Little chef is getting the chop

FOR almost half a century, the sign of the Little Chef has offered respite to drivers weary of the road and the sound of children asking: 'Are we there yet?'.

Some 20m customers a year were happy to fork out a little extra for a sit-down meal with waitress service. But faced with the competition from expanding garage forecourt shops and other fast-food outlets, Little Chef has ceased to be such a moneyspinner.

As a result, scores of its restaurants have closed and now another 120 - half those remaining - are up for sale.

Permira, the firm which bought the chain two years ago, has decided the only cafes it will keep are those next to its Travelodge motels, for drivers who have stopped for the night. The Little Chef logo might even get the push, to give the chain a more sophisticated image.

The 120 restaurants up for sale are estimated to be worth £ 50m. Permira has already sold 38 sites for more than £10m since buying up the chain two years ago.

It is a disappointing ending to a story which began in 1958 when Sam Alper, a 34-year-old caravan maker, opened the first Little Chef in Reading.

There was still so little traffic in those days that families could pull up on an A-road to eat sandwiches from Tupperware boxes and drink tea from a flask. Then came a huge expansion in road building, including the motorways, and the Little Chef network grew with them.

Although such restaurants were never noted for haute cuisine, they had their devoted fans - including John Major. In 1991, the then Prime Minister stopped for a fry-up at a branch of Little Chef 's sister chain, the Happy Eater, on the A1 in Doncaster while on his way to the Young Conservative conference in Scarborough.

Edmund King, director of the RAC Foundation, said he would be sad to see the chain go. 'People have always criticised Little Chef's quality and it's possibly gone against them,' said King.

'Little Chefs have grown up pretending to be American diners but they are not really. There has no doubt been snobbism aimed at Little Chef. When John Major stopped at a Little Chef or Happy Eater people turned up their noses and said, John Major - he would, wouldn't he?

'Their image helped because people know the brand and trusted it but on the other hand the snobs said it wasn't brilliant quality.' He added: 'It will be a loss for the road network.

'There is no doubt that part of the threat is that people are so impatient on the roads. They are reluctant to stop and sit down and wait for service.'

Fry-ups by the million

The first Little Chef was an 11-seater snack bar opened in Reading in 1958 - it served only breakfast.

The chain's 20m customers a year manage to put away 13m sausages, 15m rashers of bacon, 15m eggs and 10m cups of tea.

The expensive dish on the menu is the 12oz Sirloin Steak (£11.99) - served in two 6oz pieces. Other favourites include the BBQ Chicken and Bacon Stack for £7.99.

Boss Sam Alper modelled his first Little Chef on the US diner - and the American slant remains. Eggs are not fried, they are griddled.

Previous attempts to update the Little Chef image have included a plan to slim down Charlie, the rotund cartoon cook in the logo. But customers protested and the company performed a U-turn.