Little Chef to close 70 restaurants The closures will leave the chain with 91 restaurants across the UK, reports The Sun this morning. The paper claims that around 600 staff, a third of the workforce, will be informed that they are to lose their jobs this morning during meetings at the affected sites. The chain has been owned by private equity firm R Capital since it snapped it up for £9m in 2007. The following year a television programme featuring Heston Blumenthal was filmed by Channel 4, documenting the chef's attempts to boost the chain with dishes including Coq au Vin and braised ox cheeks. In October last year the business announced that it would spend £30m on creating a "McDonald's-style drive through service" over the next five years and start to offer takeaway food. As part of the revamp the company intended to roll-out Blumenthal's menu to all of its restaurants. Little Chef was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.