Founded by Sir Michael Pickard in 1973, the chain wanted to compete against the British roadside restaurant category killer at the time, Little Chef.

[1] In 1973, a former managing director of the hotel group Trusthouse Forte, Michael Pickard, founded a family-orientated roadside restaurant, aimed at competing with the established pre-eminent chain in the industry, Little Chef.

[4] The chain notably 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.

[5] In January 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.

[6] The defunct Happy Eater brand is currently owned by Kuwaiti firm Kout Food Group, who were the last organisation to license out the Little Chef name until January 2018.