Little Chef closing?

[kbc]

Good job it's closing. Last time I went in there with my dad, he said "Can I have one of these?" and pointed to the dessert pictured on the serving mat and the waitress came back with another serving mat as opposed to the dessert.

Not like that incident put me off but the food was pretty naff.

 

[Hyper]

There is still a few Little Chefs up North.

I was in one last year, only had pancakes and a drink though but found nothing wrong with it at all.

They all look rather outdated though.

 

[Elston]

Went to one a couple of months ago. Had a cooked breakfast, but had to wait 40 minutes before it was cooked, surprised me considering only 2 other tables had people sat there!

'Little Thief' is a much more appropriate name.

 

[Scuzi]

Went to one a couple of months ago. Had a cooked breakfast, but had to wait 40 minutes before it was cooked, surprised me considering only 2 other tables had people sat there!

'Little Thief' is a much more appropriate name.

I bet it was cold when you got it. There's nothing worse than cold fried food made with the cheapest ingredients, brought to its tepid state by a 19 year old mother of 4 with more grease on her face than there is on your plate. That thought is what made me sick.

 

[marc2003]

i remember the adverts. the food always looked good on those. but i must admit i haven't actually been to one....

 

[megakid]

Went to one today actually on the M1 services following a mamouth session yesterday (Monopoly Pub Crawl ... those who have done it knows what its like the next day!) - The girlfriend paid so for once, it was really rather nice. Apart from the service bloke who wasn't at all friendly, the food came reasonably quickly and was tasty enough.

Thou I wouldn't of paid 20 quid for 2 heads - 2 cups of coffee were 4 quid!! - it was only afterwards we saw 2.19 for a cafetiere (with free refills)

 

[Confused]

I haven't been to a Little Chef in years.

I think the last time I did, I walked through the door and slid all the way to the window on the other side on the layer of grease that was covering the floor!!

 

[B@Th*nG]

i remember going as a kid and loving it (about 10 yrs ago minimum) but anytime after that it just got more expensive and really poor

B@Th*nG

 

[4T5]

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17672446&highlight=chef

TBH.

 

[Shackley]

In 2002/2003 the Compass Group (the world's largest catering company), sold Travelodge and Little Chef to the private equity group Permira for about £710mllion.

Permira then sold the name and 235 Little Chef restaurants to the "People’s Restaurant Group" in late 2005 for £52million. Permira sold Travelodge to Dubai International Capital in August 2006.

Little Chef was put into administration last year, the administrators are PricewaterhouseCoopers. PWC supposedly sold Little Chef on to another private equity group (RCapital) for £10million in January 2007.

There is a good article on the failure of Little Chef here

The phrase used to describe what happened to Little Chef is "asset stripping". A bunch of "entrepreneurs" identifies a struggling company with something of value - in this case land. They buy up said struggling company, get rid of the (usually lousy and complacent) management, as many staff members as they can, strip out the assets, borrow heavily and invest in window dressing before selling on a time-bomb to some suckers.

Capitalism - ya gotta love it!

 

[Wossi]

The one near my work is now an Aunt Bessie's Cafe or some such, never been in so no idea if they charge the same prices or not.

 

[afraser2k]

Last time I was near a Little Chef was a few years ago at the border and even then it was overpriced for what you got. Having a Burger King next door with far cheaper prices didn't help it either.

I shouldn't really be surprised that it's gone the way it has done.

 

[iCraig]

Couldn't care less about Little Chef.

They serve **** food at tepid temperatures and their tea is simply freshly squeezed Canadian moose ****.

I won't miss the greasy cesspit.

 

[Chronos-X]

yeh, but they didnt buy them all, so i think its like 40% of them are closing

♣♠♂☻☻☺◦●♫♪♦♥►

How the hell did you get those codes in your sig? They even work in notepad

 

[Mr-White]

drove passed one saturday that was boarded up.

MW

 

[Skyfire]

In 2002/2003 the Compass Group (the world's largest catering company), sold Travelodge and Little Chef to the private equity group Permira for about £710mllion.

Permira then sold the name and 235 Little Chef restaurants to the "People’s Restaurant Group" in late 2005 for £52million. Permira sold Travelodge to Dubai International Capital in August 2006.

Little Chef was put into administration last year, the administrators are PricewaterhouseCoopers. PWC supposedly sold Little Chef on to another private equity group (RCapital) for £10million in January 2007.

There is a good article on the failure of Little Chef here


The phrase used to describe what happened to Little Chef is "asset stripping". A bunch of "entrepreneurs" identifies a struggling company with something of value - in this case land. They buy up said struggling company, get rid of the (usually lousy and complacent) management, as many staff members as they can, strip out the assets, borrow heavily and invest in window dressing before selling on a time-bomb to some suckers.

Capitalism - ya gotta love it!

Thanks buddy, Rcapital here I come

 

[benjo plz.]

Pfft. Most people I know only stopped at little chef to use the toilet .

 

[WillyNelson]

Last time I set foot inside a Little Chef was in Feb 1999 when I stopped woriking in one. I was a griddle chef there during and after my A Levels. Pretty awful but they paid resonably well and the work was easy and quite good fun. Taught me that doing a job well and properly is a reward in itself.

the problem with Little Chef is that it's been gossly underinvested in for many many years and has been run into the ground. The food became overpriced and of a poor standard, they started to use lots of agency and migrant workers who they could pay less and the workforce stopped caring about the service they were providing.

I haven't been to a Little Chef in years.

I think the last time I did, I walked through the door and slid all the way to the window on the other side on the layer of grease that was covering the floor!!

A universal truth about LCs. I'd wash my face 15 or so times a shift because of all the grease in the air. It would ruin a pair of their crappy uniform trousers in about a month.

I lashed an 'Olympic' breakfast

Ah, the Olympic. A number 9 iirc: 2 eggs, 1 bacon, 2 sausage, 2 tomato, 2 fried bread, mushrooms and saute potato. Inferior in popularity to the Early Starter by a long way.

My god! the memory of that place stays with you like the effects of their cheese & mushroom omlette on your digestive system, painfuly and for a long time!