RCapital sells Little Chef chain to Kout Food Group

PRIVATE equity firm RCapital yesterday sold the Little Chef chain of roadside eateries for about £15 million to Kuwait-­listed Kout Food Group.

Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal recently parted company with Little Chef after six years of leading a revamp of its menus. Picture: Contributed

RCapital put Little Chef up for sale in April, with Kout emerging as the only bidder that wanted to keep the brand’s name and its “Fat Charlie” chef logo.

Kout – which has Burger King, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell franchises in Kuwait – bought all but two of Little Chef’s 80 outlets, saving more than 1,100 jobs. RCapital is keeping two sites in Hampshire.

The turnaround specialist bought 200 Little Chef sites out of administration in 2007 and drafted in celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal to revamp its menu.

Kout already owns a handful of Burger King and KFC sites in the UK, along with the Maison Blanc patisserie chain founded by chef Raymond Blanc and London’s Cha Cha Moon Chinese noodle bar, developed by Wagamama founder Alan Yau.