Brand Health Check: Little Chef

The roadside-restaurant chain is the same age as the M1, but the years have been rather less kind to it.

In 1958 British transport took a huge leap forward with the construction of the M1. In the same year, a smaller, but not unrelated, step was made in the restaurant sector.

Sam Alper, a caravan maker, spotted a gap in the market presented by the new motorway. He decided that post-war Britons would flock to a roadside eatery based on a US-diner format. Little Chef was born.

Motorways have since gone from strength to strength; Little Chef's progress has not been so illustrious. The company has had no fewer than four owners since 2002, with both the company's value and number of outlets decreasing at each turn.

The latest change in the chain's ownership came at the start of this month when 196 of its 235 branches were bought for a cut-price £10m by investment business RCapital.

Little Chef's immediate future may have been secured, but whether the same could be said for its long-term wellbeing is less certain.

In recent years a raft of well-funded alternatives have laid siege to Little Chef's position as the pre-eminent motorway snacking stop-off point. Chief among these is the high number of service stations that house a range of culinary alternatives, often including outlets selling healthier options, such as Marks & Spencer.

This growing demand for healthier food presents a problem in itself. Little Chef has failed to move with the times and is perceived as serving food more akin to that found at a greasy spoon.

Despite initiatives such as adding coffee bars to some restaurants, on the surface Little Chef appears to have changed little since the 80s.

All is not doom and gloom, though. Little Chef has its supporters, the most famous of whom is the former prime minister John Major, who revealed his penchant for the restaurants during his 1992 general election campaign.

Furthermore, when the company was rumoured to be toying with the idea of slimming down its chef icon, the company claimed that it received 15,000 objections from the public, suggesting a latent affection for the brand.

We asked Patrick Allen, United Co-operative's head of marketing, and David Wood, group communications director at McDonald's' ad agency Leo Burnett, what the chain can do to pull in the motorway users once more.

DIAGNOSIS 1 - PATRICK ALLEN, HEAD OF MARKETING, UNITED CO-OPERATIVE

Little Chef is a one-trick pony based on a single product - the Olympic Breakfast. With the A-road traveller in decline, that will not get the brand very far.

Consumers are becoming ever more savvy about what they eat; even McDonald's has been forced to push into segments such as salads and healthy meals for kids. Little Chef has effectively chosen to continue to say: 'No, we're a greasy spoon.'

One has only to look at the competition to see that the chain faces an uphill struggle. Yes, there are US-style food halls where travellers can have a greasy spoon-style meal, but there are also salad bars and Marks & Spencer.

The consumer experience at Little Chef is poor and the outlets have not changed in years. It has ignored the competition and opted to rely on the fact it was the first roadside cafe.

It may have tried to open trendy coffee bars in some restaurants, but stuck next to a 50-year-old bloke eating sausages, eggs and beans, that is just not going to be credible.

REMEDY

- Rebrand, and change the menu. Make Little Chef a healthy option that will tide people over until the end of their journey.

- Alternatively, take pride in its greasy-spoon image. Bring in someone like Jamie Oliver to rework the Olympic Breakfast and make it the best money can buy. It may be more expensive, but it will turn Little Chef into a destination, rather than a last resort.

- If all else fails, harvest - cut prices, staff and menu options.

DIAGNOSIS 2 - DAVID WOOD, GROUP COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, LEO BURNETT

If you stand by the road long enough, you'll watch the world go by; and that is what Little Chef seems to have done.

Consumers have moved on. Of course they may still want a fry-up when that is the only thing that will sort them out, but they may also want a choice of something less leaden in their stomach. The trick is to keep the core coming back for more and bring in the drive-by detractors who think it's not for them.

A roadside location offers a chance to help weary travellers by giving them a break, a treat or a reward.

It enables a brand to show that it is on the traveller's side at a time when the tide of opinion seems to have turned against fossil-fuelled transport. It is also an opportunity to demonstrate that 're-fuelling' doesn't necessarily have to mean stodge.

Little Chef could become one of the experiences of the journey by embodying the notion that getting there is half the fun. It has a unique location next to a volume opportunity and an audience with predictable needs.

REMEDY

- Be a food specialist. Provide the right menu choice at every part of the day and to a wider group. Build on existing favourites, slant other options to foods good for travel and make a virtue of the brand's expertise.

- Take a good look at overseas roadside provision for content and style ideas.

- Package every conceivable aid and information tool for modern travellers better than anyone else and make the in-store experience a destination.