Chow Asian Kitchen at Exeter, situated in the food court area between Costa & KFC, opposite customer seating. Chow is a Moto own-brand, serving Asian dishes (with a particular focus on Katsu curry). Chow was created in 2016 due to the success of Roadchef's Chozen Noodle offering. Nowadays, most large motorway services have an Asian themed takeaway, with Extra & Welcome Break making use of Chopstix Noodle Bar. Chow helps keep Moto's food courts diverse in what food they can offer customers, as many of their sites are only made up of coffee shops & Burger King. Chow did also cause many EDC (Eat & Drink Co) restaurants to be downsized. The first Chow locations to open were Reading & Leigh Delamere, both provided alongside Moto's former sit-down dining brand, Arlo's. Moto were attempting to conduct a significant catering refurbishment, and these busier sites were ideal places to start their rebranding. The KFC next to this Chow at Exeter used to be an Arlo's servery. Chow, being an own-brand name, means customers won't recognise it from anywhere other than services. The lack of familiarity means the brand frequently gets overlooked by high street names at Exeter, such as Greggs & Costa. The lack of trade has meant some Chows have closed at Moto sites, such as Tamworth & Toddington South. The Chow at Stafford North was also pointlessly replaced by Chozen Noodle. In 2017, Moto trialled operating Chow and Arlo's together in a hybrid unit, with "Breakfast@Arlo's" operating before 12pm and Chow taking over after 12pm. This was only introduced to Reading West & Wetherby, and was quite a short-lived concept of Moto's as both sites closed soon after. Chow is a fairly small unit at Exeter, with no seating of its own, so customers wanting to "eat in" can only use the communal seating opposite. Food products at Chow are quite expensive. Moto set these prices themselves as they know there will be greater customer demand, but it's bad value for money. Chow is open at Exeter between 11am and 9pm. The decor of the unit hasn't changed at all since 2016. We still have dark blue signage & white tilled walls. This photo also shows Moto's 2017/18 food court flooring scheme, with a black, grey & white vinyl floor. Moto sites which were heavily renovated in 2017/18, such as Exeter, Frankley North & more, all have the same flooring. Now, the floor at Exeter looks tired and needs replacing. Some sources consider Chow to be quite a healthy food option of Moto's, as they specialise in items like Sushi. For many customers, this is a welcomed contrast from the large variety of unhealthy fast food outlets like Burger King & KFC. Back in the 1960s & 70s, when motorway services were made up of large, luxurious restaurants, curries were often available on the menus. The idea of providing Asian cuisine at motorway services has likely derived from the 70s, just in a more simple, takeaway format. Chow wasn't very busy during my visit, despite Exeter being fairly busy due to Christmas Day being just 3 days away at the time. On an ordinary weekday, Chow would likely be empty, with the reduced quantity of customers choosing food outlets that are better known to them. Chow isn't signposted from either side of the M5 as it's not one of Exeter's core brands. Chow also isn't advertised much around the site, so most customers wouldn't expect to find it here.

Photo taken on 22/12/2023 by Tom Moon.

Assigned to galleries: Exeter, Moto, M5, Chow