Little Chef

Little Chef
IndustryRoadside restaurant chain
Founded1958; 66 years ago (1958)
FounderSam Alper and Peter Merchant
DefunctJanuary 2018; 6 years ago (January 2018)
OwnerKout Food Group K.S.C.C. (trademarks)

Little Chef was a British chain of roadside restaurants; founded in 1958 by Sam Alper and Peter Merchant who were inspired by American diners. The chain was famous for the "Olympic Breakfast" – its version of a full English breakfast – as well as its "Early Starter" and "Jubilee Pancakes". The restaurants were mostly located on A roads, often paired with a Travelodge motel, a Burger King and a petrol station. The chain was also located along motorways in Moto Services, for a time.

The chain expanded rapidly throughout the 1970s, with its parent company acquiring its only major competitor, Happy Eater, in the 1980s. After all Happy Eater locations were converted to the Little Chef fascia in the late 1990s, the chain peaked with 439 restaurants.[1] Little Chef began to face decline in the early 2000s, mainly due to over-expansion, meaning it could not properly invest in all of its locations.[2] By the end of 2005, almost half of its locations had been closed.[3]

In early 2007, the chain was rescued from administration and subsequently reduced to 196 restaurants.[4] This was followed by another closure programme in 2012 to reduce the chain to 94 restaurants.[5] In early 2017, owners Kout Food Group sold the remaining 70 locations to Euro Garages who would convert the buildings into Starbucks, Greggs, Subway and KFC franchises.[6] After Euro Garages' licence to use the Little Chef name expired, the remaining 36 restaurants became EG Diner in January 2018, and were either converted or closed by the end of October 2018.[7]

The defunct Little Chef brand still remains owned by Kout Food Group; however, the trademark is now registered in Kuwait as the group is no longer operating in the United Kingdom.[8]

  1. ^ "A Little Bit About Us". Little Chef. Archived from the original on 7 January 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  2. ^ "Portly Little Chef to slim down". 16 August 2004. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  3. ^ "Mystery behind why you never see Little Chefs anymore". LADbible. 13 April 2024. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
  4. ^ "Little Chef enters administration". 3 January 2007. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Little Chef to close 67 outlets". 11 January 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  6. ^ "EG Diner – motorway services". Motorway Services Online. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  7. ^ Whitfield, David; Dimmer, Sam (19 August 2023). "The Little Chef restaurants of Nottinghamshire we loved and lost". Nottinghamshire Live. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Search for a trade mark – Intellectual Property Office". trademarks.ipo.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2022.