Hybrid food unit at Warwick Southbound, located just left of the entrance in the main shopping concourse, under the skylight. As it was afternoon, the unit was serving Chopstix Noodle Bar, but during the morning Welcome Break’s own breakfast brand “The Good Breakfast” trades from here. The site opened in 1994 with a restaurant called the Granary. This was replaced by Food Connection in 2001 and was rebranded “Eat In” in 2006. Welcome Break then went on to abandon the restaurant dining experience and buffet format for smaller takeaway outlets, meaning the large restaurant area was turned into a mini food court. Tossed opened in around 2015, and closed during lockdown in 2020, & was soon replaced by a Chopstix outlet. The hybrid offer was then provided in 2023 after the unit was refurbished, leaving the adjacent Good Breakfast unit surplus to requirements, so it could accommodate the new Pret A Manger Welcome Break opened here. Overall, they have managed to add one new brand without using any additional space. The signs are lit up & the branding can be changed according to what’s being served in the time of day. It’s a beneficial space-saving idea which ensures there are less empty units. Chopstix don’t tend to rapidly inflate their motorway prices, attracting trade in this metric, which isn’t the case for most other brands here such as Burger King and KFC. Welcome Break began using Chopstix in 2013 and first opened it at Birchanger Green. It was introduced as their Asian themed food offering, an offering which all motorway services operators seem to include in their sites these days (Moto with Chow and Roadchef with Chozen). Chopstix has never been as popular as Welcome Break’s other brands, but Chopstix seems to be opening new locations, rapidly, across the UK, likely making them more recognisable to customers in the future. The Good Breakfast was a brand Welcome Break created in 2020 to address customer’s feedback regarding the lack of “breakfast brands” at their sites. It largely went in place of Harry Ramsden’s. Chopstix was fairly quiet during my visit given how busy Warwick South was itself, with coach loads of customers filling the place. This could be due to customers not being familiar with the brand, or generally, customers might not want to eat noodles when stopping off. Chopstix and The Good Breakfast are not signposted from the M40 Southbound, so customers won’t expect either of them to be here necessarily. Neither of the brands are advertised much around the site or from the exterior of the amenity building, impacting custom levels.

Photo taken on 24/06/2024 by Tom Moon.

Assigned to galleries: Warwick, Welcome Break, M40, Chopstix Noodle Bar