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Old 12-02-2012, 14:15
Rab64
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I have not eaten at a Little Chef, for a long time, my nearest one is 35 miles away. I always thought that their food was much better than any of the other chains.
Do you use them ? What is your opinion of their food?
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Old 12-02-2012, 15:34
BrunoStreete
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Much better? Jesus, you really haven't eaten there for a long time.
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Old 12-02-2012, 15:37
Sad_BB_Addict
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I must have got through hundreds of their All Day Breakfasts over the years.
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Old 12-02-2012, 15:40
skunkboy69
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Awful.I won't even stop at one.
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Old 12-02-2012, 16:22
breppo
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Haven't they rolled out the Heston Blumenthal menu and done the make over? Or was it just at some pilot restaurants?
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Old 12-02-2012, 16:28
whoever,hey
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Haven't they rolled out the Heston Blumenthal menu and done the make over? Or was it just at some pilot restaurants?
They were talking about this on the radio about a month ago. They have been rolling it out to as many establishments as possible. But for them to use his menu they need to do an entire makeover of the kitchen and decor etc (its in his T&Cs). So it isn't cheap. So its a slow roll out.
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Old 12-02-2012, 16:59
molliepops
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Back in the 1980's we used to use them when traveling as they would do a vegetarian breakfast if I provided the veggie sausages - they were very kind to my Dad too when he was going to and fro hospital and would take time to let him choose and eat slowly.

Then sometime in the 90's they changed and we haven't been back since. They stopped doing their hot fudge cake with ice cream too which was on it's own worth a visit !
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Old 12-02-2012, 23:06
rehab_101
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They used to be ok, i haven't had a proper meal at one for some time, but stopped for lunch when picking my nan up not so long ago, omelette and salad, which was just ok, served its purpose really. But they have just closed 47 little chefs that are ajoined to Travelodges, with rumours that more will follow suit shortly.
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Old 12-02-2012, 23:16
Welsh-lad
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We used to go to our local one as a treat
It was considered quite upmarket in those days.

I remember I used to have an early-starter breakfast, and my dad would have a 'mapleen' syrup pancake for pudding!

The trouble with LC is that everywhere else has hugely improved (e.g. country pubs) and LC has remained the same.
I haven't been in one for 10 years.
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Old 13-02-2012, 00:22
The Wizard
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Going into one of these places is like stepping back into a 70's greasy caff. All the ones i've been into haven't been modernised since the early 80's or at least that's how they look. Last time I went into one it looked as filthy dirty and dated on the inside as it did on the outside and a lot have shut down in the last few years.

I've no sympathy for the chain. It's outdated and had it's day. The chief director is a total idiot who won't listen or be told anything and staff are untrained, uninterested and are just there to turn sausages. Their menu is like heart attack waiting to happen and in my opinion should have shut down years ago. I don't know why they're throwing more money at these places. Best thing to do would be to sell off the properties for development, take the money and close the business.
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Old 13-02-2012, 01:11
ashley1234
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RUBBISH, wizzard, you obviously havent been to a Little Chef for a very long time. They have an extensive menu & you don't need to have anything greasy unless you want to. I suggest you pay a visit before you make such comments.
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Old 13-02-2012, 02:16
ericos
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They were OK in the 70's/early 80s but went downhill from then. Gave one another chance last year - it was terrible. Mind you having said that I feel that way about most of the other competing chains.
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Old 13-02-2012, 06:22
The Wizard
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RUBBISH, wizzard, you obviously havent been to a Little Chef for a very long time. They have an extensive menu & you don't need to have anything greasy unless you want to. I suggest you pay a visit before you make such comments.
I haven't been in one for ten years admitedly but my dad went in one last week near Chester. Said it was just awful and the place was filthy and the toilets looked like they hadn't been cleaned in years. He said the place looked like it hadn't been touched since the 80's and the furniture was old and showed signs of years of wear. This echoes my experience too. I know they've tried to update their menus but adding a cesar salad and jacket potato doesn't constitute a great menu and to be honest the state of some of the people who work in these places, most of whom seemed to have lost (or never even had)the will to live, I wouldn't trust to boil an egg. I know someone who works for them who has exactly the same futile attitude. They're only there for the money. They have no official job training. Basically they learn what they have to do off the people already working there so if one person has developed bad habits or a poor attitude to work, they just pass it on to the next person and the decay spreads like a bag of rotten apples.

Everything is still an extortionate ripoff and the places are so drab and depressing and yes I did watch the programme with Heston so I know exactly what kind of mess the company is in. The state of most their outlets is disgusting so i'm NOT talking rubbish. If these places are so good how come everybody is saying the same thing and how come the company is on the verge of closure and how come they've closed about 50 of their outlets in the last few years most of which are boarded up with metal shutters looking like a complete eyesore? The chain is outdated, the places are so run down it would cost far too much to renovate them all and the whole company has a poor reputation which to be honest I don't think it will ever recover from because of so many others things.

You can give the place a face lift but they need to pay for those changes and that means more price increases. People are already reluctant to pay their ridiculous ripoff prices. The staff look like they're all being forced to work there under some kind of jobcentre back to work scheme. Talk about people with no ambition.

Little Chef is like Woolworths. Stuck in the past refusing to move with the times and update their outlets which are run by scruffy looking staff who can't be bothered. All the while everyone else moves on around them. In the end they just get left behind and no matter what you do it's very difficult to get customers back when a place has developed such a poor reputation.

It's sad but the chief executive is an idiot and his managers and directors are all nodding 'yes men' who from what I could see, just looked like a bunch of headless chickens who couldn't run a booze up in a brewery. While you've got idiots in charge at the top, the place will never change. When the head guy doesn't even know how to run his own company and has to call on a tv chef to help him out then how can the company ever survive?
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Old 13-02-2012, 07:39
The Wizard
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I also think part of the problem is that these places are situated on old A roads on old holiday maker travelling routes which when first built relied on cars of families passing through on their way down to the caravan site, seaside or holiday camp. Most people don't holiday in Britain anymore and many travellodges/premiere inns now have Beefeater restaurants next to them which cater for families as well as business people.

Since Little Chef first sprang up a lot of trends have changed and so have people's eating habits. A lot of places have since opened up in similar locations like McDonalds, Burger King and pub restaurants like Harvester or Whacky Warehouse pubs where families can take kids. Also the increase in motorway traffic has taken people off the old 1950's A roads. Why stop at a grotty Little Chef and pay through the nose when a few miles down the road you can sit in brand new gastro pub or a McDonalds drive thru where I can get a coffee to go?

Little Chef has sat still and let time and everyone else pass them by. Out of the original 400 odd outlets they have just over 100 left which is set to shrink to a mere 96 in the next couple of years.

I can't help but think that throwing more money at this brand is like keeping a dying person on life support. It's only a matter of time before it's gone forever. Why try to prolong it any further with these pointless rebranding exercises?
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Old 13-02-2012, 07:41
BrunoStreete
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Last time I was there i paid over £7 for the Olympic breakfast which was smaller than the £3 breakfast at my local cafe.
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Old 13-02-2012, 09:41
Dung hole Dave
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they charge silly money for warmed up rubbish and you always seem to have to wait ages for it to be served.
You cant beat a proper working mans cafe if you want a decent fry up
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Old 13-02-2012, 10:06
molliepops
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Last time I was there i paid over £7 for the Olympic breakfast which was smaller than the £3 breakfast at my local café.
Trouble is if you are traveling you don't want to break your journey looking for local cafés and wouldn't know how good they are if you aren't from that area anyway. Little Chef used to at least give you a break near the road, and used to cook on the premises but I see someone else has said they just warm up food now.

They served a purpose in their time and could be good again IMO if they competed with the extortionate prices in motorway service areas where even a coffee is way out of our reach financially.
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Old 13-02-2012, 10:41
c4rv
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Well, you better hope that the one you plan on going to it isn't closing,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16511001

I did go to one last year and the food was OK but the portions were really small. They don't seem to have modernised and the rest of industry is passing them by.
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Old 13-02-2012, 10:59
stud u like
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They have shut up shop in my neck of the woods. All 4 of them.

As a child I went to the "Happy Eater" more often. I've not seen one of those for years.
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Old 13-02-2012, 12:15
smudges dad
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They have shut up shop in my neck of the woods. All 4 of them.

As a child I went to the "Happy Eater" more often. I've not seen one of those for years.
The Happy Pukers (look at the logo) were taken over by Granada and changed to Little Chefs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Eater
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Old 13-02-2012, 13:02
BrunoStreete
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Trouble is if you are traveling you don't want to break your journey looking for local cafés and wouldn't know how good they are if you aren't from that area anyway. Little Chef used to at least give you a break near the road, and used to cook on the premises but I see someone else has said they just warm up food now.

They served a purpose in their time and could be good again IMO if they competed with the extortionate prices in motorway service areas where even a coffee is way out of our reach financially.
I watched the Heston programme. One woman had been 'cooking' there for 20 years and couldn't cook.
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Old 13-02-2012, 16:15
Thrasymachus
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You'd have to pay me good money to eat at a Little Chef. Awful places
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Old 13-02-2012, 16:29
molliepops
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I watched the Heston programme. One woman had been 'cooking' there for 20 years and couldn't cook.

You think everyone in the food industry can cook ? News they can't some just follow instructions. Doesn't make their food any less good in many cases.
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Old 13-02-2012, 17:44
falko89
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I've only been to Little Chef once and it was in the early 90's I remember it was rather expensive, but I got a burger the size of a plate, I was well impressed with it.
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Old 13-02-2012, 18:28
BrunoStreete
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You think everyone in the food industry can cook ? News they can't some just follow instructions. Doesn't make their food any less good in many cases.
No, she seriously couldnt' cook a thing. She just microwaved stuff.
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