- Written by John Douglas
- Radio 4's Toast Podcast Producer
With 439 restaurants on major routes across the UK, Little Chef once had a near monopoly on roadside dining. So why did restaurant chains disappear?
Many of us have fond memories of visiting Little Chef as children.
Sheffield resident Lawrence Woskow remembers the free sweets.
“I always got lollipops when I was there,” he says, recalling a visit with his family on the way to Bournemouth for the summer.
“We always looked forward to going. Once we saw Little Chef, we knew it would be great.”
Lawrence carried his love for Little Chef into adulthood and grew into a successful entrepreneur, eventually purchasing a restaurant chain.
He was one of many Little Chef owners over the course of Little Chef's 60-year history.
Little Chef was founded in 1958 by catering boss Peter Merchant and caravan maker Sam Alper.
The pair witnessed the popularity of roadside diners during a business trip to the US and decided to bring their version to the UK.
Car ownership was increasing and Britain's road network was expanding.
Sam Alper's widow Fiona believes her husband saw an opportunity.
“I think Sam had a vision that all these people and their cars needed somewhere to stop and have a decent, affordable meal.”
Marchent and Alper opened their first Little Chef in Reading, Berkshire, in a small prefabricated building with seating for just 11 customers.
About 10 years later, the company was acquired by Trust Houses Ltd, which later merged with Charles Forte's hotel and catering business and became known as Trusthouse Forte.
Famous for its Olympic Breakfast and Jubilee Pancakes with Cherry Sauce, Little Chef went from strength to strength, and an affordable hotel known as the Little Chef Lodge was built next to some of the restaurants.
It was later rebranded as Travelodge, after the American motel brand that Charles Forte also acquired.
In 1996, media conglomerate Granada acquired Trusthouse Forte and began opening Little Chef branches at motorway service stations.
The number of restaurants reached a maximum of 439.
Becky Parr Phillips said the decline in business had been “gradual.” Becky Parr Phillips started working at Little Chef as a waitress in the 1990s, worked her way up to managerial positions and then to executive director about 15 years later.
Chains still had a monopoly on roadside restaurants, so owners were keen to cut costs and maximize profits.
“We had some closures, prices went up, and customers started calling us Little Thief instead of Little Chef,” Becky says.
Restaurant chain owner Granada had merged with Compass Group before selling its Little Chef and Travelodge businesses to private equity firm Permira.
When Lawrence Woskow bought Little Chef from Permira in 2005, there were 234 restaurants remaining, many in need of renovations.
He and business partner Simon Heath raised millions of pounds for improvements by selling the restaurant building and leasing it from the new owners.
Dozens of coffee and sandwich vendors were added to Little Chef restaurants because customers were no longer so keen on stopping in for a sit-down meal.
They aimed to capture people on the go, along with Burger King locations that were already operating under franchises within some Little Chef branches.
Lawrence said the sale-and-leaseback agreement was “absolutely the right thing to do” and that lower prices also helped bring back customers.
However, during peak trading in the summer of 2006, bad weather hit his sales, and he suffered a heart attack and almost died.
Doctors told him to avoid “all stressful situations”, meaning he had to quit his business.
He calls it “one of the most difficult times” of his life.
Little Chef went bankrupt and Lawrence Woskow took control less than 18 months later.
Turnaround specialist Rcapital led the rescue bid and became Little Chef's new owners.
They brought in celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal to revamp the menu as part of a Channel 4 documentary.
Although Blumenthal's new menu received rave reviews from restaurant critics, only a handful of Little Chefs have been featured so far.
Rcapital refurbished restaurants while closing others and sold the business to Kuwaiti company Kout Food Group (KFG) in 2013 for a profit of £6m.
At that time, there were 78 restaurants remaining.
Becky Parr Phillips, who served as operations director under KFG, said they were “very passionate” about rebuilding the brand and had started investing, although it was “possibly a bit too late”. Stated.
By that time, she said, consumer habits had changed and there was more competition from gas stations offering a wider selection of hot drinks and food.
Peter Harden, editor and director of Harden's Restaurant Guide, says the “secret sauce” of hospitality is not just great food, but great service.
“I think the whole ethos is a bit outdated and with this kind of traditional brand, you need to find a way to stay fresh and relevant.
“They haven't been able to sufficiently innovate their services while keeping their employees focused on making people feel valued,” he says.
In 2017, KFG retained the Little Chef name but sold the remaining restaurant building to Eurogarage for an undisclosed amount.
Euro Garage wanted the building to expand into franchises with big-name brands like Greggs and Starbucks.
About a year after the sale, all Little Chef restaurants quietly disappeared from the UK road network, replaced by more modern eateries.
Ultimately, it was unable to maintain enough customer relevance to survive in the face of new competition.
Could Little Chef be saved?
Lawrence Woskow thinks so, but thinks they need to cut back on the number of restaurants and spend more money on renovations and marketing the business.
Becky Parr Phillips looks back fondly on her years working at Little Chef, but ultimately came to the sad conclusion that “we just weren't giving people what they wanted.'' .
Toast is a BBC Radio 4 series that examines brands that reached dizzying heights but ended up being Toast. Listen to the Little Chef episode here and check out all the other episodes on BBC Sounds.