Travellers Fare (normally rendered officially as Travellers-Fare) was a company owned by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

that provided catering services on the rail network in Great Britain.

History

Prior to 1973, railway hotels and catering came under

British Transport Hotels British Transport Hotels (BTH) was the hotels and catering business of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. Origins of the company Britain's private railway companies pioneered the concept of the railway hotel, initially at locati ...

, formed in 1962. In the late 1970s, BR's Shipping and International Services Division became

Sealink Sealink was a ferry company based in the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1984, operating services to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight and Ireland. Ports served by the company included: Dover, Folkesto ...

UK from January 1979. In 1982 Travellers-Fare formally left BTH, having been the Travellers-Fare Division of BTH since 1 October 1973. It had been known as British Rail Catering until then. The peak of British rail catering had come in 1973 when 3.5 million meals were served. Quicker journey times meant less time to consume a full meal. In 1979 it celebrated a centenary of railway catering. In the mid-1970s they were selling around two and a quarter million sandwiches a year. In 1977 its offerings were reprimanded by the Central Transport Consultative Committee, and that same year

Prue Leith Dame Prudence Margaret Leith, (born 18 February 1940) is a South African restaurateur, chef, caterer, television presenter/broadcaster, journalist, cookery writer and novelist. She is Chancellor of Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. She wa ...

, a restaurateur and caterer, became the first woman appointed to the British Railways Board, charged with improving its much-criticised catering. In February 1978 they introduced the ''Gold Star Menu'' for businessmen on

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

services, which featured poached

haddock The haddock (''Melanogrammus aeglefinus'') is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Melanogrammus''. It is found in the North Atlantic Ocean and associated seas where ...

and

grilled Grilling is a form of cooking that involves dry heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above, below or from the side. Grilling usually involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat, and tends to be used for cooking meat a ...

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

maître d'hôtel The ''maître d'hôtel'' (; ), head waiter, host, waiter captain, or ''maître d ( , ) manages the public part, or "front of the house", of a formal restaurant. The responsibilities of a ''maître d'hôtel'' generally include supervising the wa ...

. It offered a fixed four-course meal for around £5, and replaced the former

table d'hôte In restaurant terminology, a ''table d'hôte'' (; ) menu is a menu where multi- course meals with only a few choices are charged at a fixed total price. Such a menu may be called ''prix fixe'' ("fixed price"; ). The terms set meal and set menu ...

service. The ''Great British Breakfast'' in the morning sold for £2.70 in 1978, and by 1984 it cost £7.30.

Innovations

In the early 1980s, under improved management, the standard of food became more diverse. New brands were introduced such as Quicksnack. Turnover at stations increased 61% from £46m in 1982 to £74m in 1987. Before 1985 operating losses at stations were averaging around £4m a year, which from 1985 became surpluses. Although the station catering was turning a profit, the catering on board the trains was not, and operating losses for these were around £6m a year in the mid-1980s. In May 1986, catering on-board trains became the responsibility of

and not Travellers-Fare, which had a wider range of food from the

buffet car A buffet car is a passenger car of a train, where food and beverages can be bought at a counter and consumed.dining car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that ...

( first class). The British Rail sandwich was not a big seller on trains.

Private ownership

By 1986 the private sector was running the catering at 85 stations. Standards were improving under private ownership, which led to 96 more stations being put under private operation in 1987. As a precursor to the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the industr ...

, the company was sold to a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...

team backed by 3i in December 1988. It had been bought for £12.5m, and had 270 outlets and around 3,200 employees. Travellers Fare Ltd (2184010) had been formed on 27 October 1987. It was subsequently acquired in November 1992 by

Compass Group Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in locations including off ...

for £31.7m, who merged it with their airport, retail and leisure businesses to form

Select Service Partner SSP is a British Multinational corporation, multinational contract foodservice company, with headquarters in London, England. It operates more than 2,800 branded catering and retail units at over 180 airports and 300 railway stations across 35 cou ...

(SSP) in 1997. It stopped trading as Travellers Fare on 4 March 1997. Compass sold SSP to two consortia led by

EQT Partners EQT AB Group is a global investment organization founded in 1994. Its funds invest in private equity, infrastructure, real estate, growth equity, and venture capital in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. , EQT's assets under management a ...

and

Macquarie Bank Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's ...

in 2006 for £1.8bn.

References

* ''British Rail 1974-1997: From Integration to Privatisation'', page 251 * ''England Eats Out: A Social History of Eating Out in England from 1830 to the Present'' {{British Rail, state=collapsed 1973 establishments in the United Kingdom 1973 in rail transport British Rail brands British Rail subsidiaries and divisions Catering and food service companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in the London Borough of Camden Rail catering Restaurants established in 1973 SSP Group 3i Group companies