After spending a large part of his later career with BP in Spain and then the UK, Graham was key to introducing the successful Wild Bean Café. He returned to Little Chef in October 2011 as Chairman, and took over as CEO in April 2012.

Fast facts
Age: 54
Family: Married with one son
Lives: Hampshire
Favourite meal: The Olympic Breakfast

For more information on Graham’s plans for Little Chef you can read his recent interview in the Daily Telegraph

1. Just upload a photograph of your favourite Little Chef meal on our Facebook or Twitter page
2. Add a short caption explaining why it’s your favourite
3. Put #LittleChef at the end of your caption
4. Then we will enter you into the draw to win a £50 voucher. Easy.

The voucher can be used at any Little Chef, and with our Dine for £5 menu could be used to feed up to ten people!!

One lucky prize winner will be announced on our Facebook page on 31^st May 2012.

Unbeknownst to staff, restaurant critic Christopher Gray went along to review this location after hearing about the new concept style. Christopher was a big fan of the new look and very impressed by the staff’s cheery and attentive service.  He also gave the food a glowing review and for his main course he chose to order the signature Braised Ox Cheeks, calling them “rich, dark and tender”.

From the “clean and functional appearance” to the sounds of spring soundtrack in the restrooms, Christopher has great feedback across the board.

Well done to Emma Hartrey, Michelle Bone, Selina Daly and the rest of the team at Weston on the Green, this is one restaurant critic who is sure to come back for more.

To read the full article go to the Oxford times website

Meanwhile we have been picking up fantastic reviews nationwide. Little Chef’s at Northampton  Weston on the Green North and Kettering West have all had great write ups recently by the Northampton Chronicle and Echo, Oxford Times, and Northampton Evening Telegraph.

For the full story visit The Sun.

Parker Hobart’s role will be to support the company as it aims to return to former glories. The role will combine consumer PR with marketing support as the business approaches the key summer trading period.

Commenting on the appointment, Little Chef Chairman Graham Sims said: “This appointment is part of a much bigger plan to return Little Chef to where it rightly deserves to be as a brand and as a business. We wanted to work with a boutique agency that genuinely understood the collective goal and that was also prepared to go the extra mile. We do recognise after all that there is plenty to do.”

Parker Hobart Managing Director, Sarah Harding commented: “Little Chef is a truly iconic brand that has a wealth of brand equity to trade off. We fully understand its recent history and we’re pleased to be working with a new management team with impressive credentials in this specific sector as well as proud to be working with a brand that has rightly earned its place as a British institution.”

For further information, please contact:

Parker Hobart

Email: littlechef@parkerhobart.com

Tel:        0207 7590 7485

The Transform Awards areEurope’s only awards programme to honour excellence in rebranding, repositioning, and brand transformation. Little Chef and venturethree picked up Gold and Silver in recognition of the brand redevelopment programme led by venturethree and implemented by Little Chef.

Key to the success of Little Chef’s rebranding was the development of the ‘Wonderfully British’ brand idea, which influenced all elements of the new look restaurants, from food and service, to packaging, restaurant design and communications. venturethree worked in collaboration with Little Chef and their strategic partners to revitalise Little Chef and to blend the best of its existing brand with a totally modern and individual new identity.    

Commenting, Graham Sims, Chairman of Little Chef said: “The rebrand, guided by venturethree, has ignited a new sense of energy in the business, and everyone at Little Chef feels very proud to be a part of it. We are thrilled to have been successful in two categories at the Transform Awards, and this prestigious double accolade is further proof that Little Chef is a ‘Wonderfully British’, modern and creative brand that offers the highest quality food, service and style.”

Stuart Watson, Creative Director at venturethree stated: “We are delighted by the success of our collaboration with Little Chef. Our objective was to retain all the good DNA of this iconic brand while creating a thoroughly modern look and feel which is brought to life through every touch point, creating the best possible Little Chef experience”.

Jeremy Clarkson gave a rave review of this visit on the Top Gear programme broadcast on Sunday 26^th February, praising the chicken hot pot as “the second nicest thing I have ever put in my mouth!”

From this Friday 2^nd March to Sunday 11^th  March, Little Chef will be giving all of their customers the chance to try their delicious hot pot and mash while stocks last as part of their Dine for £5 menu – available all day every day or just £2.99 to takeaway.*

Commenting, Graham Sims, Chairman of Little Chef said: “We are delighted that Top Gear chose to pay us a visit.  The fact they loved our food is testament to the work we have put in to improve our menus and our service to customers in the last few years.  Customers all over the UK are giving us fantastic reviews and we are really confident for the future as we roll out our New Concept menus across our estate. Little Chef is thriving again.”

To view a clip of the Top Gear show click here.

* Available at our new restaurants. Go to http://www.littlechef.co.uk/findalittlechef for more info and to plan your route.

RCapital remains the owner of the roadside restaurant chain following the restructuring process. As a result of this move, Little Chef will continue to operate the 95 sites which it identified in January as being consistently profitable. There will be no further job losses or restaurant closures as a result of today's news.

Commenting on this announcement, Jamie Constable founder of RCapital said:

"Any restructuring of lease commitments is always a complex arena and needs a willingness of the landlord to negotiate. Although we have had some great support from some of our landlords, we have taken the business through a formal re-structuring process to complete the planned closures."

Graham Sims, Chairman of Little Chef added:

"Today's announcement represents a final hurdle in long journey to complete our critical rebuilding process. We are profitable and cash generative and will continue to deliver first-rate customer service to our customers. Little Chef is very much open for business."

For further enquiries call Tom Buchanan or Daniel Yea at Maitland on 02073795151.

Best Creative Strategy

Best Re-brand from the Customer Services Sector.

Little Chef’s remaining sites are all trading profitably. The closures are expected to result in the loss of between 500 and 600 jobs at sites across the country, subject to local consultations. These jobs are a mixture of full and part-time roles. After this action, it is anticipated that the remaining workforce will number approximately 1,500 people.

Although the decision to close the sites was not taken lightly, it was essential to complete this action in order to allow the company to focus its capital resources on developing the remaining portfolio of sites, introducing the New Concept – which has been highly successful– and targeting new sites. Little Chef’s strategic plan is to expand its business by opening and introducing new sites over the coming years.Overall, Little Chef continues to trade strongly.

Commenting on this announcement, Graham Sims, Chairman of Little Chef said:

“When we acquired Little Chef four years ago we inherited a number of sites with leases that were uncompetitive. Despite very hard work from some very committed colleagues we have been unable to lift the performances of these sites to a level where they are viable. Consequently, following a thorough review in which we considered all the options it is with regret that we have had to close a number of sites. This means some people’s jobs are at risk throughout the organisation. We will do everything in our power to help every individual find alternative employment within the Little Chef organisation. I know this will be tough and an uncertain time for many people in our team.

By closing these sites we will be able to focus our attention on protecting over 1500 of our colleagues’ jobs and enabling our investments to be targeted on our remaining strong sites and to develop our brand and our New Concept - towards which the customer response has been very positive.”

Tracey Mulligan, Little Chef Managing Director comments, “Being on the roadside means that a quick loo break is part and parcel of our customers journey. We pride ourselves on having the best toilets on the roadside and as part of our revamp have made them a key talking point. Designed by Ab Rogers all our toilets have had a modern and bright makeover which include sky ceilings and relaxing farmyard noises.”
To pick the winners Loo of the Year judges made an unannounced visit to inspect the toilet entries and judged them on a number of factors, which together make toilets clean, safe and hygienic. The Awards are open to all public toilets and assess a whole host of different venues including retail, hospitality, leisure, transport and local authorities.

The awards hosted by the British Toilet Association were held on 2 December at a presentation in Kenilworth.

Little Chef will also be offering free Tyre Tread Testers to the first 10 drivers who mention Road Safety Week at its 13 New Concept Restaurant till points each day during the week of the campaign. They will also be giving away free bottles of water and chocolate bars, while stocks last.

To reinforce the importance of road safety and to make sure customers are aware of road safety issues, Brake’s road safety questionnaires will be available for customers to have a go at completing whilst they’re taking a break from the road and relax with a bite to eat.

Little Chef is among thousands of organisations, schools and community groups around the UK taking part in the Week to raise awareness about how we can make roads safer and prevent needless tragedies.

Little Chef’s Chairman Graham Sims, comments “As the UK’s most iconic restaurant chain on the roadside where drivers stop for a break, road safety concerns are paramount to Little Chef. We are committed to bringing the best in quality offering to the roadside and that includes providing local communities and drivers alike, a welcoming place to stop, rest and re-charge their batteries.
In addition to our support of the Road safety Week campaign, at all Little Chef restaurants, customers can pick up a loyalty card, sign up on-line and get free refills on hot drinks”.

Little Chef has 159 restaurants around the country and its New Concept Restaurants are located at:
York
Doncaster
Markham Moor North
Shrewsbury
Kettering West
Black Cat
Fontwell
Weston on the Green North
Wisley South
Ilminster
Podimore
Popham
Amesbury

Road Safety Week is an annual event coordinated by Brake, now in its 15th year, which involves thousands of schools, communities and organisations taking action on road safety. It is supported by headline sponsor QBE Insurance, additional sponsor FedEx, and regional sponsors. See http://www.roadsafetyweek.org.uk/ for more info.

Initially the roll out will see the installation of 29 charging points in Little Chef restaurant car parks and a further 62 by the spring of 2012, meaning that every Little Chef will be equipped with an E V charging point by the end of 2012.

Little Chef’s estate is strategically located on Britain’s A road network across the UK and the new facility will allow fast charging of up to 7 kW allowing electric motorists to top their electric car up whilst enjoying a hot meal or something from the new Good to Go range at their destination. 

There is an increasing number of electric cars on the country’s roads and over the next three years major motor manufacturers including Vauxhall, Ford, Renault, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes and Toyota will have plug in cars on the market.  By the end of this decade it is widely forecast that one in ten new cars will be electric. Little Chef is the first national restaurant chain to recognise the need to provide roadside E V charging facilities to service the requirements of this growing band of ‘electric’ motorists.

The service will be provided free of charge*, courtesy of Little Chef and SSE for the first year, and the high technology Chargemaster units will be supplied with electricity by SSE, the leading generator of renewable energy across the UK and Ireland.

Little Chef’s Managing Director, Tracey Mulligan comments: “This represents an important stage in the brand development of Little Chef, we recently launched a completely new brand identity and introduced a top quality grab and go food offering, designed for today’s motorist. Our approach to ethical sourcing of our food is absolutely in line with offering electric car charging points. This is just the first phase, we want every Little Chef to offer this service for motorists and are working with the best in the market place, Chargemaster and SSE to deliver this.”

David Densley, Head of Sustainable Transport for SSE said: “We’re very pleased to be involved in this major project as we are committed to improving the network of electric vehicle charging points throughout the UK. We also hope it will spark people’s interest in electric transport and the environmental benefits it could bring in the future.”

Norman Baker, Transport Minister said: “I welcome this big thinking from Little Chef, giving a taste of the future in the move towards a first class national recharging network for plug-in cars.The Government has provided £30m of funding for electric car charging infrastructure through the Plugged-In Places programme in cities and regions across the UK.  This private-sector-led initiative is just the kind of ingredient we need to drive the development of our national network of recharging infrastructure.  It is great to see another example of UK enterprise coming forward to make the most of the opportunity”.

David Martell, CEO at Chargemaster comments: “It’s exciting to be working alongside Little Chef and SSE to provide this service to Little Chef customers. Undoubtedly Little Chef is leading the way in providing roadside services to the modern motorist and we are delighted that have identified the growing need to specifically cater for the growing number of electric motorists”

* until Dec 2012, subject to a fair usage clause.

The new joint venture unites the two long-established British companies in their commitment to offering customers the highest quality tea on the roadside.

Spokesman for Taylors of Harrogate, Steve Evans, said: "We are working alongside Little Chef to offer their customers a unique new tea experience across their 162 restaurants. We are serving Yorkshire Tea in a white china tea pot accompanied by a jug of milk and bowl of sugar cubes, on a tray. Loose leaf tea will be available in Popham, Kettering West, York and the ten recently opened new concept restaurants. Little Chef has partnered with Taylors because we have a strong, common bond - a passion to provide customers with the best tea possible and a belief in doing traditional things properly."

Little Chef Managing Director, Tracey Mulligan, commented: "We have some really great plans to bring the best tea experience back to the British roadside and we are proud to be partnering with Taylors to develop and deliver them. A pot of tea is already our bestselling beverage with over three million enjoyed last year at our restaurants and we are excited to be introducing loose leaf tea into our 13 new concept Little Chef restaurants."

In addition to the three original concept restaurants at Popham, Kettering West & York, the additional ten, which also include a new take away offering, 'Good to go', brings the total of new concept restaurants to 12 currently. Customer satisfaction across the 12 concept restaurants is on the up with over 20,000 covers per week, with average spend per head up by over 14%.

Little Chef's Managing Director, Tracey Mulligan comments: "Together with the new management team I have spent considerable time analysing the DNA of the Little Chef brand, undertaking extensive research into roadside consumer habits and analysed all of our learnings from our current concept restaurants. The team know that if we continue to concentrate on the things that really matter; brand development, fresh new restaurant design, great service and re-focus on quality and provenance of food, tailored around current road user needs, this will make Little Chef more relevant than ever to our 10 million loyal customers and to the new customers we wish to attract."

The latest restaurant update sees the addition of a new 'Good to Go' deli offering, which will provide customers with the highest quality food on the go, better than anywhere else on the roadside. Ethically sourced ingredients include free-range British eggs, free-range chicken, fish caught from sustainable sources and tea and coffee is fair trade and rainforest alliance yet all at an affordable and competitive price in the market place.