Bulbshare findings

[silent majority]

Recently roversdude asked the question about the Bulbshare project and whether the club actually reads the comments that supporters provide.

So in a communication from Shaun I'm posting this below, bearing in mind that this is addressed to me and not a club statement. You can tell that from the way its written though;

Catering

I think most are aware the contract ends in May, we know from the feedback we've received from supporters that the standard with the current providers has fallen short of expectations, it's why it hasn't been renewed, likewise I think most supporters are aware that we've been tied into a contract that has been bought out several times and legally it was difficult to exit until it's natural conclusion.

For the past few months we've had a range of conversations with new providers and looked at in-house options too.  We know fan flash points about quality of staff, speed of service and value for money, but we don't know details such as what fans would want to see for new food options (eg Pizza or loaded fries), likewise the new providers don't know the size of the market (eg how many fans would buy food and drink on a match day, what would be their average spend, would they change their behaviour from nearby pubs to the stadium - what would make them change that behaviour).

The research on catering from bulbshare and at the stadium, is not about implementing changes immediately, it's to feed information to potential partners for next season so they can shape an offering based on our fans and not just provide a one-size fits all approach based on cost margins, which is basically what we have now.  We would rather the new catering experience be based on our supporters and their opinions.

We've had several suppliers talking to us saying well this works at XXX club or this works at XXX ground but yet when you speak to that club and their supporters (we've done several site visits at other grounds) the difference in comparative feedback between fans, club and catering provider are so varied, you wouldn't think it was the same club.

We had one provider suggest we visit X club as a best practice case study, when we did, the fan feedback was horrific and the club said they had wrote to the provider several times about issues such as staffing (low quality and low numbers) but they too were tied into a contract and couldn't do much about it.

We've also done site visits to clubs where our fans have told us the catering is really good based on their experiences as an away fan, yet when we've gone to that club to do a site visit, the home fans of that club have been less than complimentary about the catering and the club itself have told us catering is a major problem for them and have showed us their scores from EFL surveys, mystery shops etc and they actually score less than us!

Ultimately we want the new providers to have all the data available to them and shape their offer and contract on meeting those data sets, not simply come to us a blanket offer of this is how we do things elsewhere, hence the additional research this year.

Match Days

Feedback from bulbshare suggested

The PA system is poor - again we know that - but it's a 6 figure sum to replace
The scoreboard needs replacing - this is on order and should be installed for April - but it's on delivery from China and they have had a manufacturing back log due to their historic approach to Covid, delays in having all the parts and now Chinese New Year.  It's not like getting a TV from currys.

The stadium needs some TLC - not untrue but there are potential infrastructure changes needed linked to new catering providers coming in and we want those to take place first - if you're doing DIY at home you wouldn't change your carpets and then paint the walls.  We need to see if any infrastructure works are needed first and then prioritise resources into supporting that activity.

Fan Zone is popular and fans would want to see it all year.   This is something we are working on as unfortunately when the weather gets cold it doesn't have the same appeal as it does in August, which is why it only takes place up until the end of September and usually from March.  The VSC and supporter clubs however, have each donated into the club to match fund a project with the Football Foundation for the development of an all year-round fan zone.  A lot of feedback we had from the surveys around catering and match day was about more street food - again at the moment, the current contract is prohibitive on that - street food vendors have to be approved by the catering provider and the red tape in place is prohibitive, but again we now enter a contract discussion with the new provider where we can identify this as an area where we have more flexibility with street food vendors.  There was also mixed feedback about having away fans in the BVB and again something we are looking at for next season but requires major infrastructure changes to the stadium.

Season tickets and general ticketing

Historically feedback on season tickets had always been stopping adding additional things/benefits into the season ticket as fans would rather just pay less and not receive the additional benefits such as DNA Cards, Purple Vouchers, free gifts etc.   Last year we reduced the price significantly across season tickets, close to £100 for some adults and also stripped back the additional benefits.  This year the response from ticketing surveys was that fans miss those additional benefits and feel they aren't rewarded by simply the savings they can make on match days.  There was also strong feedback about wanting some sort of insurance on a season ticket, so if supporters missed games, they didn't financially lose out.  That feedback has been taken on board and shaped our season ticket proposition which will be out later this week.  There have also been issues of concerns over the south stand and how safe it is with the number of unchaperoned teenagers, so again we've considered that as part of our safeguarding and ticketing policies for next season.

Community values

Fans were appreciative of the clubs efforts to engage the community, whether that be through the away kit launch where 50 children were invited to the Training Ground to meet the players or the home kit launch and heritage project which was launched in the restaurant at the start of the season.

Fans said they wanted to see more of that activity though and we followed this through in Autumn with an All Rover Doncaster event

Tuesday is All Rover Doncaster Day! https://www.doncasterroversfc.co.uk/news/2022/september/all-rover-doncaster-preview/  | News | Doncaster Rovers (doncasterroversfc.co.uk)

That is returning towards the end of this month too

All Rover Doncaster launched https://www.doncasterroversfc.co.uk/news/2022/february/all-rovers-doncaster-launches/  | News | Doncaster Rovers (doncasterroversfc.co.uk)

We also tried to host a joint trip out for junior supporters to the Wildlife Park Young Reds go wild   https://www.doncasterroversfc.co.uk/news/2022/october/young-reds-go-wild/   | News | Doncaster Rovers (doncasterroversfc.co.uk) but due to low take up (less than 10 children - this was cancelled)


Communication

Historically Gav has been the voice of the board publicly but when James came in as head of football operations in the summer it was clear that he would be the best spokesperson for football and football strategy.

Obviously Danny speaks to the media at least twice per week so we've then tried to compliment that additional content from James at key moments of the season, with Gav summarising a strategic view from the Board and then myself, Jon Waburton (chief commercial officer) and Richard Poole (Finance Director) updating on operational matters at certain parts of the year.  This is then complimented with programme notes and in person communications through Q & A's at various events

So since August this has looked as follows

September:        Jon Warburton (Chief commercial officer update)
                     Retford Branch AGM  (Gav, Shaun, Gary and Steve)
October:           VSC AGM in BVB (Gav, James)
                     James on appointment of Danny
November         James on appointment of Chad and Paul
January             Gav, annual review
February          James on January transfer window

However, the feedback from bulbshare has been that this isn't working and so this will be reviewed - the criticism of speaking too much is that you only get soundbites and so we've wanted to try and avoid that - but again perhaps we haven't done enough here.

Hope that helps Martin

Thanks

Shaun

[roversdude]

Thank you for feeding this back SM

[knockers]

Not sure I believe the scoreboard story. I use several Chinese suppliers and Covid has only impacted one to two weeks of production when they let everyone loose a month or so ago. In addition the factories now only have one week off for Chinese new year.
There are also shorter sailings available at no extra cost that can reduce the transit time from seven weeks to four and a half!

Good too have the update though and the issues with different peoples perceptions on the catering at other grounds.

[oggycompton]

Thanks Silent. Good to know

[Upton Rover]

I think we have been in the same situation before with the past catering company, needs to be done in-house,

[silent majority]

Not sure I believe the scoreboard story. I use several Chinese suppliers and Covid has only impacted one to two weeks of production when they let everyone loose a month or so ago. In addition the factories now only have one week off for Chinese new year.
There are also shorter sailings available at no extra cost that can reduce the transit time from seven weeks to four and a half!

Good too have the update though and the issues with different peoples perceptions on the catering at other grounds.

The company I worked for during the last 15 years is a global manufacturer with factories in dozens of countries around the world. The factories causing us major problems were the Chinese ones. Getting stuff produced and shipped to Europe took months and months, the cost of shipping had soared and so had air freight. To get around some of that we started using the rail network.

So, in contrast to your experience I can sympathise with the club on this point.

[Padge_DRFC]

ST pricing announced next week?