Little Chef in Bramley ....

Patexpat · Post by **Patexpat** » Mon 17 Aug, 2009 9:43 am

The thread about Coffee Bar in the 60's reminded me ..... not a coffee bar (hence the new thread!) but anyone remember the Little Chef that was in fact an American style trailer/caravan parked in the forecourt of what I think was a Shell petrol station next to the Brown Cow Inn on Stanningley Road? Little Chef used these trailers in the early days, and I remember being taken by my much elder brother as a treat, so it must have been early 60's?May be there were others around Leeds?When I still lived in the UK and was a corporate slave I used Little Chefs all over the country as meeting points - loved their brekkys and burgers ... which probably explains my current waist line!

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Mon 17 Aug, 2009 12:20 pm

Unfortunately I believe that the Little Chef chain has been in financial bother of late, and many have been closed. I'm talking now about the permanent "brick and tile" Little Chefs rather than any kind of "portable" facility. The one at Bramham Cross Roads on the A64 eastbound is a sorry sight indeed. I have always found them to be clean and tidy, with nicely cooked food, but very meagre portions at very high prices.

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Mon 17 Aug, 2009 9:37 pm

The chain is still going, but many of the restaurants have closed due to financial pressures.They did try to take it up market offering literally dozens of new dishes and were roundly criticised for it in Heston Blumenthals "Save the Little Chef" show on Channel 4.As someone who used to use them occasionally, the quality could vary massively between different branches.I'm too young to remember the Bramley branch, but I do recall the one at the York Rd / Selby Rd junction which has been shut for a long while now. The Bramham Crossroads branch was doomed when the A1/A64 interchange was remodelled, although the one on the A64 betwixt York and Malton has re-opened after being closed for months.

sirjohn · Post by **sirjohn** » Mon 17 Aug, 2009 11:15 pm

the little chef on the A64 is one of only 3 in the country to be getting (possibly already has) the Heston Blumenthal menu.Snail porridge here I come.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Mon 17 Aug, 2009 11:23 pm

A story I heard about Little Chef: a customer goes in and asks for an omlette, the waitress says "they have no omlettes," the customer says, "but you've got eggs surely you can make an omlette?" The waitress says, "no the omlettes come deep frozen from head office and we've run out."Not really surprising they're in trouble.

Si · Post by Si » Tue 18 Aug, 2009 5:11 pm

Trojan wrote: A story I heard about Little Chef: a customer goes in and asks for an omlette, the waitress says "they have no omlettes," the customer says, "but you've got eggs surely you can make an omlette?" The waitress says, "no the omlettes come deep frozen from head office and we've run out."Not really surprising they're in trouble. This is how all fast-food outlets operate. Everything (and I mean everything - there is no room for initiative) is done by a manual. This means that the operatives cooking the food need no basic cookery skills, and are therefore cheaper to employ. Along with the mass-buying of ingredients, it also means that there should (in theory) be no difference between a Big Mac in Piccadilly Circus and a Big Mac in Briggate.I may have mentioned this before on here, but years ago, I was the art director at McDonalds' ad agency, and one of my jobs was to oversee the photography of all their products for menu boards, etc. They refused to use a professional food photographer's studio so that the burgers, etc could be cooked on their own equipment. This meant we had to ship all the photographer's equipment to their HQ in Finchley where we set up a "studio" in a disused conference room, complete with wobbly floorboards, bright red walls, and constant McMuzak. McDonalds' deputy CEO did the cooking on the floor above, and we assembled the burgers infront of the camera. Bearing in mind this was all done so that the products would look authentic, they were quite happy to add cardboard discs to make them look bigger, "paint" the burgers with linseed oil to make them look fresher, and blow cigarette smoke through them with a straw to make them look hot! Mmmm...yummy!

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Tue 18 Aug, 2009 8:56 pm

Si wrote: Trojan wrote: A story I heard about Little Chef: a customer goes in and asks for an omlette, the waitress says "they have no omlettes," the customer says, "but you've got eggs surely you can make an omlette?" The waitress says, "no the omlettes come deep frozen from head office and we've run out."Not really surprising they're in trouble. This is how all fast-food outlets operate. Everything (and I mean everything - there is no room for initiative) is done by a manual. This means that the operatives cooking the food need no basic cookery skills, and are therefore cheaper to employ. Along with the mass-buying of ingredients, it also means that there should (in theory) be no difference between a Big Mac in Piccadilly Circus and a Big Mac in Briggate.I may have mentioned this before on here, but years ago, I was the art director at McDonalds' ad agency, and one of my jobs was to oversee the photography of all their products for menu boards, etc. They refused to use a professional food photographer's studio so that the burgers, etc could be cooked on their own equipment. This meant we had to ship all the photographer's equipment to their HQ in Finchley where we set up a "studio" in a disused conference room, complete with wobbly floorboards, bright red walls, and constant McMuzak. McDonalds' deputy CEO did the cooking on the floor above, and we assembled the burgers infront of the camera. Bearing in mind this was all done so that the products would look authentic, they were quite happy to add cardboard discs to make them look bigger, "paint" the burgers with linseed oil to make them look fresher, and blow cigarette smoke through them with a straw to make them look hot! Mmmm...yummy! - if you peer behind the counter in many fast food chains, into the kitchen area you might glimpse the laminated pictures of every "dish" on the menu guiding the staff how to turn them out. I've seen them in a couple of burger "restaurants" and Domino's have them too. I'd never appreciated how difficult it could be to get a pepperoni pizza right...!

stutterdog · Post by **stutterdog** » Tue 18 Aug, 2009 11:10 pm

A few years ago me ,my wife and her brother,sister and their spouses went to an Italian resteraunt near to Go Oudoors Stanningley(it's now closed). My brother-in -law ordered Guinea fowl and when it came he disputed that it was Guinea fowl and thought it might be chicken.He summoned the owner and told him this.The owner went to the kitchen and brought the empy boil-in-the bag to the table! It said on the bag ,Guinea fowl! We all howled with laughter. We never went back again. No wonder it closed down

Si · Post by Si » Wed 19 Aug, 2009 11:10 am

raveydavey wrote: Si wrote: Trojan wrote: A story I heard about Little Chef: a customer goes in and asks for an omlette, the waitress says "they have no omlettes," the customer says, "but you've got eggs surely you can make an omlette?" The waitress says, "no the omlettes come deep frozen from head office and we've run out."Not really surprising they're in trouble. This is how all fast-food outlets operate. Everything (and I mean everything - there is no room for initiative) is done by a manual. This means that the operatives cooking the food need no basic cookery skills, and are therefore cheaper to employ. Along with the mass-buying of ingredients, it also means that there should (in theory) be no difference between a Big Mac in Piccadilly Circus and a Big Mac in Briggate.I may have mentioned this before on here, but years ago, I was the art director at McDonalds' ad agency, and one of my jobs was to oversee the photography of all their products for menu boards, etc. They refused to use a professional food photographer's studio so that the burgers, etc could be cooked on their own equipment. This meant we had to ship all the photographer's equipment to their HQ in Finchley where we set up a "studio" in a disused conference room, complete with wobbly floorboards, bright red walls, and constant McMuzak. McDonalds' deputy CEO did the cooking on the floor above, and we assembled the burgers infront of the camera. Bearing in mind this was all done so that the products would look authentic, they were quite happy to add cardboard discs to make them look bigger, "paint" the burgers with linseed oil to make them look fresher, and blow cigarette smoke through them with a straw to make them look hot! Mmmm...yummy! - if you peer behind the counter in many fast food chains, into the kitchen area you might glimpse the laminated pictures of every "dish" on the menu guiding the staff how to turn them out. I've seen them in a couple of burger "restaurants" and Domino's have them too. I'd never appreciated how difficult it could be to get a pepperoni pizza right...! Food photography is an art in itself, Davey, with many "tricks of the trade." Even the wrappers on Mars bars, etc, have to be carefully "engineered" so they tear off perfectly, and the model's hand is usually held in a clamp.

Arry Awk · Post by **Arry Awk** » Wed 19 Aug, 2009 4:27 pm

Trojan wrote: A story I heard about Little Chef: a customer goes in and asks for an omlette, the waitress says "they have no omlettes," the customer says, "but you've got eggs surely you can make an omlette?" The waitress says, "no the omlettes come deep frozen from head office and we've run out."Not really surprising they're in trouble. I hear that the Little Chef had to take early retirement!He kept burning his chin on the hotplate!Go on---GROAN!!! lol-not! Hottot!(Sorry,that's the Subway addy!)