Exclusively FREE on the motorway at Roadchef service areas
About us…
Founded in July 1973, Roadchef Motorways Ltd has been successfully serving the needs of the country’s travelling public for over 35 years. We are one of Britain’s leading Motorway Service Area operators with 19 sites covering the length and breadth of the motorway network.
Famously, Roadchef are the proud owner and operators of Watford Gap, the first and most iconic Motorway Service Area in the UK, which opened its doors on 2nd November 1959 and recently celebrated its 50th Anniversary. As part of the celebrations, the BBC commissioned ‘Watford Gap the Musical’, a tongue in cheek look at the history of the service area, which was featured on all of the main BBC News programmes on 2nd November 2009, exactly 50 years after the site opened. To see the musical and find out more about Watford Gap’s interesting and quirky history, please click on our ‘Latest News’ link on this web site.
We also operate an impressive portfolio of leading high street catering and retail brands from Costa, McDonald's and Wimpy to WHSmith and Premier Inn, not to mention our own free flow restaurant brand Restbite.
Roadchef is wholly owned and supported by Delek Real Estate (TASE: DLKR) and Delek Petroleum (a fully owned subsidiary of Delek Group) (TASE: DLEKG). Delek Group is a leading energy and infrastructure group with investments in upstream and downstream energy, water desalination and power plants globally. The synergies within the Group help to position Roadchef at the very forefront of Motorway Service Area development over the coming years.
Delek is also the number one importer and distributor of vehicles in Israel and owns insurance assets in both Israel and the US. Earlier this year, Delek Group, through its subsidiaries, discovered significant quantities of high quality natural gas off the coast of Israel and its sales reached 48 billion Israel shekel in 2008.
The Group, which began in 1951 as the Delek Israel Fuel Corporation is now listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE: DLEKG) and is a member of the index of the largest companies in Israel, the TA25.
Despite the considerable backing from Delek Real Estate and Delek Petroleum, Roadchef operates as a fairly autonomous business with the aid of an experienced UK management team led by Chief Executive Simon Turl, who has over 30 years experience in the hospitality sector, with the majority of this gained within the Motorway Service business.
The Roadchef estate now employs over 2000 people, cares for over 60 million customer visits per year, serves a million breakfasts, 500,000 portions of fish and chips and five million coffees and its catering operation alone turns over £60million per annum, out of a total turnover of £280million.
And the company’s most recent major investment at Strensham services (southbound) on the M5 is set to revolutionise the way customers perceive Motorway Service Areas. Strensham is now bright and airy, with landscaped outside seating areas and a range of high street brands such as Costa, McDonald's, SOHO Coffee Co. and WHSmith, as well as Roadchef’s very own Hot Food Company, serving food which is plated when you order and therefore piping hot and ready to eat immediately. Indeed the company are hoping that this latest development might well signify the end of the traditional free flow restaurant with its long queues and risk of tepid food.
With motorway traffic currently increasing at about 3% each year and a period of prolonged ‘staycation’ with the UK population preferring to spend more time at home, rather than travelling to nearby mainland Europe, Roadchef is well placed to build on its current success and improvement with regard to financial performance and stability, innovation, brand development and customer service.
Registered Address
Roadchef Motorways Ltd, Roadchef House, Norton Canes MSA, Betty's Lane, Norton Canes, Cannock, Staffordshire, WS11 9UX
Tel 01543 272540
Fax 01543 272554
Registered in England with Co. Reg. No. 1123082
