Diners in the south east are the most reluctant to complain and whilst those in the West Midlands, Scotland and Northern Ireland are more vocal, we still pay for a quarter of all poor meals.

The survey of 1,000 respondents designed to establish how often diners have cause to complain saw poor service coming in second to an overwhelming dissatisfaction with the temperature of the main courses which are often served cold.

TV Chef Richard Phillips hit the nail on the head with his comment; “We Brits generally aren’t ones to complain, but diners who grumble all the way through meal, then tell the waiter “Very nice, thank you,” at the end and tell all their friends how bad the restaurant was aren’t doing the industry or themselves any favours. If there is something wrong we want to know.”

And that is where the new website wheresgoodtoeat.com comes in, Managing Director Gordon Lloyd West said;

“The survey has confirmed that as a nation we still don’t like to make a fuss but the only way standards will go up is if restaurants and cafes have customer feedback. wheresgoodtoeat.com gives diners the chance to share their experience when they eat out and also for restaurant owners to monitor their own performance and respond if things are not up to scratch. This is about enjoying and sharing the whole business of eating out. If in the process we can help restaurants to improve standards then it can only benefit not only customers’ experiences but also the business.”

In the Isle of Man where the site was launched 17% of the entire population now use the website to report on meals out, search for restaurant openings or even to just share food news, taking the risk out of special occasion or spur of the moment dining out experience.

ian pegler- little chef

The Heston Blumenthal experiment has paid off for Little Chef.

After falling into administration in January 2007 the UK’s favourite pit stop, the Little Chef has bounced back stronger than ever before and the company are thanking top chef Heston Blumenthal for the turn around in the companies fortunes.

Little Chef has forecast profits for this year to December 2009 at £3million based on company turnover of £77million.

Heston Blumenthal’s culinary magic was trialled at the Little Chef at Popham in Hampshire and the new menu is thought to be the key driver of the turnaround. The ’Heston menu’ has subsequently been rolled out to York and Kettering West.

As an added surprise the flagship Little Chef at Popham was rewarded with inclusion in the Good Food Guide published last month, now that is progress.

Little Chef CEO Ian Pegler says “We are now taking the Heston menu to restaurants in the North and Midlands to see how it is received. There’s hope for other household brand names like Woolworths which tripped over by the recession but have a soft spot in the hearts and minds of the nation. In our case fortunately, that’s also their stomachs.”

domino's pizza

The UKs largest pizza delivery chain Domino’s Pizza have revealed the true benefits of sponsoring the tv show Britain’s Got Talent, saying that it expects to beat profit forecasts on the back of the deal.

Domino’s is in the second year of a three year sponsorship deal with Britain’s Got Talent, the phenomenally successful tv talent show, this years final was the most watched programme on UK tv, watched by 19million viewers.

The Pizza chain says that the sponsorship deal has been a fantastic success but points out that the deal has coincided with the financial crisis and recession, where traditionally customers choose to save money by ordering a take away rather than eat out.

Domino’s are expected to post pre tax profits of £27 to £27.5million – up from a general forecast figure of £26.3million. The company has opened 23 new outlets during the year and now has a network of 576 branches, but says that it expects to meet forecasts of 50 new shops.