The early days of letting shops and franchises into service stations saw a few different, and contractually separate, companies weakly competing. A few independ

The early days of letting shops and franchises into service stations saw a few different, and contractually separate, companies weakly competing. A few independents mixed in with the WH Smith that was often as well as a main shop. There would be real alternative choices. Weakly competing as a services has an effective monopoly for a 50 mile stretch of motorway, so they were never going to be competing with Tesco or corner caf prices. Now the entire service station is single supplier agreements making the entire service station effectively a single franchise. Even in the petrol station shop. Half the choices are just branding styles on the front of the same parent. Chances of a real independent are somewhere around nil. Prices and brand choice are heavily constrained accordingly. Quality and service drops accordingly so a burger or coffee franchise on the motorway is a pale reflection of the high street. If one of the shops doesn't have product x there's no longer any point checking the other shops, or the petrol station shop, it won't be in those either. The only answer is normally to drive to the next services and make sure it's showing a different brand on the sign before pulling in. With hindsight I think it was a mistake allowing the motorway sign to be branded in any way. The best answer, of course, is leave the motorway and find a proper shop or caf. :)