Roadchef - History

History

Roadchef was founded in July 1973 by Lindley Catering Investments and Galleon World Travel. The company was originally family owned but in November 1995 was sold to a management team and its most recent change of ownership was to the Israeli Delek Group.

Over the years Roadchef have acquired a portfolio of 20 sites. A large expansion occurred in 1998 when Roadchef agreed to purchase Blue Boar Group and Take A Break for £80 million and thus proceeded to integrate these acquisitions into an enlarged Roadchef Group. At the time, Blue Boar was the fourth largest operator of motorway services areas in the UK with three operational sites and one development site. The acquired Watford Gap site was the first motorway service area to be opened in the UK in 1959 and is one of the UK’s best known sites. A few years ago (according to Google Finance), "Roadchef Motorways was one of the largest Motorway Services Area (MSA) operators in the UK, with 21 sites representing 24% of the market and serving some 60 million visitors each year."

Roadchef recently announced a multi-million refurbishment programme and their newly refurbished Clacket Lane services on the M25 is one of the largest sites in the UK. They are also very proud of their Strensham services on the M5 which contain a wealth of new brands and included the successful trials of McDonalds, WHSmith and The Hot Food Company (Restaurant); this occurred as a result of the 2008 refurbishment and has also given the services a number of unique brands which include Soho Coffee Co, Pizza Hut Express, Subway and Cotton Traders.