Should we bemoan the imminent demise of the Little Chef chain or treat it with supreme indifference? Some say that it has failed to move with the times and therefore deserves to be consigned to the dustbin of fast food history. I disagree. I’m not a frequent customer but I do like to visit a restaurant where I know exactly what I’m going to get – simple food and reasonably priced. Of course the décor could have been improved, but its 1970s look was part of the Little Chef appeal for me.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
The Demise of the Little Chef
Should we bemoan the imminent demise of the Little Chef chain or treat it with supreme indifference? Some say that it has failed to move with the times and therefore deserves to be consigned to the dustbin of fast food history. I disagree. I’m not a frequent customer but I do like to visit a restaurant where I know exactly what I’m going to get – simple food and reasonably priced. Of course the décor could have been improved, but its 1970s look was part of the Little Chef appeal for me.
There just aren't enough of you willing to pay high enough prices!
ReplyDeleteHail the free market.
I like to visit a restaurant where the staff don't make you stand in the cold by the door waiting to be seated while they have a conversation with each other over their tea, where they serve coffee and not instant at real coffee prices, where they don't think "Only £6.99" for a pretty basic breakfast is good value. Dreadful places, Dreadful attitude to customers, long overdue for cosure.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we shouldn't complain. More McDonalds never hurt anyone, did they? ;)
ReplyDeleteThe problem for me was you didn't know what you were going to get, if you got anything at all. Looks like at least some of it is being saved now anyway (http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/s/232/232216_lifeline_for_little_chef.html)
ReplyDeletereasonably priced? Perhaps in the 70s yes.
ReplyDeleteCome off it Iain – it was completely gak food and way overpriced. 'Little Chunder' was for those too unimaginative to drive a mile off the road and find a decent pub lunch. My guess it will now be rebranded as 'Le Petit Chef' and will end up serving the same food but presented in a faux-French oh-so-sophisticated fashion.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a gap in the market for convenient food restaurants, especially along A-roads, which are table served. I wouldn't call Little Chef dreadful but I do agree with beachhutman that the service was poor. And it was outdated and needed an overhaul.
ReplyDeleteRestaurants which are more successful in this category, in my opinion, are Garfunkels in UK and Applebees in the US.
Yes, but in the event of the Little Chef's demise you could do worse than familiarise yourself with this:
ReplyDeletehttp://russelldavies.typepad.com/eggbaconchipsandbeans/
Personally I've always gone for 'Le Tout Cholesterol' in my diligent researches, and have been seldom disappointed...
I think the problem is the variation between branches in quality of food and staff.
ReplyDeleteI think they try to do to much. They should get back to the basics and do it realy well.
Having said all that, I cant remember when I last went in, as the quality is not good enough
Reasonably priced! You must be joking Iain. Little Chefs aren't totally awful, but aren't far off. Hopefully most will be bought up and reopened under new owners. From the ashes of Little Chef, a new roadside chain will rise.
ReplyDelete"The Demise of the Little Chef"
ReplyDeleteAnd there I was hoping this was a column about Hazel Blears! On your bike, cheeky girl!
As a kid I did rather like them, but my tastes have matured somewhat, and, maybe it’s just me, but whenever I’ve been in one in the last decade or so, I’ve had the impression that the service had deteriorated badly, while the chain itself is a rather dated remnant of the 1970s.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing keeping me going in was that they were still preferable to the other motorway restaurants serving even more overpriced food that had been sat under lights for the last two hours. However, a combination of M&S stores appearing in service areas, and a guide I picked up to food off the motorway, has taken away even that reason.
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/Breaks-Near-Motorways-Attractive-Alternatives/dp/0953992047/sr=1-1/qid=1167920818/ref=sr_1_1/026-3472813-6886050?ie=UTF8&s=books)
Basically, their demise has been coming for a while and I won't mourn them. I was far more disappointed to see HP sauce production going abroad!
The food tasted like it came in a colourful cardboard box from Toys 'R' Us and cost about the same as well. The service was often very poor as well. Closure at long last is richly deserved. I hope they can find a way to create a decent service station chain though.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to all -day breakfasts (and fast -as -you -like motorways) Germany is unbeatable.
ReplyDeleteBoth should be imported, at teutonic standards, as soon as possible.
Two points:
ReplyDelete1. Anyone who thinks that Little Chefs are reasonably priced is living off an expense account and
2. I remember in the 1980s there was another chain, the "Happy Eaters". In due course, THF were allowed to buy up the Happy eater chain, merge it with the Little Chef chain, and create this monstrous monopoly. As with all monopolies, it's been the customer that suffered.
The food at Little Chef is awful and I wouldn't call it particularly cheap either. You can get far better food for the price. On a car journey I'd much rather eat at McDonald's - that really is cheap and simple, and the chemicals make it taste rather good too.
ReplyDeleteThey always smell of rancid chip fat to me and the "chef" always has nasty zits that look like he's got fried eggs on his face.
ReplyDeleteAbout 10 years ago when I was travelling around the country a lot I used to really appreciate their Olympic Breakfast.
ReplyDeleteAbout a year ago I ate at a Little Chef again after not doing so for years. The serve and the food was terrible. Maybe my expectations have risen, maybe their standards had fallen? Who knows?
But y'know, I don't think it's higher expectations from the public that has hurt them. On the contrary, it's more like the arrival along our main roads of McDonalds, KFC, etc.
Hardly an improvement.
I'm afraid I couldn't disagree with you more Iain.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I ever (reluctantly) ate in a Little Chef over the years I suffered horrible, overpriced food, in detestable surroundings served by surly staff with an "attitude". I don't recall waiting less than 20 minutes for anything I ever ordered, even a cup of tea.
I recall soggy pancakes, cold sausages, damp toast and 'funny' milkshakes. I'm suprised I didn't get ill.
I even briefly worked for the Little Chef when I was 17 and I was so shocked at the state of the kitchens, and the bad management, I resigned after one day.
This is a blessing in disguise.
Good riddance.
Arrrggghhhhh!
ReplyDeleteSo it's you, Iain!
I have long sought the sort of people who go somewhere just because they know what they are going to get, in order to berate them for being dull and unimaginative, and destroying variety. That attitude has driven out the individual character, especially in the catering trade (pubs and the cheap end of the food market). I detest the fact that when I am driving long distances (which I used to do a lot) I cannot get food except at some brightly coloured and lit plastic hut that is the same everywhere. I don't want to know exactly what I am getting. I especially don't want it to be the same every time I sit down.
Let's hope that the death of the Chef helps out the few remaining roadside cafes and other local places to eat, close to our major roads.
Sorry, a bit of a rant there, but I finally have someone to blame!
Since, at last, there began something approximating competition in roadside services (although admittedly, still nowhere near enough), Little Chef was on borrowed time.
ReplyDeleteOverpriced, overcooked and totally unappetising fare that would have shamed British Rail at its butt-of-all-jokes worst, served by staff that are at best indifferent, at worst positively shambolic deserves to be consiged to the swill bin of history.
Nice to see some venture capital parasites catch a nasty bug from the whole business too.
15 years ago they were reasonably priced and had pleasing touches like unlimited coffee. Went in one about 2 years ago and was shocked at the silly prices - could get a decent meal in a pub for less money. Haven't been back.
ReplyDeleteHaving lived in Germany I completly disagree with Hatfield Girl. Some are OK the rest are awful.
ReplyDeleteGermany does not deserve the reputation it has, believe me.
I think Jonny Norfolk is wrong.
ReplyDelete"I think they try to do to much. They should get back to the basics and do it realy well".
I haven't been in one for about 10 years. The last time was on the A23 near Brighton - disgusting. Should be renamed "Large Bad Cholestorol Chef"
"Arrrggghhhhh!
ReplyDeleteSo it's you, Iain!"
Who let Keith Floyd in here?
To add, I'd rather get rid of Little Chef, and see more service areas such as this one at Tebay on the M6:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.visitcumbria.com/pen/tebay-services.htm
Not the Savoy but decent cooking, based around local produce.
Good riddance to bad rubbish, I shudder to hear you call Little Chef a 'restaurant'. I wouldn't feed what they serve to my dogs, and I'm only sorry that there so many other companies just waiting to plug the gap this company leaves. Slowly, but surely, our attitudes to food are changing in this country. However, as long as we think Little Chef is a restaurant I know just how far we have to go.
ReplyDeleteDisgusting food & revolting people.
ReplyDeleteGood riddance.
Their closure should avoid an annual row in the Catastrophe household.
ReplyDeleteWe are in the habit of breaking our trip to the Summer hols caravan with an overnight at a Travelodge, and invariably there is a Little Chef attached. Mrs Catastrophe insists on having breakfast there, whilst I would rather take up the dietary habits of Mr Oaten.
Young Master Catastrophe couldn't give a monkeys, but then he's not paying.
I hated being forced to eat at a table about one foot square and cluttered with large menus and special offer brochures. And remember that question at the till 'was everything to your satisfaction, sir?' I once at York said I objected to the TV blaring away in the corner. I got one helluva blast from the young tart on the till. And the overpricing. I did once get a tip from a Little Chef employee. Everything is frozen, even the omelettes, just stick to bacon, fried eggs and chips if you want (relatively) fresh food. Good riddance I say.
ReplyDeleteIain on your next trip to Norfolk, I suggest you try the "World Famous Comfort Cafe".
ReplyDeleteThis is a fabulous transport/bikers cafe, which welcomes all drivers. Excellent food and good vfm. Enormous menu range all home cooked.
Situated near Junction 9, (Fourwentways) near Abington Cambs.
When my parents lived in Norfolk I would always stop there on my journeys to and from London.
I have no connection with this hostery, other than being a regular, satisfied customer.
Further to my "puff" for the Comfort Cafe on the A11 - I just seen the posting on the Tebay service area from lerxt.
ReplyDeleteWould agree with him/her- it even has a duck pond and farm shop.
Sorry to be an anon - my Blogger name does not seem to like the password I have been inputting!
In many rural areas there is no other choice in the morning or evening apart from a pub or the occasional unknown cafe which might be OK but could be terrible. At least with Little Chef you had an idea what to expect.
ReplyDeleteBBC PM programme had a couple of "experts" on with various crazy ideas for improving them and one criticised them for not having Internet access but they do have WiFi or at least most do.
MB