Happy Eater
Happy Eater was a chain of restaurants in England and Wales, founded in 1973 by Michael Pickard, who wanted to compete against Little Chef, the only national chain of roadside restaurants at the time. The company's first major move was converting Welcome Break restaurants into Happy Eater locations. The brand then further expanded by being sold to the Imperial Group, and forming a partnership with Esso garages, which saw a rapid increase of new roadside locations in the 1980s. The restaurants offered similar fare to Little Chef, such as offering English breakfasts and fish and chips. A  distinctive difference to customers between the two chains was that Happy Eater provided outdoor animal-themed playground equipment for children. Outlets were mostly located in the Midlands and the South East of England, with many locations situated along the A1 road corridor. In 1986, Trusthouse Forte, which owned Little Chef at the time, acquired Happy Eater from the Imperial Group. In 1996, Granada purchased Forte, as it had become known, and began to streamline their business by converting the Happy Eater locations to the Little Chef brand. By the end of 1997, all Happy Eater restaurants were either converted or  closed. The defunct brand is currently owned by Kout Food Group, who also own Little Chef. The group are no longer trading in the United Kingdom, meaning the Happy Eater trademark is now registered in Kuwait. History. In 1973 a former managing director of the hotel group Trust House Forte, Michael Pickard, founded a family-orientated roadside restaurant, aimed at competing with the established pre-eminent chain in the industry, Little Chef. By 1980 Pickard had built up a chain of 21 restaurants when he sold Happy Eater to the Imperial Group conglomerate. Imperial expanded the chain to 75 restaurants , before selling the chain in 1986 to Trust House Forte, who owned the Little Chef chain. Trusthouse Forte continued to expand the Happy Eater chain alongside Little Chef. The chain received media attention in 1991 when Prime Minister John Major stopped at a Happy Eater outlet for a fried breakfast on his way to a Young Conservatives conference. Trusthouse Forte was taken over in 1995 by Granada. Fate. In 1995, Little Chef began to take over Happy Eater locations, and by the end of 1997, all Happy Eater restaurants were either converted into Little Chef, or closed. Following various changes  in ownership, Little Chef itself began to hit financial difficulties in the mid-2000s, before eventually dissolving in January 2018. Legacy. Since 1996, a Mauritian restaurant chain has traded as "Happy Eater." In addition to the same name, it also has a logo similar to that of its British-founded counterpart.