John Greenwood was a captain of the food service industry who as chief executive of the RoadChef chain of motorway service stations from 2001 to 2004 made sure that a decent cup of coffee was finally available to British motorists.

British motorway services operators had been tarnished with a reputation for overpriced, poor-quality food and drinks sold by surly staff in sub-standard premises, and were in urgent need of modernisation. RoadChef was owned at that time by Nikko Principal Investments, a private equity group. Along with its bigger rivals Welcome Break and Moto it had a virtual monopoly on the industry but they were struggling to stay afloat. Restricted by tough government legislation, the sector offered few growth opportunities and many people visited service stations just to go to the lavatory.

Greenwood was one of the first to introduce radical changes. He embarked on a £30 million improvement of facilities, overhauled the business’s management, culture, food and hygiene standards, and revived staff morale. He also built the first toll-road service station, Norton Canes, after securing the coveted M6 contract. Resembling a Scandinavian airport lounge rather than a traditional roadside greasy spoon, the £15 million complex boasted sleek furnishings, food cooked to order and, most importantly, clean, modern washrooms and lavatories. It set the benchmark for the industry.

Greenwood also forged alliances with high street brands, notably Spar,and his decision to introduce Costa coffee outlets to all RoadChef service areas, and his plan to rebrand the outlets RoadChef Costa Coffee, implemented after he left, proved lucrative. During his tenure he lifted underlying profits by more than 40 per cent and dragged the group of 21 service stations into a new era of higher standards.

John Robert Greenwood was born in Bromley, Kent, in 1950, the son of a steel fabrication company director. He attended Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School in New Cross, southeast London, but was never particularly academic and he assumed that he was unintelligent. He performed poorly in his A levels, but, strongly encouraged by his father, he trained to be an accountant. He passed his exams on the third attempt and qualifed with Chalmers Impey.

In 1975 he joined Balfour Beatty, the engineering and construction group, and four years he later moved to South Africa with his wife, Elaine, and their children as finance director of Balfour’s southern African operations.After returning to Britain in 1982 he turned his hand to the family’s kitchen-fitting business and then undertook brief stints at Global Holidays and Wilshire Construction.

In 1986 he was recruited to Compass, the global catering giant. Three years later he became managing director of the healthcare division and built up its hospital portfolio to fifteen hospitals and three nursing homes before the business was sold. He then moved to Compass’s food service operations, starting up its hospital catering business and taking charge of other areas, including catering for educational, corporate, transport and sporting clients.

By 1998 he was made head of Compass Contract Catering in Britain, Ireland and South Africa, a key division of the group with 40,000 staff, but he decided to leave in 2000 after its merger with Granada. Under the terms of his contract he was not allowed to work for another caterer so he turned his attentions to transforming RoadChef.

Greenwood was a quiet, modest man but an inspirational leader, passionate about the job. He was the only industry leader to go on the television programme Watchdog in 2003 to face up to criticism of motorway services. The following year he told a national newspaper: “In the old days, people were right to feel that motorway services were poor value, but now, while we can’t be cheap because of our fixed costs, we can offer excellent quality and convenience.”

Greenwood was suffering from motor neuron disease, and after stepping down from RoadChef in 2004 owing to ill-health he worked part time as chairman of Talksign and continued as a non-executive director of Bid4mybusiness. His passions away from work included the outdoors and fast cars. When he was 50 he bought a vintage Porsche 911 soft top.

He fought hard to overcome his illness, and had been set to become the first Briton to receive a diaphragm pacemaker, but he became too weak for the operation to go ahead.

He is survived by his wife and three children.

John Greenwood, businessman, was born on June 4, 1950. He died on May 4, 2008, aged 57