Popham - Little Chef
Winter 2008/2009
Frank's view 
Heston services
Dining on a Highway to Hell
‘Karl Lagerfeld to reinvent C&A.’
“In a stunning attempt to reignite their 1970s ‘high street’ heyday, C&A, the brand of polyester flares, skin tight spandex, and cheap ski gear has hired fashion vampire, Karl Lagerfeld, to reclaim its crown from Gap, Primark and other precocious pretenders.”
Well, not quite, but this scenario is probably as unlikely as David Beckham saving Northwich Victoria, or Heston Blumenthal rushing to the rescue of Little Chef.
Can you imagine the roars of incredulity around the Board Room table at the announcement of a cunning plan to whisk Little Chef to the front of every motorway driver’s mind?
“We will secure the services of Heston Blumenthal, 3 Michelin Star chef and creator of the Best Restaurant in the World.”
I suspect Boardroom Baldrick was the source of much sidesplitting hilarity.
Heston accepted, Channel 4 commissioned a TV series, and the first revamped diner opened at the end of 2008 on the A303, en route to Stonehenge, Devon and Cornwall.
Well the honeymoon didn’t last ‘til the end of the wedding breakfast.
The bun fight between Little Chef CEO, Ian Pegler, and Heston Blumenthal, throughout the first part of the TV series was a personal PR disaster for Little Chef Pegler.
Having signed his star, Pegler seems to have made the classic mistake of trying to control the talent’s ego.
His first TV cock up was hanging up when Heston asked for the profit figures. Heston was wrong to ask for confidential information in front of the cameras, but slamming the phone down was not a clever stunt for someone who is supposedly PR savvy.
Heston became increasingly convinced that the CEO’s sole goal was a PR stunt. His mistrust of Ian ‘I used to be conceited, now I’m only perfect’ Pegler peaked with a confrontation over menus. As the sweat seeped from his top lip Pegler demanded the cameras stop rolling. Back on the record, Pegler informed Heston that they had been working on a new menu for over a year, but then mumble swerved something about only having just seen it.
I’d just left the M3 and the irritating nag bellowed “follow the road until further instruction.” I ignored her and sidled into Popham services and the first Hestonised Little Chef.
Peering through the windows, framed by the familiar red brick façade, it was clear that a facelift had not been on the agenda. However, beyond the looking glass was a brand new wonderland created by Ab Rogers, son of Lord Rogers, the eminent architect, and stepson of Ruth Rogers, matriarch of The River Café .
The design is retro American Diner with a twist of kids’ playland.
The walls are racked with boxes of Battleships, Buckaroo and other distractions for children and Peter Pan adults.
The Little Chef trademark red and white forms the basis of the restyle with white tile walls rising to a blue sky ceiling and candy floss clouds.
A visit to the loo is unnerving.
The clatter and chatter of the kitchen is broadcast around the WCs, occasionally bursting into nonsense witterings from Spike Milligan. The walls are graffiti’d with culinary trivia, such as how to tell if an egg is fresh.
As for the food, you no longer need to scour the map looking for a nice pub to have a welcome break. It's all here, cheaper and better.
The name may be the same but the Olympic Breakfast has quality ingredients, although no snail porridge or bacon and egg ice cream.
Most main course dishes are priced between £7 and £9 – Coq au Vin (£8.95), Hereford Steak & Abbot ale pie (£7.25), a number of daily specials and Tag Bog (tagliatelle and bolognaise at £7.25).
The real show stopper, at a whopping £9.25, is the ‘Haagen-Daz Chocolate Fondue’ – 16 mini balls of ice cream, which you dip in chocolate then dress with ground biscuit, chocolate flakes or, best of all, space dust.
This one has Heston popping all over it!
Will this motorway gastronomy experiment work?
I suspect not.
There are 180 Little Chefs around the UK and only one, at the national television PR launch, has had the Big Chef treatment. There will be a lot of confused diners and disappointed stop-offs for a very long time if they do roll this out nationally.
Isn’t Little Chef fundamentally about OAPs on their way to and from the family, travelling salesmen and ‘Sun’ reading truckers tucking in to a greasy spoon pile up?
The Popham reincarnation, with fluffy clouds and Winnie the Pooh, is Bank Holiday heaven but families only squidge into their wagons once or twice a year – Easter and the summer hols. This is a brand reinvention, which seems to ignore the existing core market.
Brand diffusion, (different labels and ranges under an umbrella brand), is a strategy well established by the major fashion houses, such as Armani, to appeal to all socio-economic groups. Tycoons wear £1000+ shiny suits, whilst teenagers can have ‘Armani’ on their jeans. Even Tesco manages to appeal to all successfully with their Value range and Tesco’s Finest.
Why not keep ‘Little Chef’ as a stop-off for the big breakfast regulars and launch ‘Big Chef’ as a new label for families and up-market toffs. The chain has more than enough outlets around the UK to support both labels and keep everyone happy.
Little Chef or Big Chef – It’s YOUR Choice!
March 2009 Update
Bloomberg's Richard Vines called CEO Ian Pegler for an update. Vines reported Pegler as saying that he would be meeting Heston Blumenthal at the end of April and would not make any decision regarding a roll out until after then. It's a fair bet that Heston will want a rapid national roll out and Pegler, who said "I've only got so much money, and so many restaurants which need refurbishing", will be less enthusiastic. " He did apparently "absolutely refute' that the whole thing was a publicity stunt.
October 2009
'Did Heston Change Little Chef?' Read Big Chef v Little Chef - The Re-Match
Little Chef
Popham Services
Hampshire
A303
‘Karl Lagerfeld to reinvent C&A.’
“In a stunning attempt to reignite their 1970s ‘high street’ heyday, C&A, the brand of polyester flares, skin tight spandex, and cheap ski gear has hired fashion vampire, Karl Lagerfeld, to reclaim its crown from Gap, Primark and other precocious pretenders.”
Well, not quite, but this scenario is probably as unlikely as David Beckham saving Northwich Victoria, or Heston Blumenthal rushing to the rescue of Little Chef.
Can you imagine the roars of incredulity around the Board Room table at the announcement of a cunning plan to whisk Little Chef to the front of every motorway driver’s mind?
“We will secure the services of Heston Blumenthal, 3 Michelin Star chef and creator of the Best Restaurant in the World.”
I suspect Boardroom Baldrick was the source of much sidesplitting hilarity.
Heston accepted, Channel 4 commissioned a TV series, and the first revamped diner opened at the end of 2008 on the A303, en route to Stonehenge, Devon and Cornwall.
Well the honeymoon didn’t last ‘til the end of the wedding breakfast.
The bun fight between Little Chef CEO, Ian Pegler, and Heston Blumenthal, throughout the first part of the TV series was a personal PR disaster for Little Chef Pegler.
Having signed his star, Pegler seems to have made the classic mistake of trying to control the talent’s ego.
His first TV cock up was hanging up when Heston asked for the profit figures. Heston was wrong to ask for confidential information in front of the cameras, but slamming the phone down was not a clever stunt for someone who is supposedly PR savvy.
Heston became increasingly convinced that the CEO’s sole goal was a PR stunt. His mistrust of Ian ‘I used to be conceited, now I’m only perfect’ Pegler peaked with a confrontation over menus. As the sweat seeped from his top lip Pegler demanded the cameras stop rolling. Back on the record, Pegler informed Heston that they had been working on a new menu for over a year, but then mumble swerved something about only having just seen it.
I’d just left the M3 and the irritating nag bellowed “follow the road until further instruction.” I ignored her and sidled into Popham services and the first Hestonised Little Chef.
Peering through the windows, framed by the familiar red brick façade, it was clear that a facelift had not been on the agenda. However, beyond the looking glass was a brand new wonderland created by Ab Rogers, son of Lord Rogers, the eminent architect, and stepson of Ruth Rogers, matriarch of The River Café .
The design is retro American Diner with a twist of kids’ playland.
The walls are racked with boxes of Battleships, Buckaroo and other distractions for children and Peter Pan adults.
The Little Chef trademark red and white forms the basis of the restyle with white tile walls rising to a blue sky ceiling and candy floss clouds.
A visit to the loo is unnerving.
The clatter and chatter of the kitchen is broadcast around the WCs, occasionally bursting into nonsense witterings from Spike Milligan. The walls are graffiti’d with culinary trivia, such as how to tell if an egg is fresh.
As for the food, you no longer need to scour the map looking for a nice pub to have a welcome break. It's all here, cheaper and better.
The name may be the same but the Olympic Breakfast has quality ingredients, although no snail porridge or bacon and egg ice cream.
Most main course dishes are priced between £7 and £9 – Coq au Vin (£8.95), Hereford Steak & Abbot ale pie (£7.25), a number of daily specials and Tag Bog (tagliatelle and bolognaise at £7.25).
The real show stopper, at a whopping £9.25, is the ‘Haagen-Daz Chocolate Fondue’ – 16 mini balls of ice cream, which you dip in chocolate then dress with ground biscuit, chocolate flakes or, best of all, space dust.
This one has Heston popping all over it!
Will this motorway gastronomy experiment work?
I suspect not.
There are 180 Little Chefs around the UK and only one, at the national television PR launch, has had the Big Chef treatment. There will be a lot of confused diners and disappointed stop-offs for a very long time if they do roll this out nationally.
Isn’t Little Chef fundamentally about OAPs on their way to and from the family, travelling salesmen and ‘Sun’ reading truckers tucking in to a greasy spoon pile up?
The Popham reincarnation, with fluffy clouds and Winnie the Pooh, is Bank Holiday heaven but families only squidge into their wagons once or twice a year – Easter and the summer hols. This is a brand reinvention, which seems to ignore the existing core market.
Brand diffusion, (different labels and ranges under an umbrella brand), is a strategy well established by the major fashion houses, such as Armani, to appeal to all socio-economic groups. Tycoons wear £1000+ shiny suits, whilst teenagers can have ‘Armani’ on their jeans. Even Tesco manages to appeal to all successfully with their Value range and Tesco’s Finest.
Why not keep ‘Little Chef’ as a stop-off for the big breakfast regulars and launch ‘Big Chef’ as a new label for families and up-market toffs. The chain has more than enough outlets around the UK to support both labels and keep everyone happy.
Little Chef or Big Chef – It’s YOUR Choice!
March 2009 Update
Bloomberg's Richard Vines called CEO Ian Pegler for an update. Vines reported Pegler as saying that he would be meeting Heston Blumenthal at the end of April and would not make any decision regarding a roll out until after then. It's a fair bet that Heston will want a rapid national roll out and Pegler, who said "I've only got so much money, and so many restaurants which need refurbishing", will be less enthusiastic. " He did apparently "absolutely refute' that the whole thing was a publicity stunt.
October 2009
'Did Heston Change Little Chef?' Read Big Chef v Little Chef - The Re-Match
Little Chef
Popham Services
Hampshire
A303
Be Frank: agree or disagree? What do you think?
