The roadside restaurant chain's new owner Lawrence Wosskow, who bought Little Chef for 拢52m last July, is giving the brand a radical overhaul, which will see self-service food introduced and the traditional red sign scrapped for a brown and cream design.
The roadside group will trial four new restaurants before the summer.
The trial sites, two of which will be located in the north of England and two in the south, will all be slightly different to see which design works best.
Wosskow said: "There's a strong possibility [the restaurants] won't include Fat Charlie. We've got some great sites but some look stuck in the 1950s. We want to make the image softer, warmer and trendier."
The group's previous owners tried to slim down Fat Charlie in 2004, but scrapped their plans after they received 15,000 complaints. All four trial restaurants will offer self-service food in the style of other successful roadside groups.
Wosskow said: "Most people want to spend 20 not 45 minutes when they stop." To help fund the rebranding, Little Chef has sold 65 sites to Israeli property investor Arazim Investment in a 拢60.3m sale-and-leaseback deal.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .