Guide to The Good Breakfast
The Good Breakfast

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Locations:20 services
Often accompanied by:Chopstix Noodle Bar
Related names:The Good Bakery, The Good Spud
Used by:Welcome Break
Introduced:2020
Predecessors:Harry Ramsden's
Successors:none
Typical opening hours:generally 7am-11:30am
Official Website:
www.welcomebreak.co.uk/brands/the-good-breakfast/

The Good Breakfast is Welcome Break's latest effort to satisfy the demand for a morning meal.

Most sites use a single ordering point and serve a simple menu of 'breakfast boxes', with a slogan which promises "good value", "good quality" and "good to go". While its food is available to eat in, it is also easily available to take away in a box.

It is a rare example of Welcome Break designing and promoting their own brand. Since they closed Eat In in 2015, they have generally preferred to promote famous franchises instead.

The Good Breakfast was introduced during the COVID-19 lockdown, where all motorway operators were criticised for their lack of food choices. It remains to be seen whether this is a permanent solution. Before the first Good Breakfast was opened at South Mimms, Welcome Break promoted a food van called The Kitchen Pod at Leicester Forest East. That was removed after a few days.

While The Good Breakfast is generally sold from food courts, where seating is available, two service areas on the M5 had small takeaway versions ("pods") built in December 2020. These sell a takeaway menu which helps manage the major peak flows that the M5 can receive, in addition to satisfying people's reluctance to gather indoors during the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Good Breakfast is part of a new family of Welcome Break 'good' brands. They already had small forecourt stands called 'The Good Bakery', and in early 2023 they launched a jacket potato-themed kiosk called 'The Good Spud'. Each has the same, simple, white-on-black branding.

The Breakfast Quandary

See also: Catering History

Trying to fit a breakfast option among their brands has become a challenge for all service station providers. There are not many famous brands that offer one, and while a cooked breakfast is a popular meal in the morning, demand for it dries up over lunchtime.

By 2015, Welcome Break had shut all their traditional cafés, and used Harry Ramsden's instead. This offered the usual menu on the afternoon, and a special "Harry's breakfast" menu in the morning.

While the breakfast menu was generally well received, many customers didn't consider it because they assumed Harry Ramsden's would only serve evening meals.

In 2020, Welcome Break took the unusual step of reintroducing a dedicated brand that very clearly sells breakfasts. Despite its limited menu and short opening hours, it usually occupies a whole unit, with another brand often taking over from 11:30am.

Locations

The Good Breakfast can be found at most Welcome Break service areas. These are: [view on a map - Download KMLrefine search]

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