Little Chefs in York and Kettering have been named as the next branches of the ailing roadside restaurant chain to be revamped by Heston Blumenthal.
The two restaurants will be relaunched in the autumn in the same style as the flagship Popham branch in Hampshire in the first phase of plans to roll the concept out to all 175 branches in the UK.
Popham`s menu, devised by Blumenthal featuring dishes such as Braised Oxtail and a healthier Olympic Breakfast, will also be used in the two new restaurants, which when re-opened will create 35 new jobs.
Ian Pegler, chief executive of Little Chef said: “Heston’s menu and the redesign of Popham have been very popular and, after very carefully analysing the results of the trial there we feel the time is right to enter the next stage of development. We are now ready to take the concept to restaurants in both the North and Midlands to see how they are received.
“It’s great to be working with Heston again and we are delighted to have his continued support.”
The next stage of the project which was the subject of the Channel 4 series Big Chef Takes on Little Chef, will also be filmed and broadcast on Channel 4 in the autumn.