Little Chef, the roadside restaurant chain owned by R Capital, has confirmed the appointment of Graham Sims, formerly retail managing director of BP, as its new chairman, while David Street is working with the business as property consultant as it looks to rationalise its estate.
Street is currently interim property director at Paramount Restaurants and acquisitions consultant at Novus Leisure and will consult on plans for the 162-strong chain's estate.
Reports over the weekend suggested that Little Chef, which was acquired by RCapital in 2007, planned plans to open at least 55 more restaurants.
Earlier this year, the chain said it planned to invest £20m in updating its estate and identity, plus introducing a new “Good to Go” deli concept across its estate. The roll-out of new concept restaurants has expanded to 13 locations to date.
The group appointed Paul Campbell, the former chief executive of Clapham House Group and owner of advisory and investment fund Hill Capital, as a non-executive director to aid its revamp.
The company said that Sims, who spent 27 years at BP, had been brought on board to help continue to “revitalise the iconic British brand and bring Little Chef back to its place as the number one roadside restaurant of choice and the voice of the road”.
Sims said: “Little Chef is an iconic brand which provides a wonderfully British dining experience for Britain’s travellers - part of all our memories. I am very excited about what Little Chef has done already with the launch of the new Good to go take away offer and the new concept restaurants. I’m looking forward to taking on the challenge of driving the business forward. My focus will be to work with the team to broaden and expand our customer offer to provide more choice, great value, even better quality and a range of new offers and locations across Britain to make Little Chef the number one choice of the roadside.”
Peter Ward of RCapital, said: “We are delighted that Graham has joined the Little Chef management team and that he shares our vision for the continued growth of the business. Graham’s career has been built on continuous drive for change and innovation and his proven track record populated with industry and market leading initiatives have changed the retail and customer experience in our sector. The experience, energy and enthusiasm that Graham will bring to the business will be invaluable.”
