants, most of which used to be Little Chefs.

The Art Deco Little Chef at Wansford soon fell into dereliction after closure
(http://littlechef.wikia.com/wiki/File:Wansford_former_little_chef.jpg)

Having operated under a franchise agreement since the sale to Permira, Little Chefs have now completely disappeared from motorway services as the last one, at Toddington on the M1, closed in 2009 to make way for a Costa coffee shop, and the few remaining sites tend to be on A-roads near urban areas. Such has been the number of closures that in recent years the Little Chef name has come to be most associated with abandoned and boarded-up restaurants, and there are areas where a disused Little Chef is a far more common sight than an active one. Even now many of these buildings remain empty, unable to find new occupants and gradually falling into dereliction, a very sad sight. Those closed have included some of the most iconic Little Chefs, such as the one under the hyperbolic roof at Markham Moor and the Art Deco building at Wansford, and many former Little Chefs are still easily recognisable in new ownership thanks to their distinctive house style of architecture.

So what went wrong?

The decline of Little Chef could be blamed on a number of factors, including reduced traffic on A-roads in favour of motorways, somewhere the brand no longer has a presence. Its basic and unpretentious meals, while good honest food, just don't seem to have a place anymore in this hectic modern world of fast food, coffee bars, gastropubs and haute cuisine, and maybe customers' tastes are changing and they are becoming more discerning so the simple Little Chef menu no longer cuts the mustard. Despite the best efforts of its various owners, the Little Chef brand never seems to have been able to shake off its old-fashioned bargain basement image and is still seen as a relic of the past against so many trendy modern eating places that have sprung up in recent years.

The most famous Little Chef of all? Popham after its Blumenthal makeover. What a shame this wasn't continued.
(http://www.insearchofheston.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Heston-Blumenthal-Little-Chef-Popham-Channel-4-Exterior.jpg)

There has been a lack of focused investment and marketing since the sale by Granada and too much turmoil and change of direction, so the company has never really been able to settle into a stable pattern and the poor reputation acquired back in the late nineties has not been fully addressed. The Heston Blumenthal initiative could have seen a great resurrection and a whole new image for the brand, but it wasn't to be and ongoing financial problems have led to so many Little Chefs either closing or simply being left to soldier on unchanged. Even now, there are people who will still avoid Little Chefs as a result of a bad experience a decade or two ago, and they are not seen as desirable or aspirational places to eat, but rather the last resort when no other options are available. Nobody gets excited by a trip to Little Chef and it's a place for people who need to eat, not those who want to eat as a social occasion.

As the brand approaches its 60th birthday in 2018, it looks likely that it will at least still exist to celebrate it, albeit only as a pale shadow of its former self. The current owners do have grand plans to revitalise Little Chef, but how successful this will be remains to be seen as so many others have tried and failed in the recent past and things may now have gone beyond the point of no return. The decline of the Little Chef in the 21st century has been quite remarkable and is really rather sad, as those distinctive white and red restaurants used to be a frequent and very welcome sight for hungry travellers all over the country, yet the chances of finding a Little Chef that is actually open and serving food seem to be constantly reducing and things just aren't the same without them.

Markham Moor South was another iconic Little Chef. Sadly it closed just before that wonderful roof was listed.
(by Richard Croft [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

The eating experience

I have fond childhood memories of the local Little Chef in Buckingham, but this closed a long time ago (and is still empty and boarded up) and I hadn't set foot in one for many years so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. The restaurant at Weston on the Green (originally a Happy Eater until 1996) seemed reassuringly familiar, with the typical red and white decor and the long-lived mascot 'Fat Charlie' still very prominent, albeit in a slimmed-down and healthier form. Thanks to the 'Wonderfully British' treatment, it was clean, bright and welcoming, with pleasant and attentive staff and prompt service. While there is nothing especially exciting or unusual on the menu and it isn't the place if you want to eat something adventurous, there are plenty of good traditional family favourites including all-day breakfasts, a choice of burgers and various sandwiches and wraps, and the brand's staples, the Olympic Breakfast and Jubilee Pancakes, are still very much available.

I chose 'The Works Burger', which for £10.95 provided two large burgers, salad, cheese, bacon, onion rings and relish together with a huge portion of chips, in my case sweet potato fries but thin or chunky chips are also available. My dad had a corned beef hash and my mum a halloumi burger - all three of us pronounced the meals very tasty, very filling and good value, and came away surprisingly impressed by the whole experience. Being a Monday afternoon it was hardly peak time, but there was a steady trickle of customers arriving and we were never dining alone, which is a good sign and suggests the place is popular. One abiding memory I have is of the lollipops that were given to customers when leaving, so I was amazed to see that after all these years they are still offered in exactly the same form and I just had to take one for nostalgia's sake.

Blast from the past! Yes, Little Chef still have these lollipops.

I must admit to being impressed by my visit to the Weston on the Green restaurant, and came away thinking positively that just maybe there is still a place for the Little Chef in this modern world. With its waited service, it's certainly a more pleasant and relaxing place to eat than the likes of McDonalds and KFC, but without any of the pretentiousness or snobbery you often find at modern restaurants, and it is perfect when you're hungry and just want to eat something simple, filling and comfortingly familiar in an informal atmosphere but don't want fast food. The Little Chef name still seems to stand for the same values as it always has, namely honest, straightforward and tasty down-to-earth meals for the weary traveller at reasonable prices. The company's decline is remarkable and very sad, but it has at least survived and I do think there is potential for a revival based on my experience at Weston on the Green. Here's to 60 years of Little Chef in 2018!

This piece has been compiled with extensive reference to the Little Chef history at Motorway Services Online and the Little Chef Wiki, so thanks go to those sites' contributors for providing such a large quantity of informative material.