The Sunday Times reports that Little Chef, the roadside restaurant chain, is being broken up and the brand name seems likely to disappear forever.
Once part of Sir Rocco Forte’s hotel and catering empire, the new owner of the chain Travelodge believes the Little Chef image is dated. “It has fallen victim to the twin challenges of pressure for healthier eating and, on the other hand, fast-food restaurants that do not make customers sit down and wait for a fried meal,” said the report.
Around 120 of the restaurants will be put up for sale and 115 others will be retained, but re-named, it is claimed. “Company insiders believe it is highly unlikely that any new buyer will want to maintain the Little Chef name. It is thought possible that a rival company, such as McDonald’s, will want to buy the sites,” the report added.
Permira, the company which owns Travelodge, has found revitalising Little Chef far harder than it expected when it bought the chain two years ago. One insider said: “The only people” who visited Little Chef were “the elderly, the young, and people who wanted to use the lavatories”.
Little Chef opened its first branch in Reading, Berkshire, opened in 1958 and became intrinsically linked with the expanding network of trunk roads and motorways in the 1960s and 1970s.
Attempts to slim down the famous chef were scrapped last year after reaction to Travelodge’s latest attempt to bring the brand into the modern world.
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