Granada picks fast-food option for Little Chefs

GRANADA has earmarked £25m to develop 100 joint Little Chef and Burger King operations over the next five years.

The group, which has a franchise agreement with Burger King, has been testing dual outlets over the past 18 months in 25 sites. "There are only a few sites where it was wrong, but typically sales were up by 50%," said Chris Copnel, managing director of Little Chef and Travelodge.

Burger King restaurants will be added to around 60 existing Little Chef operations, while the rest will be greenfield sites. Some outlets may see the addition of a Burger King Express. This is a take-away-only concept which has not yet been tried in the UK.

"There is evidence that a fast-food offer alongside Little Chef encourages a lot more people to stop," said Copnel.

Granada plans to increase the number of Little Chefs by 20 each year.