founded july 1973 july 1973 headquarters norton canes services uk area served united kingdom except northern ireland key people simon turl ceo revenue 200 000 000 number of employees 2000 parent antin ip website roadchef roadchef is a company which operates 30 motorway service areas in 21 locations in the uk . it is the third largest motorway service area operator behind moto and welcome break and followed by extra . 2 in september 2014 it was announced that owners delek group were selling roadchef to antin for 153m . 3 contents 1 history 2 locations 3 facilities 3.1 catering 3.2 whsmith 3.3 cotton traders 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit roadchef was founded in july 1973 by lindley catering investments and galleon world travel . 1 2 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 antin infrastructure partners . 1 over the years roadchef have acquired a portfolio of 21 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 . 4 roadchef recently announced a multimillion pound refurbishment programme 1 and their newly refurbished clacket lane services on the m25 is one of the largest sites in the uk . citation needed locations edit roadchef operate the following services citation needed annandale water bothwell chester clacket lane durham hamilton killington lake magor maidstone northampton norton canes pont abraham rownhams sandbach sedgemoor south stafford south strensham taunton deane tibshelf watford gap facilities edit roadchef motorway service areas have varying facilities but despite this all sites provide two hours free parking toilets and food 24 hours a day seven days a week . 5 catering edit hot food company is roadchef s self branded restaurant . available at three roadchef service areas clacket lane sandbach and strensham it was designed to reflect changing customer demands as less time is spent in the restaurant . it offers similar food to restbite but utilises counter service as opposed to a free flow self service environment . this is to save space and reduce queues . 6 7 the burger company is a self branded fast food outlet available at some roadchef service areas having replaced the failing wimpy chain . it is a quick fix until the sites are to be all refurbished to mcdonald s outlet of which roadchef is a fairly recent when franchisee . 8 9 mcdonald s came to many roadchef service areas as part of their 12 000 000 refurbishment plans . 1 pizza hut express were present at various roadchef service areas but now only one remains at strensham northbound . 10 11 a branch of the subway sandwich chain can be found at strensham northbound only in the forecourt . 12 this is their second motorway outlet . 13 courtesy of costa italian coffee along with other drinks snacks and sandwiches toasties is served at all roadchef service areas . the replacement of an own brand coffee shop with a high street name was pioneered by roadchef in 2007 whilst also pioneering advertising brands such as costa on motorway signage through a legal loophole . moto followed soon after also using costa and later welcome break utilised starbucks . 14 15 roadchef are currently when refurbishing and expanding their costa outlets as part of their 12 000 000 refurbishment project . 1 soho coffee co was introduced to strensham southbound during their 2008 refurbishment . 16 whsmith edit whsmith originally replaced all of moto s own brand shops after a successful trial at toddington and this was copied by welcome break and eventually roadchef . 17 cotton traders edit cotton traders currently have 6 outlets in roadchef services . strensham services were the first to gain a cotton traders . 18 19 see also edit moto welcome break extra references edit a b c d e f http www.roadchef.com roadchef about us.html a b motorway services online operators delek group to sell britain s roadchef for 250 million . reuters . thomson reuters . 14 september 2014 . retrieved 21 february 2016 . roadchef motorways limited google finance http motorwayservicesonline.co.uk msa policy http www.roadchef.com our brands hot food company.html http motorwayservicesonline.co.uk hot food co http www.roadchef.com our brands the burger company.html http motorwayservicesonline.co.uk the burger company pizza hut express ... . roadchef . archived from the original on 27 september 2011 . retrieved 12 august 2011 . http motorwayservicesonline.co.uk pizza hut http www.roadchef.com our brands subway.html http motorwayservicesonline.co.uk subway http www.roadchef.com our brands costa.html http motorwayservicesonline.co.uk costa http www.roadchef.com our brands soho coffee company.html http motorwayservicesonline.co.uk whsmith http www.roadchef.com our brands cotton traders.html http motorwayservicesonline.co.uk cotton traders external links edit roadchef official website 1 motorway services online roadchef general motorway services reviews motorway service areas reviews the interview roadchef s simon turl sarah bridge financial mail 23 august 2009 12 00am v t e roadchef annandale water bothwell chester clacket lane durham hamilton killington lake maidstone magor northampton norton canes pont abraham rownhams sandbach sedgemoor southbound stafford southbound strensham taunton deane tibshelf watford gap v t e motorway service stations in the united kingdom current extra baldock beaconsfield blackburn with darwen cambridge cobham cullompton derby with burton leicester peterborough euro garages rivington ross spur moto birch bridgwater burton in kendal cardiff west cherwell valley chieveley doncaster north donington park exeter frankley heston hilton park grantham north kinross knutsford lancaster forton leigh delamere medway pease pottage reading scotch corner severn view southwaite stafford northbound stirling swansea tamworth thurrock toddington trowell wetherby winchester woolley edge todhills roadchef annandale water bothwell chester clacket lane durham hamilton killington lake maidstone magor northampton norton canes pont abraham rownhams sandbach sedgemoor southbound stafford southbound strensham taunton deane tibshelf watford gap welcome break abington birchanger green burtonwood cardiff gate charnock richard corley derby south fleet gretna green gordano hartshead moor hopwood park keele leicester forest east london gateway membury michaelwood newport pagnell oxford sarn park sedgemoor northbound south mimms telford warwick woodall westmorland gloucester services tebay services category list retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title roadchef & oldid 743565314 categories catering and food service companies of the united kingdomcompanies based in staffordshirehidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from february 2016vague or ambiguous time from august 2016 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata 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