| Roadchef |
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| Locations: | 20 |
| Associated names: | The Burger Company, McDonald's, Costa, Restbite, Pizza Hut, Hot Food Co., Fone Bitz, Game On, WHSmith, Days Inn |
| Introduced: | 1973 |
| Predecessors: | Blue Boar, Take a Break, First |
| Acquired by: | Delek Group |
| Chief executive: | Simon Turl |
| Headquarters address: | RoadChef Motorways Ltd
RoadChef House
Norton Canes [Motorway Services]
Betty's Lane
Norton Canes
Cannock
Staffordshire
WS11 9UX [map] |
| Phone number: | 01543 272540 |
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Website:
www.roadchef.com
Facebook Page
Twitter: @roadchef |
Main Page | Photo Gallery | Map
Roadchef is the smallest of the 'big three' operators, and being the only one of the three not to have had an affair with Granada, stands out as being slightly different from the rest.
Roadchef Today
Their services usually take two forms; either small, secluded services built by Roadchef or modern open ones which have been inherited and re-built or built by them in recent years.
The headquarters used to be located in Barnwood, Gloucester, before moving to Norton Canes to save money. Like other operators, they recently introduced several new brands to their services such as WHSmith and McDonald's. They've also replaced Wimpy with The Burger Company and they've experimented with Pasty Presto and Soho Coffee Co.
Roadchef offer a free BT Openzone Wi-Fi service for all customers, something which has proven popular and was later followed up on by Moto.
Fuel is provided under a variety of brands.
In October 2010, they confirmed the creation of over 400 jobs as part of a multi-million pound investment programme to regenerate the company’s entire estate up until 2015. The first two years saw £12 million spent on redeveloping the catering facilities at ten key sites, with further improvements at Roadchef’s remaining service areas scheduled to take place over the following three years. So far, Roadchef have kept to this promise but they still have a few sites left still to redevelop. At the same time, Roadchef also signed a 20 year agreement with McDonalds following the successful trial at Strensham. They also said that all of there RestBite outlets were going to be changed to Hot Food Co., following the successful trails at Strensham, Northampton and Watford Gap. Finally, Roadchef also promised that all of there Costa outlets were going to be moved to larger units or be upgraded. Roadchef have confirmed this week (18th Feb 2013) that they will be upgrading all of there RestBite restaurants but at the moment, they are still trialling other catering offers to see which is most popular.
In August 2011, they broke a chain of bad news by buying First's two services, in a deal reportedly worth £10m.
Roadchef also had the poorest result in VisitEngland's 2012 survey, with Watford Gap losing a star, and the average result being the lowest of all the operators.
In May 2012, RoadChef launched there first 'Engenie' Electric Car Charging Point at Clacket Lane and are expected to be launched at 16 of there sites before the end of 2012 and the rest before March 2013. (Yes, that even includes Symonds Yat!!). This has now been postponed to Summer 2013.
Company History
Estate
Roadchef set up in 1973 as a small but growing service area operator. It was a joint venture between Lindley Catering Investments and Galleon World Travel, and was known as "Galleon RoadChef" for quite a while.
In 1996 they had a plan to introduce a Wimpy drive-thru at there only fully owned service station Sandbach but the plans were dropped and this never happened.
By 1998 they had acquired three services from Blue Boar (including the oldest in the country, Watford Gap) and Take-a-Break's only, Strensham. Although this didn't push them too far forward on the league table, it did knock out two important names which means that today the operator is well known.
In 2008 Roadchef had a series of difficult financial problems and sold Winchester services. Roadchef were eventually put up for sale themselves, but after more than a year no buyer was found. The existing owner's parent company, Delek Group, are reportedly interested in buying Roadchef.
Other Interests
In 2003 Roadchef started sponsoring several road-based companies in order to generate publicity.
Roadchef were trialling the idea of a 'RoadCard', a loyalty card for Roadchef users that could be used at Stafford (South) and Strensham. This was eventually pulled due to lack of interest.
Logo History
Roadchef's initial logo consisted of a chef's hat and coffee cup, accompanied by the slogan "serves the traveller".
They then moved on to writing 'RoadChef' on a sign in red (the capitalisation seems to have varied depending on their mood, but the current trend is to write it all in lower case). In 2002 they introduced the slightly more relaxed and stylish logo (see above), and before then they used the slightly funkier '80s logo pictured to the right.
Roadchef, in line with the other operators, changed their logo so that it read 'RoadChef Costa Coffee' on the headboard on signs for their services. Part of the trial at Strensham involved making the headboard read 'McDonald's Costa', something which the others soon picked up on.
Roadchef Services
Full details: List of Roadchef services
A list of services ran by Roadchef can be found at this page, or you can view them on a map.
Former Services
The following services were owned by Roadchef:
Unbuilt Services
The following services were planned by Roadchef but they were never built:
Comments and Reviews
Showing the most recent responses only: for the full thread and the ability to edit your own posts, you need to view the topic in the forums.
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billy173
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RoadchefI would just like to say that the car parking has got nothing whatsoever to do with Roadchef. It is operated by a completely different company.
Also, most fuel stations on Roadchef sites are now operated by the fuel companies themselves, or by a franchisee, and the prices in the fuel station shops are usually a lot cheaper than in the Roadchef Main Services Area.
The costa coffee machines are a lot cheaper in the fuel station shops than in the Roadchef Main Services Area.
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Anonymous
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RoadchefI don't wish to start a discussion here as this board isn't meat for that, but for information, If the lights were off and you couldn't see the signs then if it were me I'd ignore the letters until it goes to court. They'll pile on the charges and pester and threaten but I'd ignore them. They are after all a private company patrolling a private car park and have to pursue you through the courts. Its very different to a council issuing a ticket for a council owned car park or a traffic wardens ticket.
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Johnathan404
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RoadchefDuncan's comments about Killington Lake got me thinking. Putting the fantastic view aside (which may well have given me a rose-tinted view of everything else I encountered that week), I think the staff I encountered here (weekend morning and evening) are the friendliest I have ever encountered at an MSA. I don't know if it's because you get a more personal experience, the power of the view, or just northerners being friendly, but they're great.
I just wish me in the early morning was able to match their pleasantness!  |
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Bob
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Roadchefroadchef worker wrote: just to say that all the staff at roadchef is not happy whit all this thinks happenig at stupid roached like the lost provention manual looks like u guys are calling us tiffs. and what is the point to have so mach presion on the people abat the kpi`s in our site the mangement they whant us to be on the top 5 at list and the top5 is like 75% so this means that we have to make the costumers take it even if dont whant on the site that i work the operation manager sayd to my unit manager if we or not in the top5 it`s our job we can lose it...so what happen allot of presion at the staff.so i just asking what u guys whant us to do? take a gun and say take the ******* english brekfast and the tost for £1 or i will kill u...haha is not funny.what u guys are doing should stop u guys should faind a difrent way to do it before u guys add prices for the top sites that add the best transactions per costumers on that time wasn`t as much presion.well u guys dont know anythink abat management we are not toys grow up as a companie stop it.
Whoever wrote the previous reply really would be well advised to take some lessons in spelling and grammar, as the above post is appalling. |
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tonkocookk
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RoadchefHi anonymous from January 23rd at 15:09.
I am in a very similar situation apart from the fact it was on Clacket Lane South services and it also happened in beginning of January 2013.
Lights overhead were off and it was pitch black, I didn't see signs and overstayed by half hour while spending money on food and drinks at the Roadchef due to flight delay.
I tried contacting them about it,but no response!
I also contacting that useless CPPlus company but they said I need photographic evidence if appealing!!! What evidence? Go there and try to take picture of darkness.I believe that company is doing it on purpose and leaving parking lots very dark so they can feed on motorists. I have never gotten a parking ticket in my life and I have been driving for 20 years,no speeding tickets and clean license so I am very considerate motorist!
I am left with nothing but to pay this fine,but I will NEVER use Roadchef services again. Utterly disappointed and I will spread the word as far as it can get so everyone knows what they are dealing with.
t o n k o c o o k 9@ h o t m a i l . c o . u k,contact me if you can.Thank you
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Anonymous
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RoadchefParking Ticket; Chester Services at beginning of January I'd arranged to meet a friend there at 7pm. Neither could find the other because the lights overhead were off and obviously it was pitch black. We had so much to catch up on that I didn't leave until a few minutes past midnight. I've now received a notif from someone called CPPlus saying I'm being charged £50 for parking!! IF I'd known there was a charge I'd have paid; IF signs had been noticeable I'd have paid. It was pitch black and NO lighting. Have since contacted Road Chef and am waiting for them to come back to me. I've never not paid for parking in the whole of my life - and over 60 now. What was a lovely catch up evening with an old friend I haven't seen for years is one I won't forget. Hopefully someone from Roadchef will get back to me with a decent charge for my stay.
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SheffieldBlade
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RoadchefStopped at Watford Gap on way to Wembley with The mighty Sheffield United and I have to comment on how well organised it was as they were obviously expecting thousands. Parking was well directed by Roadchef staff and we even managed to get a chanting war going with Huddersfield fans and won of course. Inside it was clean organised and quick in and out. All in all I have no complaints at all and despite some bad reviews I still think Roadchef is the most well Kept, Most well equiped and best Service station operator the is.  |
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Andrewinfinchley
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RoadchefParking fine: at the end of July we drove our camper van into the Roadchef Maidstone car park at 01.30 in the morning and slept there overnight. It didn't occur to us that there might be a charge, and we saw no signs to this effect. A few weeks later, we got a "Charge Notice" from CP Plus, demanding £50 as a "fine" for overstaying. The web is full of forums advising one to ignore this, but the Roadchef web site does indeed say that they charge £26 for an overnight stay - they just didn't indicate this clearly enough. So I emailed the CEO of Roadchef Simon Turl complaining about this behaviour. He replied personally the same day, promising to look into the matter. Two days later he came back with a detailed answer and an offer to reduce the charge, to an amount less than their normal overnight charge, which struck me as fair, so I paid it. I must say I am impressed by the courtesy and responsiveness of Roadchef management in this regard. It doesn't absolve them of the need to fix their lousy signage, totally invisible at night, but at least they dealt with us as though we mattered.
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Aaron
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Roadchefwhat have they done to Clacket Lane now?? instead of having a direct walk through the middle, you now have to walk right round the new Mcdonalds seating area and it looks rediculous where it is. And when you are walking out you have to make sure you are in the right place otherwise you walk into a blocked off dead end withing the Mcdonalds seating so you have to turn round and go back. really spoilt the layout in my opinion!
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rls
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RoadchefStopped at Roadchef northbound on the M5. bought two packets of sandwiches. The sandwiches were nearly £4 each and were tasteless- won't be buying those again.
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| Showing the most recent responses only: for the full thread and the ability to edit your own posts, you need to view the topic in the forums. | | |
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With thanks to the users 'sockin' and 'Roadhog_001' for the information used on this page.
