The Almuradiel branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located on the A-4 autopista near Almuradiel, Spain.
In the 1990s, Forte decided to take Little Chef on a big adventure by expanding the chain into European countries with Spain being their specific target at the time. This wasn't a new idea as Forte planned to expand the Little Chef chain into France in the 1970s and managed to open two branches at Thielly and Sonchamp. This however failed and the two branches were gone by 1976. Despite the failure of the France expansion, Forte didn't give up on their plans of expanding Little Chef into Europe. Forte then did some research in order to find a better European country to expand Little Chef into (a country with much higher transport rates). After their research, Forte decided to pick Spain as their second attempt as it was said to be a country with a lot of long distance traffic, therefore a Little Chef in the country would be sure to have plenty of passing trade and be able to attract a lot of the long-distance traffic. In 1990, Repsol, a Spanish oil company accepted Forte's deal of expanding Little Chef into Spain and Forte opened their first Spanish Little Chef restaurant near the town of Almuradiel in 1994. A little later, Forte opened two more Little Chefs in Spain, one near Zaragoza and one near Duenas.
The official opening of the Little Chef was on the 14th July 1994. It was positioned on the A-4 autopista about halfway between Madrid and Seville. The site also sported a Travelodge hotel and a filling station, making the site look like a typical A-road service station as well as giving the site a perfect trio of facilities. In addition to Little Chefs being built in Spain, Forte decided to add some Spanish tradition by adding some Spanish signature dishes (including Omelettes and Bocadillos) to the Little Chef menu. It really was a successful venture and proved to be much better than the France experience. Sadly, Little Chef in Spain didn't last forever.
Between 1997 and 2000, all of the Little Chefs and Travelodges in Spain ceased trading, representing the end of the Spanish Little Chef adventure. There were no plans by later Little Chef owners to bring the chain back to European countries. Happily, Travelodge was brought back to Spain in the mid/late 2000s. However, hotels can only be found in cities and airports and not at roadside service stations.
The Little Chef at Almuradiel reopened as an independent cafe.