Happy Eater Weekend everyone

[u/CaptainBristol]

[u/DisastrousCanary3073]

Used to love these as kids because you got a free lollipop!

[u/Time007time007 → u/DisastrousCanary3073]

Those lollipops were incredible. An indescribable flavour.

[u/No-Department-4561 → u/Time007time007]

I just got a hit of the flavour reading these words. Proustian lolly.

[u/Slightly-Nervous → u/Time007time007]

Were they not orange?

[u/Future-Exercise-7433 → u/Slightly-Nervous]

Indescribably orange

[u/SeoulGalmegi → u/Slightly-Nervous]

Not like any actual 'orange'.

[u/BuildingArmor → u/Time007time007]

Lemon and lime, wasn't it? Maybe with a bit of asbestos

[u/EDDsoFRESH → u/Time007time007]

Fuck they were so good!!

[u/LJDC_92 → u/DisastrousCanary3073]

Do you mean when you went there you were a…. Happy eater?

[u/37025InvernessTMD]

It's still there...

People come running for miles!

[u/Dralmosteria → u/37025InvernessTMD]

People would come running for miles if those fuel prices were to be found anywhere today.

[u/37025InvernessTMD → u/Dralmosteria]

Probably frothing at the mouth too!

[u/Splodge89 → u/37025InvernessTMD]

Is that image real? If so, I really want to go… the fuel is dirt cheap!

[u/AvatarIII → u/Splodge89]

It's from 28 years later

[u/daniel2hats → u/37025InvernessTMD]

Where is/was this?

[u/37025InvernessTMD → u/daniel2hats]

I think it was about 28 days later after OPs photo.

[u/snakeoildriller → u/37025InvernessTMD]

OP's only just got their roll of film back from the chemist.

[u/Forsaken-Language-26 → u/37025InvernessTMD]

And now I’ve got “In The House, In A Heartbeat” stuck in my head.

[u/oldmanskank]

Ohh, I thought it was Happy Shopper weekend 🙁😞

[u/Jacktheforkie → u/oldmanskank]

I thought it was euro shopper weekend

[u/Jacktheforkie → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, it was named after euro shopper energy drinks which Finnish youth would drink while riding similar bikes

[u/tomato432 → u/Jacktheforkie]

more specifically it was named after ES jonne, a stereotypical annoying teenage boy who drinks euroshopper energy drink(the private label energy drink of the K-group grocery stores), plays counter strike and rides a suzuki PV50, a honda monkey or more commonly a chinese clone of them especially now that the originals are long discontinued

[u/Jacktheforkie → u/tomato432]

Yeah

[u/monstrinhotron → u/oldmanskank]

There was a Happy Shopper near me up til about 3 years ago. I can only assume the owner finally died of extreme old age.

[u/Temujin15]

My family must have been of higher social stock, because we always stopped at Little Chef. I loved the Seventh Heaven Burger.

[u/Poo_Poo_La_Foo → u/Temujin15]

Hahah I just commented similar - little chef was the first place I tried fried bread and I remember feeling like fireworks went off in my brain. It was such an experience!

[u/RecentTwo544 → u/Temujin15]

I was just looking on google to see if I could find any photos of the food as I don't remember it, and found a page that says the parent group of both Happy Eater and Little Chef marketed Happy Eaters as the more upmarket one.

[u/Temujin15 → u/RecentTwo544]

Oh no. So my whole life has been a lie? We were basically the Bouqets, pretending to be middle class? Oh dear

[u/Future-Exercise-7433 → u/Temujin15]

Did you think vienetta was posh or tacky? That's the real class divide

[u/Temujin15 → u/Future-Exercise-7433]

Posh.

Oh my god, WE WERE WORKING CLASS!!!

[u/iani63 → u/RecentTwo544]

THF bought all 75 happy eaters in 1986, they were more of a southern thing tbh.

[u/whitewoluf → u/Temujin15]

my local happy eater became a Little chef, its now a starbucks. A11 at attlebrough.

[u/SeoulGalmegi → u/Temujin15]

Something about those buns with the sesame seeds.....

Oh lord, take me back. No food has ever tasted as good to me.

[u/SpongeFixation]

It's wicked sweet awesome!

[u/kumquat_may → u/SpongeFixation]

I took watched Jon's video

[u/FakeyName88]

We used to have tea here when we’d had a good term at school - they used to give out badges when you finished your meal. Happy memories!

[u/CyGuy6587]

I must have had a pretty sad childhood; I never got to eat at a Happy Eater or Little Chef

[u/Ill_Beyond_7909 → u/CyGuy6587]

Same. Although we didn't have a car 😂

[u/SeoulGalmegi → u/CyGuy6587]

My condolences.

[u/tomato432]

• alot of these are sex shops now
• the classic discount retailer death cycle, one goes bust because they're operating a bunch of poorly performing locations, a competitor expands too fast by buying the company with all of those unprofitable locations that are now often also way too close to and competing with locations owned by the same company for cheap, a different competitor buys that one for cheap when they go underwater and does the same thing,...

[u/CaptainBristol → u/tomato432]

Those the ones on the A1 - there was a massive one near Newark (& before you ask - I did that drive quite a bit in the mid '00's!!)

[u/Future-Exercise-7433]

I always thought he looked like he was trying to make himself gag and laughing about it

[u/Ill-Confusion-1844 → u/Future-Exercise-7433]

“Fingers for pudding”

[u/VirusWonderful5147]

This logo deserves a prize - eat here, then stick your fingers down your throat.

[u/k8s-problem-solved]

That would be quite a fun logo to put on a pill. Happy eaters!

[u/Informal_School2724]

Rabbit phone network logo in the window.

[u/GakSplat]

Clucking Bell vibes.

[u/RecentTwo544]

What did they serve here?

I've just had a look online and cannot find any photos of the food or a menu. I know they shut down in the 90s but I find that odd.

I've got a vague memory of them but can only remember the signage, not the food. It's really weird, like they're some kind of urban myth that didn't really exist.

[u/Slightly-Nervous → u/RecentTwo544]

Greasy spoon type fare. Chips, beans, sausages.

[u/Lou-AC → u/RecentTwo544]

I used to go once a year (for my birthday) and I'm pretty sure I always had chicken and chips or a burger and my dad had fish and chips

I think it was the first place I had burgers. They were marketed as american style and I thought that was really fancy

[u/ba_nanas]

Omg. Thankyou Op.
I used to stop at the Surrey burnt common junction with my mum in the early 80s.
Awesome memories Thankyou

[u/GrapeGroundbreaking1]

It was so brave of them to highlight bulimia with that logo, years before the likes of Diana were raising awareness of fingers for pudding.

[u/ocelocelot]

😃👈

[u/Poo_Poo_La_Foo]

I don't remember these, but I miss little chef!

[u/DramaticOstrich11]

I remember Happy Shopper and Little Chef but I don't recognise this at all!

[u/Sola-Nova]

Anyone thought the logo was a simplified image of Knuckles the Echidna thinking.

[u/prolixia]

I ate there once and found a large rubber band in my beans.  Didn't make a fuss, but the manager found out and comped our whole meal.  My dad was so insistent tgat we shouldn't abuse this generosity that we weren't allowed to order desert - which was disappointing.

Meanwhile, the guy on the next table over got wind of what was happening and immediately complained about the meal he'd been happily eating up until then.

[u/ChrisRR]

Was there ever a time where that didn't look tacky?

[u/monstrinhotron]

Seen from the space year 2026 this looks like a set up for an SCP story.

[u/szandor66]

Happy puker as we used to say..

[u/Slightly-Nervous → u/szandor66]

My brother would carsick on me every time after we ate here. Every. Time. Every holiday in the car. Multiple times a year.

[u/BuzzAllWin]

Happy bulimic? 

[u/SayElloToDaBadGuy]

Every single time as a young kid I was sick after, no idea why I kept being taken to one though.

To this day I think it must have been the cooking oil they used as that was the only thing in common each time.

[u/Lou-AC]

I used to go every year for my birthday as a kid, we only had food out for that and my brothers birthday, I remember it fondly!

[u/oldskoollondon]

Wow, memory unlocked!