I watched this last night on Channel 4 (although I try to avoid these “celebrity chef” type programs). Anyways, the latest celebrity chef to turn his hand at management consultancy was Heston Blumenthal. (To be honest, I have never heard of him before but he looks the part, square jawed, expensive designer glasses etc)

Any ways “Did Heston change the little chef?” was classic reality TV – most of the program was spent re-running the previous “Can Heston change the little chef?” previously shown.

Maybe that says something about the attention span of the average reality TV viewer or TV viewer in general these days?

Little Chef, for those who don’t know, is something of a British institution. A sort of McDonalds with peas and gravy by the side of the road. Hot food fast for the busy travelling family.

But in recent times, it has suffered something of a downturn. Increasingly sophisticated consumer demands and unimaginative food has seen it fall out of favour with the nations travellers.

So Heston was brought in to “transform” not the Little Chef as the title implied, but one restaurant.

Ok, so the show started out with him returning to Popham where he found surprise, surprise, that many of the things he had instructed to happen were not.

Classic consultancy – “Ok so we are going to get an expert in and nod and agree in all the right places. But when it comes down to it, we aren’t actually going to do what he says because it is too hard/difficult/expensive/not what we are used to”

I am sure that most management consultants will cringe at the scene with the gravy.

Apparently, Heston’s gravy recipe had slipped and the restaurant was using ordinary packet gravy (the sort found on the supermarket shelf..).

The story told to Heston and his assistant Ashley was that the supplier was unable to provide small quantities – so that’s why the restaurant dropped it.

Surprisingly, when Ashley then rang up – he was told, no, no minimum order and it has an 18 day shelf life also.

Hmm – Not about what you ask but how hard you ask.

So, Heston and Ashley had to battle (as all change managers often have to battle) against suspicion, apathy and yes maybe a little jealousy on the part of the existing staff and managers.

Good telly – Management Consultancy with a twist and yes – the little chef are “rolling this out” – primarily because the store in question increased profit by 250% in six months.

Oh and the original restaurant is now in the good food guide…

Edit – The link to the Channel 4 “mini site” is here

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