Catering

[McCammon egg n chips]

I find it hard to believe that people rely on catering at the ground for essential food or that someone can't go 110 -120mins without a pint especially at the prices they charge, maybe it's just me getting old but food beer at a football match doesn't go together, maybe it's just me getting old

Terrible attitude - it's all part of a modern match day experience.

Is there ever a good reason to not have good catering?

[Bills view]

Do we have someone who manages the catering contract?

Surely the caterers were told ticket sales were strong, there will be a big crowd, be ready for that busy couple of hours. They know when demand is going to be high.

[Colin C No.3]

What about setting up some sort of app where we can order the food around 30mins in to be ready on the half time mark

I ‘don’t do’ emojis but if I did I’d be searching for the one that has someone pi**ing their pants reading that post!

And why’s that?

#27. Sorry Tom I was modifying the post whilst you were replying to my first reply.

[Draytonian III]

I still think we should have vending machines for cold drinks, chocolate, crisps etc. Most of them are card only and they could be re-stocked in the 1st half, one the catering crew could monitor 2 or 3 machines at once.

[ravenrover]

I find it hard to believe that people rely on catering at the ground for essential food or that someone can't go 110 -120mins without a pint especially at the prices they charge, maybe it's just me getting old but food beer at a football match doesn't go together, maybe it's just me getting old

Terrible attitude - it's all part of a modern match day experience.

Is there ever a good reason to not have good catering?

Nothing to with attitude it's all about opinion

[McCammon egg n chips]

Okay so just to clarify, because your opinion is "food and beer don't go together with football" our entire fanbase should be subjected to substandard catering within the ground?!

On the vending machines, I think this has been raised before but I can't understand why we don't have them - they are a quick win.

[ravenrover]

No that is what it says on the tin OPINION

[Donnywolf]

.... I don't think the current Caterers would want direct Competition from street vendors outside at Half Time although they always seem to be there every game.

I'm surprised they haven't got an exclusivity clause in their Contract

I'm still surprised they don't install Vending machines which could sell basics Tea Coffee Crisps etc. That could up their take and be a win win because if 20% use the vendors then the rest of Staff could serve more of the rest of the customers who want the bigger ticket items

I think we still DO do HT drinks for Beer Lager with prepayment. If not maybe it could be brought back

It has worked every time I've used it in other Grounds.

[Petche]

I find it hard to believe that people rely on catering at the ground for essential food or that someone can't go 110 -120mins without a pint especially at the prices they charge, maybe it's just me getting old but food beer at a football match doesn't go together, maybe it's just me getting old

Agreed

[DonnyBazR0ver]

.... I don't think the current Caterers would want direct Competition from street vendors outside at Half Time although they always seem to be there every game.

I'm surprised they haven't got an exclusivity clause in their Contract

I'm still surprised they don't install Vending machines which could sell basics Tea Coffee Crisps etc. That could up their take and be a win win because if 20% use the vendors then the rest of Staff could serve more of the rest of the customers who want the bigger ticket items

I think we still DO do HT drinks for Beer Lager with prepayment. If not maybe it could be brought back

It has worked every time I've used it in other Grounds.

It's not competition though because the burger vans take up the slack and offer alternatives to range of foods the concourses can't do. 

On the subject of vending machines, when discussed sometime ago, the issues were around rent and maintenance charges of the machines even before stocking them. That doesn't mean it can't be looked at again though.

I often think why couldn't we have hot water urns and let fans pour their own tea and coffee etc but, you can bet the H&S police will knock that back just in case someone gets scalded by hot water!!

[Prez]

Could always have this at Leeds??

Looks yummy.

[Mike_F]

I was at an Ajax match last night and there was a great fast food operation outside the ground that could work in the concourse.

The FEBO fast food chain had a wall of what looked like clear perspex safety deposit boxes that the staff kept filling with hot food from the kitchen side. Customers then made contactless payment which unlocked the door on the public side and on the press of a button it popped open so customers could grab their hot burger/croquette/chips etc.

Something like that could really speed up the service in the concourse.

[Chris Black come back]

There is a lot to be said for investment in technology but the realities still exist - putting the very small crowds at the Dons to one side, there are c30 occasions each season when catering is required for Rovers. This is typically for crowds of around 7,000 on average. The sales happen I would imagine from 2pm through to 4pm only. So that’s across a season a sale window of 60 hours. The volumes we are shifting in that window are probably not worth the capex when you will almost need a decent amount of opex to keep them running even if you can take out some headcount. The volumes just aren’t there and probably aren’t there for anyone to particularly bother excelling in the offer more generally. 

[Colin C No.3]

There is a lot to be said for investment in technology but the realities still exist - putting the very small crowds at the Dons to one side, there are c30 occasions each season when catering is required for Rovers. This is typically for crowds of around 7,000 on average. The sales happen I would imagine from 2pm through to 4pm only. So that’s across a season a sale window of 60 hours. The volumes we are shifting in that window are probably not worth the capex when you will almost need a decent amount of opex to keep them running even if you can take out some headcount. The volumes just aren’t there and probably aren’t there for anyone to particularly bother excelling in the offer more generally. 

That doesn’t stack up.

The catering company don’t have to pay towards the upkeep of the kiosks they just have to concentrate on providing good quality food & have enough of it at hand because although that sales window may be small, if they don’t get quality & quantity of products right then they’re going to lose money through poor output.

Equally, if the food or drink isn’t being served quickly enough in that relatively small time frame sales will suffer, profits will be poor & all for the want of a ha’peth of tar.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

There is a lot to be said for investment in technology but the realities still exist - putting the very small crowds at the Dons to one side, there are c30 occasions each season when catering is required for Rovers. This is typically for crowds of around 7,000 on average. The sales happen I would imagine from 2pm through to 4pm only. So that’s across a season a sale window of 60 hours. The volumes we are shifting in that window are probably not worth the capex when you will almost need a decent amount of opex to keep them running even if you can take out some headcount. The volumes just aren’t there and probably aren’t there for anyone to particularly bother excelling in the offer more generally. 

That doesn’t stack up.

The catering company don’t have to pay towards the upkeep of the kiosks they just have to concentrate on providing good quality food & have enough of it at hand because although that sales window may be small, if they don’t get quality & quantity of products right then they’re going to lose money through poor output.

Equally, if the food or drink isn’t being served quickly enough in that relatively small time frame sales will suffer, profits will be poor & all for the want of a ha’peth of tar.

No cbcb is right. DN4 Catering isn't going to invest in vending unless they will increase profit with the volumes.

To continue with the conversation we had with, I think it was Centreplate at the time, who said it was more cost effective to bring in more staff to dispense the items, than to hire or purchase vending machines. So, of course, we said crack on then. We then see an improvement (also pre ordering came in at the time) but inevitably, the improves were short lived as managers change, staff change, as they try to manage their profit margins.

If vending solutions were such a no brainer, we would have had them by now.