Little Chef ^[1]

220px
Type	Private
Industry	Roadside Restaurant Chain
Founded	1958 (1958) (original business)
Founder(s)	Sam Alper
Headquarters	Norwich, England
Number of locations	116 Little Chef restaurants[2]
Area served	United Kingdom
Key people	Graham Sims (Chairman) Tracey Mulligan (MD)
Revenue	£65.772m (2010) [3]
Operating income	£0.240m (2010) [3]
Profit	-£0.273m (2010) [3]
Total assets	£21.270m (2010) [3]
Owner(s)	RCapital Partners LLP
Employees	2,412 (group, 2010) [3]
Website	www.littlechef.co.uk

Little Chef is a chain of roadside restaurants in the United Kingdom, founded in 1958 and owned since 2007 by the UK private equity group RCapital Partners LLP, initially through PT Specialist Retailing Ltd. In February 2012 RCapital restructured the business by putting PT Specialist Retailing Ltd into administration. RCapital then bought back 95 restaurants (from the total portfolio of 161 sites) having identified these as being consistently profitable. These continuing restaurants are to be operated under new companies owned by RCapital, with Hybrid Dining Limited holding all the "Little Chef" intellectual property rights.^[4]

Little Chef's previous owners were The People's Restaurant Group Ltd., a company belonging to British catering entrepreneurs Simon Heath and Lawrence Wosskow, which went into administration on 3 January 2007.^[5]

Every year, Little Chef serves over 10 million meals, and is well known for its 'Olympic Breakfast'.^[6] At its peak the Little Chef chain had about 435 restaurants, but restructuring has seen this reduced to 116.^[7][8]

Little Chef had five restaurants in the Republic of Ireland, but they were sold to Egan Hospitality with two rebranded as Metzo in 2005 and the rest as Eddie Rockets.^[7]

The Little Chef brand was in decline for many years, because of poor investment from owners and poor quality food and service. However, following changes made by Heston Blumenthal as part of a Channel 4 documentary entitled Big Chef takes on Little Chef, the company's image has increased dramatically. Changes included a new restaurant design, new higher quality menu and more approachable staff. As a result of his efforts, Heston's trial restaurant at Popham managed to get into the Good Food Guide, and the new design is being rolled out throughout the restaurant chain.^[9]

History[link]

Conception and early years[link]

Caravan manufacturer Sam Alper^[10] opened the first Little Chef, with 11 seats, in Reading in 1958.^[8] It was modelled after roadside diners he had seen in the United States. By 1968 the business had expanded to twenty five Little Chef Grill bars, mostly featuring "cafeteria" self-service:^[11] the two most expensive of the thirty two dishes on the menu were "gammon steak with fried egg, pineapple and french fried potatoes" and "rump steak with onions, tomatoes and french fried potatoes". Both dishes were offered at 9s 6d (equivalent to £0.475).^[11] By the end of the 1960s Little Chef had become part of Gardner Merchant, itself a subsidiary of Trust Houses, which merged with Charles Forte's hotel and catering empire in 1970 to become Trust House Forte.^[12][13] By that time, Trust House Forte had 44 Little Chef restaurants.^[12][13]

1980–2000[link]

By the 1980s, Little Chef was established as a chain of inexpensive roadside restaurants. In the 1980s Little Chef Lodge hotels were opened alongside some Little Chefs (the hotels were later rebranded as Travelodge),^[14] and Little Chefs were opened at larger Trust House Forte service areas on motorways and trunk roads. In 1987 these service areas became known as Welcome Break after the acquisition of the smaller Welcome Break group of motorway service areas and the Happy Eater roadside restaurants,^[13] Little Chef's main rival at the time, in 1986 as part of the break-up of Imperial Group. Under Forte ownership Little Chef and Happy Eater retained their separate identities until 1995 Trusthouse Forte announced plans to start converting Happy Eaters to Little Chefs, with fourteen being converted by July.^[13]

Little Chef had a spin off brand called "Little Chef Express" which Forte developed in 1995 as a rival to fast food outlets.^[7] The first Express outlet was at the Markham Moor service station (A1 North), though only as an addition to the existing Little Chef menu there.^[7] However, only five restaurants were ever built on the roadside, and the idea was re-developed when Little Chef was taken over by Compass, with the Express take outs being set up in food courts, including one in the Eurostar terminal.^[7]

In 1996 the catering and broadcasting conglomerate Granada successfully mounted a hostile takeover for the Forte group.^[13][15] The Welcome Break chain was sold by Granada, the Little Chefs at those motorway service areas becoming a similar table service restaurant, Red Hen.

Little Chef in Bilbrough near York, A64 eastbound, North Yorkshire. This restaurant has now been refurbished and serves the new Heston menu.

A Little Chef near Doncaster (Carcroft), South Yorkshire

Little Chef in Eastham, Merseyside in 2006

In 1998, Granada bought AJ's Family Restaurants, another Little Chef rival, from the "Celebrated Group" and converted all of its fifteen sites to Little Chefs.^[16] AJ's had originally been set up in 1986 by two Happy Eater directors, following Happy Eater's sale to Forte.^[16]

2000–2007[link]

In 2000 Granada merged with the catering group Compass Group Holdings to form Granada Compass plc,^[17] but the two demerged in 2001 leaving Little Chef as part of Compass.^[18] At about this time some Little Chefs began serving Harry Ramsden's meals,^[19][20] a cross-branding exercise by Compass who also owned Harry Ramsden's, though this ended in June 2004.^[21]

The private equity business Permira bought Travelodge and Little Chef from Compass Group in December 2002 for £712 million,^[22] forming a special purpose vehicle called TLLC Group Holdings.^[23] Those Little Chefs at Moto motorway service areas – formerly the Granada motorway service areas, and owned^[24] by Compass until 2006^[18] – were owned by Moto and operated as franchised outlets.^[7]

In August 2004, Little Chef announced it planned to change its logo, to a slimmer version of 'Fat Charlie', the chain's current mascot.^[25] Little Chef's chief executive Tim Scoble said that this was " the start of a re-image programme for Little Chef" and that the chain "has become a little bit dated", but now wishes to "take it forward into the 21st century".^[25] He also noted later on that "We get accusations that he's overweight and a lot of people have also written in to say it was a small child carrying hot food, which they said was dangerous".^[26] However, the idea was dropped after 15,000 customers complained.^[26]

In 2005 the company was sold to catering entrepreneurs Lawrence Wosskow and Simon Heath^[23] for £58 million.^[27] TLLC kept hold of Travelodge,^[28] and The People's Restaurant Group Ltd was founded by the new owners of Little Chef, however they continued trading under the same name.^[29]

In March 2006, the People's Restaurant Group sold 65 of its sites under a leaseback deal for £59 million^[30][31] to Israeli property group Arazim.^[32]

An iconic Little Chef in Nottinghamshire, designed by Sam Scorer

Administration and rescue deal[link]

In December 2006, it emerged that Little Chef was undergoing serious financial problems; the business was said to be losing around £3m a year,^[33][34] struggling to keep up with rent payments^[33] and had lost nearly half of its branches in five years.^[34] Furthermore, Laurence Wosskow suffered a heart attack^[35] and subsequent ill health earlier in the year, and was unable to help turn the company around.^[33] On 21 December, Little Chef announced it were in urgent rescue talks with a group of American investors, in the attempt to secure rescue funding.^[35][36] It had been suggested at the time that PricewaterhouseCoopers was on standby to act as administrators for the company; however a source close to the company was quoted as saying “We are still very hopeful that this situation can be resolved.”^[36] At the time, the People's Restaurant Group was being advised by KPMG's corporate recovery arm.^[33][36]

In December 2006 Little Chef was taken into administration,^[37][38] and the company was then rescued on 3 January 2007 by RCapital, a UK private equity group, which paid less than £10 million. 38 of the 235 branches were not included in the sale and were closed immediately;^[39] the remaining restaurants continued to operate normally.

By December 2007 a number of sites not leased from Travelodge or Arazim (Little Chef's two main landlords) closed, as Little Chef had not been able to reach agreements with the individual landlords. As all the franchised outlets at Moto sites closed during 2008/2009, the chain was further reduced. However, during 2008–09 some closed branches from 2007 were re-opened at Warwick (A46), Shiptonthorpe (A614), Malton (A64) and Ings (A591). This took the total in Summer 2009 to 177. There was a belief that Little Chef would like to boost its number of sites to 200 again and had targeted Yorkshire and the North East as an area for potential growth; however, in 2009 two more branches closed (Guildford (A3) and South Cave West (A63)) and another thirteen closed in 2010, taking the total number to 162 in August 2010.

Competition and decline[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

An abandoned Little Chef in Shropshire

Several factors contributed to the decline of Little Chef, including increased competition from other chains and years of under-investment and neglect by numerous owners.

From its inception until the mid 1990s Little Chef had relatively little competition from other chains. However, by the early 2000s, the business was seen to be in decline, sometimes attributed to owners from Granada onwards having extracted too much money from the business without investing in updating the format^{[citation needed]}. Britain's roadsides had become saturated by fast food restaurants such as McDonald's, KFC, and Burger King. Granada opened several Burger Kings within or adjacent to their Little Chef sites as a response, making Little Chef the largest Burger King franchise in the UK.

A further challenge to Little Chef was the rise of pub restaurants which catered both for the business and family markets. Recently refurbished service stations began to offer additional choices such as Marks & Spencer Simply Food and coffee chains such as Costa in place of Little Chef outlets, which appealed to people not wanting to spend a long time over a meal. Furthermore, the construction of the motorway network meant that A-roads (along which Little Chef outlets were usually situated) were no longer used for long-distance travel.

In 2005 it was announced that 130 underperforming restaurants were to be closed, reducing the chain to 234 restaurants. Prior to that however, Granada had been gradually reducing the number of restaurants, from well over 300 at one time. During 2005 Travelodge Hotels Ltd (the new name for TLLC) made various announcements about the sale of some or all of the restaurants, until in October the chain was sold to The People's Restaurant Group Ltd, who planned to modernise the restaurants and introduce self service.

Changes introduced during 2006 included the opening of coffee shops under the name Coffee Tempo! within several larger branches. These 'grab and go' units were developed by Nick Smith, who joined Little Chef as development director after leading the design and implementation of the Wild Bean Café format at BP petrol stations. Little Chef also introduced a takeaway menu. Both initiatives were aimed to increase the appeal of the brand to customers unwilling to spend a long period waiting for table service.

The People's Restaurant group slashed menu prices in an attempt to attract customers. Unfortunately, the only outcome of this was less money going through the tills. It would appear that Little Chef completely ignored the competition it was faced with, not to mention the fact that restaurants had become run down and staffed minimally.

2008 - Present[link]

Heston Blumenthal[link]

In 2009 celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal appeared in a Channel 4 documentary programme to revamp the Little Chef chain; the programme was broadcast from 19 to 21 January,^[40] and involved Blumenthal introducing a new menu and organising a refit at the Little Chef in the village of Popham, near Basingstoke. The trial was successful, with a promise from the owner that none of the dishes would change without Blumenthal's consent. Heston Blumenthal returned to Popham in February 2009 to review progress, and the owner promised that if there was a profit within three months the redesigned format would be spread to all branches. Furthermore two more former Little Chef branches would reopen, in Ings and Malton. It was later announced that a further two Little Chefs, at York and Kettering, would be refurbished in the style of the trial in Popham.

2011[link]

In 2011, a further ten new concept restaurants opened at Doncaster, Markham Moor North, Shrewsbury, Black Cat, Fontwell, Weston on the Green North, Wisley South, Ilminster, Podimore and Amesbury with a view to investing £20 million in updating the brand across the estate.^[41] New menus have been introduced and restaurants have been refurbished based on the style which celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal designed in 2009. A full rebranding exercise was undertaken by Venture Three,^[42] which was hailed as a great success by the graphic design community.^[43] As part of its modernisation the company used its new branding to create a presence in the digital arena on Facebook.^[44] and Twitter^[45]

A 'Good to Go' deli offering was introduced in the new concept restaurants, making bespoke sandwiches as well as takeaway meals appealing to customers on the move. 'Good to Go' sits alongside the traditional sit-down Little Chef format.

In May 2011 the company reported a 47% increase in food sales.^[46]

2012[link]

On 11 January 2012, Little Chef announced that it planned to close 67 of its failing restaurants, with the loss of up to 600 jobs.^[47] On 7 February RCapital announced that it was putting the Little Chef chain through "a pre-pack administration to offload a number of toxic leases". Graham Sims, the chairman of Little Chef, said that suppliers and other unsecured creditors would suffer from the decision to put the chain through this administration process, which had been taken reluctantly. He expected job losses to be at the lower end of the previously announced range of 500 to 600. The business will refocus now on a core of 95 profitable sites.^[48]

Menu[link]

Traditionally, a staple of Little Chef's menu has been all day breakfasts, although some can only be bought before 11 am. Nearly all the menu consists of traditional British fare. Main meals options include burgers, grills, steaks, haddock or cod, all with chips. Pasta and salads were introduced in the early 1990s. For dessert, pancakes have always been the most famous items, with a choice of toppings. There is also a children's menu and a new takeaway menu. Little Chefs offer each diner a free lollipop on leaving.

Prior to the company going into administration, the People's Restaurant Group had begun to modernise the Little Chef menu, introducing subs and panini.

In November 2008 during the revamp, Heston Blumenthal wrote the new menu featuring some of the features famous in his restaurant, The Fat Duck, modernising old British classics. His original menu featuring Lancashire Hotpot with an oyster and buttered roast potato soup was scrapped after taking too long to make and the board of Little Chef disliking it. When shown that menu and given the option in a branch of Little Chef people thought it was "too posh" with 5:1 preferring the old menu. His altered menu featured such dishes as spit-roast chicken, a new Olympic Breakfast, ox cheeks, and new healthier options. The Telegraph newspaper reported in May 2009 that after a seven month trial, the Heston Blumenthal menu was to be rolled out across the entire Little Chef estate, initially at further test sites, and that only minimal changes would be made for logistical purposes.

The new 2011 menu is based upon the one designed by Heston albeit with many of the traditional Little Chef dishes still available. The new concept 'Good to Go' delis serve sandwiches and takeaway meals in several refurbished restaurants.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Little Chef

• Official website
• "Monopolies and Mergers Commission, Report into merger of Granada plc and Carlton Communications plc. Appendix 4.5". 2003. http://www.mmc.gov.uk/rep_pub/reports/2003/fulltext/482a4.5.pdf. Retrieved 9 December 2006. 
• Reviews:
  • Channel 4: http://www.channel4.com/4car/feature/4car-writes/2005/2005-03-01-little-chef.html
  • The Guardian : http://travel.guardian.co.uk/restaurants/story/0,,1449178,00.html
  • Leicester Mercury
• Business articles:
  • Sky News: http://news.sky.com/home/business/article/16146890
  • Little Chef chain says goodbye to Fat Charlie, a 2 March 2006 article from CatererSearch
  • UK's Travelodge sells Little Chef for 52 mln stg, an article from Reuters on 20 October 2005
  • Permira close to selling Little Chef chain, a July 2005 article from The Guardian
  • Little Chef set to become smaller, a February 2005 BBC article
  • Compass sells Little Chef and Travelodge, a December 2002 BBC article
• Reviews of the TV show Big Chef Takes on Little Chef
  • Leicester Mercury

Martin Yan

December 2004
Born	(1948-12-22) 22 December 1948 (age 63) Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Cooking style	Chinese, mainly Cantonese
Education	Munsang College, Overseas Institute of Cookery of Hong Kong, University of California, Davis
Current restaurant(s) Yan Can (Santa Clara, Pleasant Hill)
Television show(s) Yan Can Cook Martin Yan's Quick and Easy Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking Martin Yan's Hong Kong
Official website
http://www.yancancook.com/

Martin Yan (Chinese: 甄文達; born 22 December 1948) is a Chinese-born American chef and the host of the award-winning cooking show Yan Can Cook.

Early years and education[link]

With ancestral roots in Kaiping, Guangdong, China, Yan was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, to a restaurateur father and a grocer mother, Yan began to cook at 12. He moved to Hong Kong when he was 13, and attended the Munsang College in Kowloon City. During this time in Munsang College, he worked at his uncle's Chinese restaurant and learned about the traditional method of Chinese barbecue there. He received a diploma from the Overseas Institute of Cookery of Hong Kong and later left for Canada for continued study. Ten years after his arrival in North America, Yan received a Master of Science degree in food science from University of California, Davis, in 1975.

Career[link]

Yan began teaching Chinese cooking for a college extension program and appearing on a Canadian, Calgary talk show in 1978 (on CFAC-TV, now CICT-TV). He has hosted over 1,500 episodes of the PBS cooking shows Yan Can Cook since 1982. His shows have been broadcast in over 50 countries.^[1] He currently hosts Martin Yan - Quick & Easy. He also hosts Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking where he tours Chinatowns around the globe as well as "Martin Yan's Hidden China."

Yan has opened a chain of Yan Can restaurants and founded the Yan Can International Cooking School in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has written over two dozen cookbooks.^[1] The American Culinary Federation has designated him a Master Chef.

Yan is one of the lead actors of the Hong Kong film Rice Rhapsody (海南雞飯, 2005).

He has appeared as a guest judge on several episodes of Iron Chef America and appeared on the cartoon talk show Space Ghost: Coast to Coast.

Television appearances[link]

• Yan Can Cook (1978— ) - Host^[2]
• Christine Cushing Live - Guest^[3][4]
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast - Guest
• Martin Yan's Hong Kong (2005–2007) - Host
• Martin Yan's Quick and Easy - Host
• Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking - Host
• Martin Yan's China (2008) - host
• Iron Chef America (2011) - Judge
• Food Court (2011) Hong Kong Cable TV - Tutor / Host
• Iron Chef Vietnam (2012) - Guest Judge
• Martin Yan: Taste of Vietnam (2013) - Host^[5]

Cookbooks[link]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Chinese Recipes (1978)
• The Joy of Wokking (1978)
• Martin Yan's Feast: The Best of Yan Can Cook
• Chinese Cooking for Dummies
• Martin Yan's Asian Favorites
• Martin Yan's Quick and Easy
• Martin Yan's Chinatowns
• Martin Yan's Culinary Journey Through China
• Martin Yan's Asia
• Martin Yan's Entertainment At-Home
• Martin Yan the Chinese Chef
• Martin Yan's Invitation to Chinese Cooking
• Martin Yan's Feast

Awards[link]

• An honorary Doctorate of Culinary Arts by Johnson & Wales University
• A Daytime Emmy Award in 1998 for best cooking show
• A 1996 James Beard Award for Best TV Food Journalism
• A 1994 James Beard Award for Best TV Cooking Show
• The Antonin Careme Award by the Chef's Association of the Pacific Coast
• The Courvoisier Leadership Award by Courvoisier
• 2008 Picnic Day (UC Davis) Parade Marshall

See also[link]

• Chinese American cuisine
• Cantonese cuisine
• Food science

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Martin Yan

• Official website
• 1st Person - Martin Yan
• Rice Rhapsody
• Articles by Martin Yan on Chefs
• Video of Martin Yan in discussion with Jennifer 8 Lee at the Asia Society, March 26, 2009

v t e Television in Hong Kong Industry List of television stations in Hong Kong Entertainment Expo Hong Kong Commercial Television (TV station) Educational Television (Hong Kong) News Corporation PCCW Channels All Sports Network Asia Television Limited ATV World ATV Home AXN Asia Cable News Hong Kong Cable TV Hong Kong Channel V City Forum Disney Channel Hong Kong Diva Universal Asia ESPN Asia GOALTV HKBN bbTV I-Cable Communications I-CABLE News Channel (Hong Kong) FX Asia Fox Family Movies Fox Movies Premium Fox Crime Asia Fox Channel Asia MTV Mandarin National Geographic Channel Asia NOW.com Now Business News Channel Now TV (Hong Kong TV channel) Now TV Phoenix Television Phoenix Movies Phoenix InfoNews Phoenix Hong Kong Rediffusion Television STAR TV STAR Chinese Movies STAR Sports STAR World TVB Jade TVB News TVB Pearl TVB J2 TVB High Definition Jade TVB iNews Television Broadcasts Limited tvN Asia Voyages Television Xing Kong Related articles List of Hong Kong television series Media of Hong Kong Television in the People's Republic of China Media of Macau Television presenters

Jill Davie is the Chef de Cuisine at Josie, a Los Angeles restaurant owned by Josie Le Balch. Davie has worked at Josie Restaurant since its founding in 2001. She has appeared as a prominent guest chef on several Food Network shows. She was a contestant on The Next Iron Chef, but was eliminated in week two of the competition.

Davie studied at the Culinary Institute of America, and was one of the Top Ten Student Chefs in 1996. She received the Food and Wine Baby Chef award by Julia Child.^[1] She also gained public notice as Sunkist's Lemon Lady, writing articles for their web site^[2] and travelling around the world to appearances to promote lemons.^[3] She is also the co-host (with David Myers (chef) of Shopping With Chefs on Fine Living TV.

Television appearances[link]

• Hot Chefs: South Beach
• Ultimate Restaurants - piece on Josie
• Date Plate - guest chef
• Party Starters - guest chef
• The Next Iron Chef
• Food Network Challenge: "Ultimate Thanksgiving Feast" - judge
• Shopping With Chefs - host

References[link]

External links[link]

• Josie Restaurant
• Venice Beach Wines

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2008)

Anthony "Chef Tony" Notaro is an infomercial pitchman.

Products[link]

He is most noted for selling the patented Miracle Blades. Tony also endorses the Ultimate Chopper (in an infomercial co-hosted by Jenilee Harrison). He also endorses Smartware bakeware, which is made of non-stick "Temperflex" silicone.

References[link]

External links[link]

• ChefTonyTV.com
• Review of the Miracle Blade