Kiosk Service etc.

[MattBackHome]

Higgidy pies (made in Shoreham), £3.49: Sainsbury's online groceries

Higgidy do GREAT pies.

(Though I do like the ones at the Amex as well)

 

[BensGrandad]

Less 10% if paid for using your smart card.

That is what I thought when it started but it is only worth 10% if you buy something in the club shop so not really true being a 10%discount on the pie.

 

[n1 gull]

East Stand worked really well on Sunday. I had a pie and 2 pints of Harveys at half time - now you can't complain about
that!

 

[Bwian]

That is what I thought when it started but it is only worth 10% if you buy something in the club shop so not really true being a 10%discount on the pie.

The 10% gets returned to your card's balance to be spent anywhere at the club. Including your next pie & pint.

 

[Bozza]

I wouldnt know the on line price as I dont do that, I can only go by the price in store when I see them and I cannot remember seeing any over £3.00.

The price online is the same as the price in store - that's the way it works. Artisan pies in your value Sainsburys, equivalent to our Amex pies, are £2.99 - £3.49. That's a cold pie in a high volume retailer with wafer thin margins, not a heated pie in a prime sporting venue.

You can bang on as much as you like but at £3.15 (or £3.50 if you're stupid enough to not use your smart card) the pies simply are NOT expensive for what you are getting and where you are getting it.

If you use the the cost of the raw ingredients as a basis for a purchasing decision, you would never buy any manufactured product and you would never eat out in a restaurant.

 

[Bozza]

That is what I thought when it started but it is only worth 10% if you buy something in the club shop so not really true being a 10%discount on the pie.

Yes it is. A copy and paste from my online account where food and drink purchases were made at the WSU concourse kiosk...

24/10/2011 Top Up Card (Via Till) £0.42
24/10/2011 Debit Card (Via Till) -£4.20
24/10/2011 Top Up Card (Via Till) £0.68
24/10/2011 Debit Card (Via Till) -£6.80

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Good to see someone asking the punters for feedback - thats how you maintain and improve service, well done. Seems like things are settling down and now its mainly fine tuning to the catering.

I'm still mindful of where we have come from i.e. standing in the pissing rain at Withdean eating a soggy burger etc. Now we have a nice dry concourse with a fine selection of food, pies to be proud of and Harveys too - luxury! Yes we pay a bit extra but the caterer needs to make a reasonable buck and maintain a quality product. God help us if we ever revert back to the bad old days of disgusting kennomeat pies with cardboard pastry, scalding hot ersatz coffee or warm europiss lager.

Compare The Amex with the experience at many recent away games - no alcohol at Watford, similar prices and no pies at Portman Road, both had cramped catering areas (wouldn't be classed as 'concourses'). Crap toilets at Fratton Park. Their stands have cramped seats and minimal leg room. Over £30 for admission too. The hardened footie fan might put up with it but definitely not 'family friendly'. The Amex is totally different with far more consideration towards 'the customer', including away fans.

 

[BensGrandad]

I am not sure of this 10% as I use my card but due to age and size etc buy very little from the club other than tickets and beer at The Amex so how do I get my 10% discount or rather how do I use it.

As regards the pies we shall to agree to differ I just dont buy them and nobody will convince me otherwise.

 

[Bozza]

I am not sure of this 10% as I use my card but due to age and size etc buy very little from the club other than tickets and beer at The Amex so how do I get my 10% discount or rather how do I use it.

It works like this...

You have £20 on your card and you make a £10 purchase. Your resultant balance, after this transaction, is £11 (not £10). The 10% cashback gets added to your card balance immediately at the point of sale.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

It works like this...

You have £20 on your card and you make a £10 purchase. Your resultant balance, after this transaction, is £11 (not £10). The 10% cashback gets added to your card balance immediately at the point of sale.

And the clever thing about this is the more you eat and drink the more you save. I've saved loads this season.

 

[Everest]

Combine that with the fact that we're not really supposed to have it pre-poured, because it settles funny if it's left standing for more than a few minutes.

What about pre-pouring it, then giving it a quick stir before selling?

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Feedback:

Along with a group of friends I rather overused the catering facilities on Sunday and we were on the whole extremely happy with service, products and VFM.

The moaners are unbelievably shortsighted - we are being dished up the best pies in the known universe at the completely reasonable price of £3.15... and on top of this we get to wash down our pie with well looked after Harveys at £3.24 a pint.

The Chicken Balti pie is a triumph and will be my choice next time I am lucky enough to be buying a pie at The AMEX.

My only constructive criticism would be in relation to the "hot dog" I picked up as an impulse buy after the game. This was not a high quality product and consequently rather disappointing. A MASSIVE none-too-tasty bun dwarfing the sausage was the main taste issue - but this was compounded by a significant practical problem that arises from the buns being cut all the way through. On removing the hot dog from its bag one is faced with a perilous 3 piece juggling act and the safe addition of condiments is almost impossible - needs attention.

10/10 for pies and Harveys.

2/10 for hot dog.

 

[Seagull Steve]

Now that they have opened the South West corner kiosk to the rest of the West lower (I don't have a problem with that) could there be more than two people serving? There are four tills there, and the queues on Sunday were horrendous. By the time I got to the front, there were NO pies left and not enough time to have a pint, because it was two minutes to kick off. Whilst the club weren't letting non disabled people up to that kiosk, the two staff were fine. But surely if the demand is increased, surely so should the staff. Other than that, no complaints about the food/drink at all. FYI Bens Grandad, The pies are worth the £3.50, not just to me, as they run out fairly quickly, others must think so too.

 

[BensGrandad]

It works like this...

You have £20 on your card and you make a £10 purchase. Your resultant balance, after this transaction, is £11 (not £10). The 10% cashback gets added to your card balance immediately at the point of sale.

Thanks for clearing that up for me I must admit that I have never noticed it. I will tell my sons to buy their beer etc on their card in future.

 

[Tory Boy]

Run out of both lagers before the game started in the East Stand.

TB

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

Less 10% if paid for using your smart card.

This is the main point for me. Why, when you can use your season ticket, are so many people still paying by cash? The whole idea was to speed queues up this way. Maybe better signing is needed than just a small "Scan your loyalty card" notice on the tills. Or could you perhaps have some card-only queues?

 

[Westdene Seagull]

As regards the making of a number of pies I was just pointing out that I could make one or two pies at home of equal quality at a much cheaper price than £3.50 each

I suspect your definition of quality is a dodgy pub pie given your past. Anyway, you'd struggle to make a quality pie much cheaper.

Using your Shop Sainsburys :

> Small pack of diced chicken = £4
> Some gammon ( I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and price it at a small pack of ham although it will be more expensive for gammon ) = £2
> Pastry = £1.50
> Flour for sauce = £1
> Other ingredients for sauce = £1 ( once again benefit of the doubt ).

This will make 3 pies at a stretch for a total of £9.50 so just under £3.20 a pie - and that hasn't taken into account the power to cook it !

 

[Randsta]

I had good service @ the last game

 

[Storer 68]

Fatboy Slim can’t wait to sample a new range of pies at the American Express Community Stadium.

Brighton and Hove Albion is launching a new Balti Pie, made by Piglet’s Pantry, for tomorrow’s game against Barnsley.

The firm in Cheal Close, Shoreham, has made the pies according to the traditional mild curried chicken recipe.

Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, said his favourite flavour of pie so far is chicken but says he will try the new range at the game.

Cook, who also scored hits under the moniker Pizzaman, said: “The catering staff at the Amex always deliver a terrific result.” Albion has ordered in 2,500 Balti pies for the Barnsley game alone.

General manager of catering Elliott Moore said the stadium regularly outperforms the O2 in London in terms of food sales.

He said: “We have [Bsold more than 88,000 pies [/B]since the first game.

“We have launched this new range in response to overwhelming demand from the fans. They have besieged the social media chat forums to ask for the Balti flavour so we have responded to that.”

 

[Storer 68]

This is the main point for me. Why, when you can use your season ticket, are so many people still paying by cash? The whole idea was to speed queues up this way. Maybe better signing is needed than just a small "Scan your loyalty card" notice on the tills. Or could you perhaps have some card-only queues?

Because I suspect MOST season tocket holders do not know abour the e-cash facility. the information states "loyalty card" rather than season ticket and i'm not sure quite as many people as the club hoped have cottoned on that they are one and the same.