Big Chef Little Chef

**vetran** · 19 January 2009, 23:30

Inside knowledge

Used to work in a little chef (pay my way through college). It used to be lard on a plate and it hasn't changed. Heston needs to make quick clean meals served up politely and at reasonable cost. Hire a load of poles and make breakfast under a fiver without it swimming in grease.

**Beefy198** · 19 January 2009, 23:46

I loved the CEO doing the speech 'I could have hired any other celebrity chef to come up with exactly that'. I probably would have been tempted to tell him where to go there and then.

And not knowing his margins? My father-in-law owns two restaurants and trust me, everyone in the food business knows their margins from top to bottom.

He did go a bit OTT with the menu in that episode though. Imagine trying to get your kids to eat a hotpot with oyster in it....

As for the chefs, complete twats. The manager of the Little Chef seemed reasonable enough with them but just had them acting like tossers back. Even he noted that he was institutionalised in the Little Chef way but was willing to offer his opinion and try new things. People can't change overnight and to go in and lord over the place (when what you're doing isn't being all that successful anyway) is stupid.

**minestrone** · 20 January 2009, 08:24

The CEO was a complete fanny, "we need a taste explosion" "think blue sky" does anyone say blue sky thinking anymore?

About 7 years ago I was in charge of a writing a bunch of public sites for the world's biggest car company, the sales director never stopped shouting "give them blue sky" so I named the java web context bluesky. They went mental the week before release when they noticed that bluesky (brand colour was red) was in every URL and demanded it was removed. I just said "well you asked me to make it bluesky and you can't change it now, we have been working on it for a year". I left 2 weeks later.

**ace00** · 20 January 2009, 08:42

What is this of which you speak?
Some kind of reality TV set in a Little Chef?

**minestrone** · 20 January 2009, 09:29

Originally posted by ace00 View Post

What is this of which you speak?
Some kind of reality TV set in a Little Chef?

Aye, Heston Blo.. whatever is to revamp little chef. Pretty much goes to script ( because it probably was scripted ) culture clash, Heston's cooks looking down on the LC staff, no one wants to change the menu blahh blahh.

As it said in the times this morning it's just culinary wife swap.

Part 2 is on at 9 tonight.

Anyway the daft feckers at channel 4 really screwed it up at the end, during the what happens next episode bit at the end they try and give the impression that he is going to walk away, then the voice over guy comes on during the credits and says "have you tried the new menu, have your say on it online" Totally shagged the build up to part 2 which the program producers were trying to build.

**TCL** · 20 January 2009, 09:42

Originally posted by minestrone View Post

The CEO was a complete fanny, "we need a taste explosion" "think blue sky" does anyone say blue sky thinking anymore?

I was only half watching it (it seemed like an obvious attempt to create what I call "FrictionTV", a la Wife Swap - "lets get a top chef famous for creating fancy food into a place where fancy food is about the last thing anyone wants")...anyway I digress. So I was only half watching but I did catch this twonk coming out with "blue sky", "thinking outside the box" and "move forward together" all within the space of about 30 seconds, and it was at that moment that I said to Mrs TCL "Thats why you're lucky you don't work in a office. You get that sort of crap every day"

**BoredBloke** · 20 January 2009, 09:58

I thought the whole exercise was pointless. People who go to a little chef are not going there to eat a hotpot containing oysters and sweetbreads they want food that is cheap and cheerful. In my opinion what they should be looking to do is take the food they already have and improve on it. Could you imagine some hairy @rsed trucker sitting down to that teaspoon of scrambled egg and salmon on that huge plate. As the bloke said - their breakfast sets you up - it probably significantly hardens your arteries at the same time, but that is where their market is.

I have to agree with the other comments

His two head chefs seemed like a pair of tw@ts. The way they were talking down about everything the little chef did. OK it is serving food a million miles away from the stuff they produce and their staff may not be as well trained (or paid) but there is no need to go in and be quite so condescending.

The head of the group came over as being a complete tit and showed the worst side of management. How can you ask a guy to produce you menu that is full of weird and wonderful foods without setting any kind of cost parameters then setting it in direct competition with the traditional Little Chef menu knowing full well that the people who eat there are not going to ever choose this new menu in a million years.

What I'd like to know is how does the chain stay in business. I've only ever eaten in a little chef once. Looking at this program it seems to manage to employ more people than they serve.

**lambrini_socialist** · 20 January 2009, 10:14

the bit where the two menus went head-to-head missed the point: they could have run two identical, bog standard chips 'n' pasta menus, one labelled "Little Chef" and one labelled "Heston Blumenthal", and the hapless proles would still have overwhelmingly chosen the "Little Chef" one simply because of inverted snobbery, fear of the unfamiliar and "it's not for people like us" class self-identification. oh, and because they're f***ing thick.

honestly, what's the point?

**Ruprect** · 20 January 2009, 10:19

loved the prog - can't wait for tonight's. Felt a little for Heston as the CEO was not really giving a reasonable brief, or the info he wanted (though 350K for a month's work should compensate). Who wants "razzamatazz" with little chef? surely punters just want half decent food?

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