Big Chef, Little Chef

During the flights that were necessary for this summer’s trip to New Zealand, amongst many other things, I watched the three Channel 4 episodes which describe how top and innovative chef Heston Blumenthal was brought in to Little Chef to try and transform its fortune. The first Little Chef opened in 1958, the same year as Britain got its first motorway. For many it has become a British institution but, 50 years on, in 2008 was failing to attract the level of customers it needed in order to be viable. Chief Executive Ian Pegler brought in Blumenthal giving him the remit of transforming the chain’s fortunes. Despite being horrified by sampling the fare on offer, Blumenthal eagerly took on the challenge seeing it as an opportunity to transform – and so save – a British institution. Pegler encouraged Blumenthal to engage in ‘blue sky thinking’, but was obstructive in many ways, for example, being reluctant to give him the accounts. The programmes followed his creating new dishes, costing and trialling them. He battled to persuade the committed Little Chef staff that other things were possible and could be an improvement. The story contributes to my thinking about how we can 'get the church sorted' in a number of ways and raises questions like: - How ready are we to do something different? - How much are we prepared to pay for quality? - How do we keep the currently committed on board? - What are the new ‘dishes’ we should be offering? - Are we prepared to be open with potential partners? - How do we go different without losing the brand?