Chozen Noodle unit at Taunton Deane Southbound, squished between Costa and Fresh Food Cafe in the food court area, opposite customer seating. Not one of Taunton Deane's most popular brands, hence why Roadchef have made the unit so small. Most of Roadchef's Chozen units are tiny. Chozen doesn't have any customer seating of its own, so customers using the facility will need to use the communal seating areas. Chozen opened here in 2014 & Roadchef introduced the brand to help make their food courts more diverse in what type of food they can offer customers. Since then, a surge in Asian-themed takeaways has occurred across the motorway network, with Moto adding Chow (own brand) to their larger sites and Welcome Break adding Chopstix Noodle Bar, which nowadays are mostly in hybrid units. Taunton Deane is expected to be extensively refurbished next year (2025) which will see the removal of the Chozen Noodle and Fresh Food Cafe units. Both brands will share a new hybrid unit located near the rear entrance serving Fresh Food Cafe in the morning, and Chozen in the afternoon. This is a smart, space-saving idea from Roadchef. Space previously used by the existing units will be used to construct a new LEON restaurant, similar to the one at Sedgemoor South. Chozen tend to inflate their motorway prices due to high demand, making their products quite expensive, especially for what they are. This will be off-putting for some customers, who will likely use McDonald's instead. This Chozen unit hasn't changed much at all since 2014. Some Roadchef sites (namely Watford Gap and Chester) have refurbished their Chozen units into "Garden Square Deli" branded units serving Chozen products. Unlike other operators, Roadchef seems to rely on one brand (McDonald's) to make trade. All their other brands, such as Chozen, Fresh Food Cafe etc are names ordinary customers aren't likely to recognise away from their sites/the motorway. Moto and Welcome Break tend to use high street names, like Greggs and Subway, to spread trade more evenly throughout their sites. As I've established many times, at motorway services, customers will mostly choose brands they recognise. Chozen Noodle was fairly quiet during my visit despite the rest of Taunton Deane South being packed. I believe this is due to Chozen having higher prices than McDonalds, & it not being as well known. Chozen Noodle isn't signposted from the M5 South, so customers stopping aren't aware of this facility being here. It's advertised around the site however. Note, the Chozen Noodle unit at Southbound remains open all year round, it's Northbound's outdoor Chozen Noodle kiosk which closes over the winter period.

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

Assigned to galleries: Taunton Deane, M5, Chozen Noodle, Roadchef