Praise: Little Chef

Prothet_of_Doom

vikingaero wrote: »

An Olympic Breakfast at LC costs £7.99. A tea costs £1.99. For £10 you can get two breakfasts at independently owned cafes with Tea or Coffee included.

The sausage at LC is tiny whereas at most cafes you get two.

The difference? Greed. A cafe owner works for him/herself and pays themselves a wage. Any profit over and above wages is a bonus.

LC needs to also pay shareholders. Remember Supermum Nicola Horlick and her failed Georginas restaurant in Barnes? This statement of hers irks me: "So although we were doing 200 lunches on a Saturday and breaking even, I need to give a proper return to shareholders."

The problem was that the Shareholders split the business into two.
One half became a property company, that wanted a return on investment for the current value of the property, and the other had to rent the property, at a 'commercial rent'
The Shareholders then sold off the Property side. Took a big dividend. and then the rents went up again.

vikingaero

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

The problem was that the Shareholders split the business into two.
One half became a property company, that wanted a return on investment for the current value of the property, and the other had to rent the property, at a 'commercial rent'
The Shareholders then sold off the Property side. Took a big dividend. and then the rents went up again.

Loads of businesses do this for the short term cash return to investors. They can't think long term and the damage to the brand. When companies such as LC constantly close locations and teeter on Deathwatch then people think twice

I don't think I will ever eat at a LC again. Slow service and lack of locations are two main reasons. You know that when you see a LC car park that is full then there will be a minimum 30 minute wait for food because of the stupid way in which they cook - one order at a time. An independent cafe owner will cook several orders at one. Over the last 20 years I've been to some fantastic LC locations where the staff were amazing and fast, but these people were the exception.

If I want something on the go I'll visit McD/KFC/Costa/Starbucks where the service is fast, fairly standardised cost, standardised and generally clean decor and you know what you are getting.