The traveller's dream

Motorway Service Stations are, to my mind, places without soul or joy. I know they are there to fulfil a purpose but why must this mean that they lack individuality or difference? The majority of these road side stops are made up of a couple of fast food franchises (Maybe a KFC and a Burger King or McDonalds), a WHSmiths, a coffee multinational, and an uninspiring cafeteria serving overpriced and uninteresting meals which are, at best fuel for the motorist. All this is done at mark up from the normal high street prices.
When I started this blog, I set out to be positive and for this reason I don't want to dwell on the problem of motorway services but I'd like to put forward some ideas for solving these issues. There are several really wonderful service stations on our roads but there are simply too few.
"So," I hear you ask, "what would the perfect service station look like then?"
Well, first and foremost I wouldn't ban fast food, but if we have a burger bar, why not one serving real, possibly organic burgers and real chips cut from potatoes (we could even leave the skin on and really blow people's minds). Of course the ingredients would have to be local and made by people who really care about the food they are making and serving. With the growth in high quality street food at the moment this is not some kind of dream, this can be done.
Then comes the coffee shop - There is a very positive reason why there are some mega-brands in this market - they often serve great coffee! What my perfect service station would have, however, would be a small, independent supplier of coffee (yes they do exist) and again I'd like a bit of traceability and, of course we would be talking Fair Trade here.
Now the real problem: The Cafeteria. There simply has to be a full English breakfast available and, being fair, a lot of service stations get this right. However, at the price that is charged on the road, we should be able to guarantee the provenance of all the pork (outdoor bred and raised) and the eggs must be free range (and I mean small flock, encouraged to feed outside, no nasty chemicals used). There simply has to be Black pudding - cooked to order not allowed to turn into cardboard on a hot plate.
As the cafeteria has to be open for 24 hours a day, it has to serve real meals. What on earth is wrong with the British classics here - Bangers and Mash (with some proper veg), Ham, Egg and Chips and a really good Pie (yes the crust is supposed to go the whole way round)
On to salads - I don't need to say much here except "Go to France and look at what they can do on the road" (Grated carrots, dressed with a little lemon juice and garnished with poppy seeds and toasted almonds, roast vegetables with pesto dressing, grated celeriac with a wholegrain mustard mayonnaise, etc, etc)
While we're on the subject of France why are Confit of Duck, Tartiflette, and the like never available at the British roadside. These are quite cheap to produce compared with a Steak and Kidney Pie and are perfect for filling up the weary traveller.
I need to stop now else I shall rant for hours, but I will leave you with this one thought: There will be no need for the owners of these service stations to change unless people demand it. As with so much in the food industry, people can change behaviour by voting with their feet (or tires in this case)!