Little Chef
Former UK restaurant chain / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Little Chef was a chain of roadside restaurants in the United Kingdom founded in 1958 by the entrepreneur Sam Alper, who was 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.
Industry | Roadside restaurant chain |
---|---|
Founded | 1958 (1958) |
Founder | Sam Alper |
Defunct | January 2018 (January 2018) |
Owner | Kout Food Group K.S.C.C. (trademarks) |
Little Chef expanded rapidly throughout the 1970s. Its parent company, Kout Food Group, acquired its only major competitor, Happy Eater, in the 1980s. After all Happy Eater restaurants were converted to Little Chef in the late 1990s, this allowed it to peak in scale with 439 restaurants.[1][2] Little Chef began to face decline in the early 2000s, mainly due to the chain expanding too fast, meaning it could not properly invest in all of its locations.[3] By 2005 it had lost almost half of its locations.[4]
In 2007, Little Chef was rescued from administration, but with 41 of 239 restaurants closed. This was followed by another closure programme in 2012 to reduce the chain to 94 restaurants.[5][6] In early 2017, Kout sold the remaining 70 locations to Euro Garages, who converted the restaurants into their partner franchises such as Starbucks and Greggs.[7] After Euro Garages licence expired, the remaining 36 restaurants were renamed EG Diner in January 2018, and were either converted or closed by the end of October 2018.[8] The defunct Little Chef brand still remains owned by Kout Food Group; however, the trademark is now registered in Kuwait as the group are no longer operating in the United Kingdom.[9]