Jaybird-UK

What a complete numpty the Little Chef MD was!

How many times did he need to say "think out of the box" and "blue sky thinking"

GC8

Weak management is their problem; demonstrated.

Wagon Gaz

iTrader: (18)

The MD wanted Heston to produce the kind of food he normally produces on a Little Chef budget

The cost of the ingreedients aside, the level of skill required for the Fat Duck style food does not come cheap.

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Been watching it as well. What a funny but depressing programme all at the same time. I used to love LC when I was a kid ( I say that as it must have been 20 years since i was in one ) and the breakfasts /cherry pancakes were the stuff I longed for.

Just shows how out of date they are and the management is typical of them.
I was actually shouting at the TV telling Ian to STFU with his 'blue sky thinking'

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Nowt wrong with an Olympic breakfast !

But Blue Sky Thinking, Arghhhh, the first refuge of clueless managers, I am very suspicious of anyone who I come into contact with through work that utters anything like that, Touch Base and all that bollocks.

NotoriousREV

How about normal, every day food that the mass market enjoys, made with good quality ingredients, served with friendly and relaxed attitude at a reasonable price? You couldn't go wrong. Stick your lambs vagina and cockroach spleen dumplings where the sun don't shine.

phil_wrx

iTrader: (2)

^^^^^^^ hahaha that sounds quite good

mart360

Anyone see it...

hmm,


dont need to be a rocket scientist to know that novel cuisine aint going to woo customers of LC

Nice to see some sparks!!! should be a good one tommorow


Olympic breakfast... every time

Chicken & bacon melt on the return journey


Mart

sti-04!!

Totally agree. If i want a greasy fry-up when out & about then i will stop at a little chef or such likes.
If i want decent grub then its a decent place i stop.

LC's CE is a tosser though, i think he's looking for a fall guy to save his own "bacon"

Enjoyed it though & i look forward to watching tomorrows episode.

scoobynutta555

I thought the MD was quite a false person and a bit out of his depth, basically a bull5hitter. I also think that Heston is the wrong person for the job. Think this was something for Ramsay to get his teeth into.

I also thought the 2 head chefs had a real bad attitude. The customer who said the Heston menu was poncey was quite correct. How Heston regarded himself as not poncey I don't know. Swanning around in an M5, mp3s in sea shells and 2 hubristic underlings says ponce in my book.

Little Chef needs a hearty menu at low prices with a bit of updating in the restaurants. It doesn't need tongue and gland hotpot or boil in the bag scrambled egg.

sti-04!!

You havent applied for the job of CE @ Little Chef have you ?

scoobynutta555

They couldn't afford me

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Bang on. Can you imagine how Ramsey would have handled that:

"Blue sky, what the f*ck does that even mean; f*cking bull****. Take your blue sky thinking and shove it up your a**. Your restaurants are failing, so don't lecture me on what you f**king think your customers want. If you knew that I wouldn't be here the in first f*cking place. Stop being a **** and asking me to polish a turd by adding a sparkler! You can't make chicken salad out of chicken s*it. Now let me do my job, you f*cking p*ick!, and get back to your brown eye stinking, or whatever you f*cking call it! "

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Nail + Head....firmly hit

boomer

Highly unexpected, but i am fascinated so far and can't wait for the next two episodes!

Mr MD was a complete "John Birt" with his bull**** Dalek speak, but Hes has been a bit limp so far as well. However i was impressed by his "scrambled egg solution" which is the kinda thing that needs fixing - you can't cook everything on a lump of metal.

Takes me back several years, when i posted this after WCT5. The problem isn't just the food, but how the "restaurant" is run!

Roll on tomorrow

mb

mykp

been watching this and thought it was, er - interesting.

the lc staff all seem to have their hearts in the right place, they all seem to have been there long enough and seem to love the place.

The food Heston came up with was utter crap and completely un-workable in my opinion. Oysters in a hot pot? WTF! boil in the bag scrambled eggs with salmon...

what they need is good honest food made from good ingredients at a price to please the average punter, the prices as they stand are a little steep for some of their foods, especially if you have a wife and 2.5 kids. you wouldnt get much change from £40 and I have to agree the burgers are like carpet, but the breakfasts are what people want, thats why they serve them all day.

Also the last little chef i was in looked like it had been decorated and cleaned in the 1950's so some restaurants need updating.

as for the LC MD. here mate why dont you take your blue sky thinking and hold onto that for a while because thats all you'll have when your business goes t!ts up.

as for the heston says he's not poncy. come on fella, wake up and smell the coffee. Take a look at yourself in the mirror of your m5 penismobile. your restaurant charges £250! if i was paying that for a meal, i'd expect it to suck me off before i started eating it!

I will be interested to see what happens next week.

Phil

Its on tomorrow and Wednesday NOT NEXT WEEK

StickyMicky

watched it,

some of my thoughts, its obviously been made a bit more dramatic so its a half decent tv program

the stuff he was putting on the menu at first was IMO just a bit of ****e to help make the program more interesting (you can see the true menu online of you want and its not much different from the current one lol)

the MD

well he was just a "lol" person, what a clown, i even said to the missus that he is just a bully-bull****ter, says one thing, means another, does not have a fooken clue what he is doing or needs.

was probably brought in to help save the business on his credentials for saving another, but does not have a clue about the core business. so spends his days talking waffle instead of eating some

would hate to work under somebody like that MD tbh

P1Fanatic

Ah bollocks missed this. Was looking forward to seeing how a renowned 3 Michelin Star chef was gonna turn the fortunes of LC around lol. I thought theyd all shut down.

Simon

jonny_693

iTrader: (5)

That MD is a total *****. You would think to be MD of a large restraunt chain you would have a small understanding of food. The only experience He will of had is one of those chamber of commerce management courses. Think outside of the box, theres no I in team etc. argh.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

What he ^^ said

I had the misfortune to have a meal at a LC a couple of years ago whilst staying in a Premier Inn next door. Dear god it was awful. Dreadful decor, dreadful menu, dreadful food.

My first job would be to give the place a make-over, that colour scheme and those curtains are awful

The Zohan

Yes, exactly, he must have had a meeting with Marketing and written this down thinking it will make him look like he is on the ball - FAIL!.

As for him putting the phone down on Heston after being asked some straight forward questions about his business and costs vs profits that he should have known the answers to - Unforgivable, especially for someone in his position, it showed just what sort of man and MD he is and no wonder Little Chef is on the slide. He was evasive and slippery during the call and when Heston called his bluff he got the the ar$e!
He is a sad little man or at least that is what he has shown he is so far.

The manager of the Little Chef the trial was held at had been working for LC for 25 years and didn't it show - with his poor attitude and closed mind - another reason LC is in trouble and again down to bad management from the top.

Once Heston had trialed his first attempt and that dimwitted MD had used up his "blue sky" comments the MD then went away and at that point produced the brief for what he wanted - that should have been the starting point anyway and again shows how poor he is at his job.

The MD is now looking to make Heston out to be the villain and no good, rather than work with him to make thing better - he is the MD FFS! how petty and childish and no good will come of it.

I do not think Heston has got the menu right yet and i think he is on a hiding to nothing due to the poor and incapable (miss)management at LC!

Cannot wait for tonight's episode, riveting viewing, the only looser is likely to be the company which is a shame.

IMHO - get rid of the dinner lady type cooking, Menu - basic good old fashioned English menu cooked with care and expertise by trained Chefs not dinner ladies who think they are chefs and serve up poor food as a result!

Oh, and they need a new MD who is prepared to listen and get involed and see's the bigger picture!

It really was great TV!

Matteeboy

So does Blue Sky thinking extend to serving sh1te overpriced awful food with surly staff and hideous 70s decor?
That MD will be out of a job soon - I can pretty much guarantee it.

Usually senior level staff seem above that sort of language - I often find more junior or middle management staff lapping it up and firing it out of the BS cannon.

StickyMicky

bring on the OX

Coffin Dodger

Think we have the same MD

The Zohan

Oh, and i see Heston Drives a newish BMW M5 - good lad!

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Makes you wonder how these people get into these roles in the first place. Guy is clearly a clown but has managed to get himself a rather well paid job (for the time being). Trouble is there are far too many of his ilk knocking about.

Ramsey is a good call. The Kitchen Nightmares series shows that he knows what people want from these places by putting a decent burger, Yorkshire puds etc back on menus. That's what people want not gormet at the roadside that the kids won't eat and wouldn't fill a sparrow.

5t.

lozgti

Without ruining anything,our paper says the results are interesting.

Will have a watch tonight.Another vote for the olympic breakfast though

Matteeboy

That impressed me too - relatively "modest" considering his success yet rather nice too.

P20SPD

iTrader: (1)

Little Chef is famous! : Little Chef

Looking at the pictures on the right, something tells me Heston will end up saying " You wanted BlueSky, well there it is"