[Benno Spire]

smiffy, on 16 July 2023 - 10:46 PM, said:

1866 lounge was good last season. £7.00 for a served up buffet . Usually potato wedges with pie , mushy peas and gravy. I think we had a lasagne once or twice.

Now increased to £10

[CFC91]

Quaker, on 17 July 2023 - 08:18 AM, said:

I would say:

Improve the quality of cooked food.
Ditch the cardboard pre cooked burgers and cook fresh serve with chips.
Items are too expensive.
Rather than do a rubbish job lease out the catering side.
Serve beer/lager from its own hatch.

For context for £1.50 more you can get this the league below - https://twitter.com/...8Orla3ArMqcJ6Lw

This at Alty was very decent last season too - https://twitter.com/...8Orla3ArMqcJ6Lw

This post has been edited by CFC91: 17 July 2023 - 08:27 AM

[JonB]

I think part of the issue is staff to serve it all...last season there were continual posts on social media from the club advertising how they needed staff to work in the concourse areas and sadly a few hours every other week generally is hardly an enticing job prospect. Think it was said they used agency staff to get extra folk in for the Bromley semi final game along with additional stewarding which is something else they keep advertising for.

While ever they are short on staff its going to be a struggle to serve anything more than the usual sort of stuff although that doesnt change the fact that the pies, burgers etc could be better quality. I suppose the only way you can vary it is to offer up the option for street food type businesses to pay a fixed fee to be on site for games but then you are losing out on the takings etc but the flip side is you dont have the costs for the food etc.

[dtp]

LondonBlue, on 17 July 2023 - 07:38 AM, said:

There are teams in the 4th/5th/6th tier of non league that offer better quality and better value food than we do. It just needs some looking into. Don’t we have a commercial team?

A large number of teams are catering for a much smaller number of customers which makes life easier.

Whilst I like our stadium from the seats looking towards the pitch I often think that underneath the concourses were not planned well enough and are far too narrow. The toilets should have an entrance and exit as the congestion in there can be rediculous. Similarly, the disorganised queuing for food and drink must lead to lost trade apart from making it extremely difficult for those from the north side of the East Stand who try to get through these queues to go to the loo at HT when that end of the stand is being used by away supporters. It seems that those of us in the East Stand are going to suffer this disruptive queuing throughout the coming season too,

As far as the actual food and drink is concerned I very rarely have any because I cannot stand the congestion. When I have participated in the East Stand I've considered it overpriced and not particularly good. By comparison, when I've attended in the lounges I've found it to be quite enjoyable.

[born in 1866]

Tensa barriers. Current queues are like a rugby scrum.

[JonB]

CFC91, on 17 July 2023 - 08:25 AM, said:

For context for £1.50 more you can get this the league below - https://twitter.com/...8Orla3ArMqcJ6Lw

Playing devils advocate a bit yes its good etc but in terms of numbers they are averaging 900 folk at games then its probably less than half that are eating at the game so all of a sudden its just a few hundred burgers so a whole different level to what we would need to cater for. Do they do them in house or is it folk coming in to do them that the club get no profit from bar possibly a fee for being on site? Not sure how feasible with the number\age\capability of staff we have serving it would be to have them cooking and serving this up. Not sure how feasible it is to cook this ahead of time, there is potentially an element of cooking to order.

The Alty option is far more doable as its easier to have a big pots of peas and gravy along with chips cooked ready to go and then it just needs a decent pie option which we did have when the ground first opened and we should\could look to get back to as thats an easy win.

This post has been edited by JonB: 17 July 2023 - 08:38 AM

[Looker-on]

The problem with street food vendors may be placing their equipment - a van, or trailer - within a stadium concourse if they are unable to use the in-house kit. You might be able to squeeze something into a corner, perhaps.

[JonB]

Looker-on, on 17 July 2023 - 08:37 AM, said:

The problem with street food vendors may be placing their equipment - a van, or trailer - within a stadium concourse if they are unable to use the in-house kit. You might be able to squeeze something into a corner, perhaps.

Yep i suspect if they went that way you are probably looking at having them outside which potentially makes them a pre game option only. Probably safety issues with having them and the associated queues in the open corners where exits are etc.

[spireitetoo]

Quaker, on 17 July 2023 - 08:18 AM, said:

I would say:

Improve the quality of cooked food.
Ditch the cardboard pre cooked burgers and cook fresh serve with chips.
Items are too expensive.
Rather than do a rubbish job lease out the catering side.
Serve beer/lager from its own hatch.

The issue with cooking fresh has already been addressed, we can't simple as... there is no ventilation to allow the smell/steam etc to be dispersed so no fresh cooking allowed.

[danblue]

Looker-on, on 17 July 2023 - 08:37 AM, said:

The problem with street food vendors may be placing their equipment - a van, or trailer - within a stadium concourse if they are unable to use the in-house kit. You might be able to squeeze something into a corner, perhaps.

They'd have to be outside.
If folk can go out for a cigarette in an area outside at H/T I'm sure an area for food vendors could be set up before the match - during H/T could be tricky as you have to watch the clock for the start ofbtbe 2nd half. Suppose it depends on what food there is and if its ready to be served immediately.

[LondonBlue]

RN Blue, on 17 July 2023 - 07:43 AM, said:

They've been crap just about every away game I've been to, often just a shed with one or two serving.

Yep they’re not all good. But there are many better than ours. Have a look on Footyscran, jerk chicken and rice, curry and chips, burgers that don’t look like they’ve got horse meat in them. It’s all out there in the non league. No reason why we can’t at the very least offer something edible and at a reasonable price. The rollover stuff is cheap and horrible. Just needs an overhaul.

[danblue]

LondonBlue, on 17 July 2023 - 08:48 AM, said:

Yep they’re not all good. But there are many better than ours. Have a look on Footyscran, jerk chicken and rice, curry and chips, burgers that don’t look like they’ve got horse meat in them. It’s all out there in the non league. No reason why we can’t at the very least offer something edible and at a reasonable price. The rollover stuff is cheap and horrible. Just needs an overhaul.

Buy cheap - sell big
It's about profit, but can be done better

[JonB]

LondonBlue, on 17 July 2023 - 08:48 AM, said:

Yep they’re not all good. But there are many better than ours. Have a look on Footyscran, jerk chicken and rice, curry and chips, burgers that don’t look like they’ve got horse meat in them. It’s all out there in the non league. No reason why we can’t at the very least offer something edible and at a reasonable price. The rollover stuff is cheap and horrible. Just needs an overhaul.

As mentioned many lower down the pyramid will be catering for numbers way less than ours where its more feasible to cook fresh and too order for a few hundred portions tops and probably not even that. The only way we could do some of those options like curry etc is to cook it all in the catering kitchens pre game and serve in the concourses but quantities would have to be limited to make sure we werent wasting loads and losing money or outsource which takes the risk away from us but at the same time the profits.

Agree though things like the rollover stuff could be improved on without much effort and thought.

[LondonBlue]

JonB, on 17 July 2023 - 09:02 AM, said:

As mentioned many lower down the pyramid will be catering for numbers way less than ours where its more feasible to cook fresh and too order for a few hundred portions tops and probably not even that. The only way we could do some of those options like curry etc is to cook it all in the catering kitchens pre game and serve in the concourses but quantities would have to be limited to make sure we werent wasting loads and losing money or outsource which takes the risk away from us but at the same time the profits.

Agree though things like the rollover stuff could be improved on without much effort and thought.

Understand what your saying and there are challenges but it isn’t insurmountable. Start with the easy wins and at the very least make the product palatable - rollover should go. Re. Different foods etc, even having a pre match fan zone out the back of the east stand with a few vendors would be useful. I bet people would go and buy pints from the club if they could get some half decent snap too. Ok we won’t make loads of profit on the food but surely you could charge the vendors a fee for their space for the day?

I’m not commercial or marketing but surely someone in that sort of role at the club could organise this quite easily. There would be local vendors that would jump at the opportunity.

[Snowflake McBedwetter]

You could give different vendors different spots on the existing outlets on the concourses. Have them outside pre-match/halftime. The club could hold onto a few if necessary and simply apply some common sense as well as listening to fans and hiring the right staff for the right wage/incentives.

Foods never going to be cooked fresh as someone suggested. Not possible. But with the tiniest amount of imagination we could do WAYYYYYYYY better.

[Lincs Spireite]

One way round this is to ask for bids from local caterers to provide all food for consumption on concourses. OK some profit may be lost but that is offset by not needing staff to serve food. We could still do the drinks and make some profit on that, and you can be sure the caterers will be highly organised offering good food and to serve as many as possible in order to make more sales and more profit for them.
One thing is certain it urgently needs attention.

[JonB]

LondonBlue, on 17 July 2023 - 09:06 AM, said:

Understand what your saying and there are challenges but it isn’t insurmountable. Start with the easy wins and at the very least make the product palatable - rollover should go. Re. Different foods etc, even having a pre match fan zone out the back of the east stand with a few vendors would be useful. I bet people would go and buy pints from the club if they could get some half decent snap too. Ok we won’t make loads of profit on the food but surely you could charge the vendors a fee for their space for the day?

I’m not commercial or marketing but surely someone in that sort of role at the club could organise this quite easily. There would be local vendors that would jump at the opportunity.

I suppose the only sticking points are if we are tied into any contracts in terms of the catering side (one for the forum? !!) but as you say and as i've mentioned one way is to have outside folk coming in to do things which can change on a regular basis. I think it would have to be outside as there is no option on the concourses so would tie into a fan zone or even the new multipurpose building that will be a fans bar thing on the car park as and when that happens. Charge a fee to have the plot for a game and take that as the profits without the hassle of cooking stuff.

[Town_Fan]

Is it really 5 quid for a pie now? That is surely taking the mickey.

[JonB]

Town_Fan, on 17 July 2023 - 09:28 AM, said:

Is it really 5 quid for a pie now? That is surely taking the mickey.

In the away end....think its cheaper in the home end but only 50p i think.