1901 Club food

[raymondbriggs]

Everyone knows why, all the 1901 members in the Newmarket Inn, all the 1901 members in The Swan know it, just seems the club do not have a Scoobey what's going on. Well so what, we'll keep doing what we like, and right now we do not like what they're doing, and won't be patronising them till they sort it out.

Seems the club are putting all their eggs in the revised "East stand brasserie" basket,they have seen the Hikers rest and more significantly The Swan take shed loads of business away from Falmer.
Having lost loads of goodwill Barber hopes that a bigger "Dicks Bar" will capture lost revenue.
Barber is deluded.

 

[The Merry Prankster]

Instead of giving the club £80 for food, £20 for the raffle and whatever we spent on drinks we gave them nothing for a cup of tea at half time.
The Newmarket lot had 3courses for £15.50 and were very happy with it, my friends went to the Giggling Squid and were ecstatic with there £15 worth. Superphil and his mob were pleased with the Swan. I don't know what they paid but knowing Phil it won't have been much (joke). That's maybe £4000 lost to the 1901 today, just from the people around me. How can this be better?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I'd like to say something positive on this thread. This is me at my most optimistic ....


"Hello, Paul Barber. Thanks for reading the thread. I trust you realise how much goodwill there is towards the Club ... and how close it is to being lost".

 

[fleet]

I'd like to say something positive on this thread. This is me at my most optimistic ....


"Hello, Paul Barber. Thanks for reading the thread. I trust you realise how much goodwill there is towards the Club ... and how close it is to being lost".

A great effort at optimism. We all want to be positive to the club - I would pay over normal pub prices to support the club, but the club have lost the plot. They are not providing what people want and the prices are daft - it must be sorted or else the Swan will have planning applications for their extensions!

 

[Beach Hut]

The comments from Barber in the program yesterday are interesting as he questions why people would want to eat elsewhere, does he not read any of what people say about the catering ?

On the train to the ground yesterday there was an East Stand 1901 member who said the £19.50 curry was a turgid disgrace beyond belief.

You would have thought perhaps an open meeting between the club / caterers and 1901 members might be a good idea to try and resolve this.

Barber is claiming if food etc is not purchased this will effect the player budget and club spend so perhaps he is slowly trying to turn this dispute around to blame the fans at a later date when the club cannot invest further in players?

 

[Superphil]

Instead of giving the club £80 for food, £20 for the raffle and whatever we spent on drinks we gave them nothing for a cup of tea at half time.
The Newmarket lot had 3courses for £15.50 and were very happy with it, my friends went to the Giggling Squid and were ecstatic with there £15 worth. Superphil and his mob were pleased with the Swan. I don't know what they paid but knowing Phil it won't have been much (joke). That's maybe £4000 lost to the 1901 today, just from the people around me. How can this be better?

To be fair, we did have a pint after, but someone else bought it for us!

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Barber is claiming if food etc is not purchased this will effect the player budget and club spend so perhaps he is slowly trying to turn this dispute around to blame the fans at a later date when the club cannot invest further in players?

Not seen the notes but if this is true then this is a total insult. And blackmail is a strange way to operate retail.

 

[Beach Hut]

Not seen the notes but if this is true then this is a total insult. And blackmail is a strange way to operate retail.

Have a read of it but that is the way I interpreted it perhaps someone with the electronic version can cut and paste it.

 

[Hillian1]

Not seen the notes but if this is true then this is a total insult. And blackmail is a strange way to operate retail.

Very much this.

He's trying to shame us into buying the food regardless of it's quality, what an arse.

 

[Goldstone1976]

At the risk of bucking the trend, here's my view of the first meal I've had in 1901.

I had a meeting at the club at 11am and was asked to try the new burger offering, so I obliged.

It wasn't bad at all. I liked the presentation, the patty itself was big and the little added bits (coleslaw on a bit of lettuce and a sprinkling of herbs) were nicely done. The main fault was the temperature - it was lukewarm, caused, I suspect, by the fact that they were cooking them to order in the kitchen (rather than having them standing for a long time on a hotplate in the lounge) and it stayed on the pass too long. Poor communication between the kitchen and the wait staff in the lounge about when the food was ready?

Price-wise? I guess they're pitching for a GBK-like burger. The nearest burger and fries option on the GBK menu is the "Taxidriver" plus "Chunky Fries" at £9.45 plus £3.25 = £12.70. I paid £12.00 less 10% cash-back on e-cash = £10.80. The cash back should have been 15% (making the price I should have paid £10.20), I think, given I ate at 1:00pm, but that's a separate point.

So - £10.20 or £10.80 plays £12.70. Was it worth it? Pluses: I ate at the Amex, with a pint of Harveys, reading the programme, watching whatever was happening on the pitch and waiting for my new-found friends to turn up so we could start discussing the football. Downsides: it was lukewarm and the ingredient quality was not as good as GBK. But it was 20% cheaper than GBK. Personally, I'd have preferred a better quality patty and paid an extra couple of quid, but that's subjective.

Overall, I thought it was ok. True, they have some niggles to work through, but it was nowhere near the disaster area that my reading of this and similar threads had led me to believe it would be.

 

[brighton bluenose]

By the time Leo got into the BUPA Lounge to pick up the MotM award the gaff was half-empty - there would have been at least twice as many in there last season at a similar time!

 

[Mileoakman]

At the risk of bucking the trend, here's my view of the first meal I've had in 1901.

I had a meeting at the club at 11am and was asked to try the new burger offering, so I obliged.

It wasn't bad at all. I liked the presentation, the patty itself was big and the little added bits (coleslaw on a bit of lettuce and a sprinkling of herbs) were nicely done. The main fault was the temperature - it was lukewarm, caused, I suspect, by the fact that they were cooking them to order in the kitchen (rather than having them standing for a long time on a hotplate in the lounge) and it stayed on the pass too long. Poor communication between the kitchen and the wait staff in the lounge about when the food was ready?

Price-wise? I guess they're pitching for a GBK-like burger. The nearest burger and fries option on the GBK menu is the "Taxidriver" plus "Chunky Fries" at £9.45 plus £3.25 = £12.70. I paid £12.00 less 10% cash-back on e-cash = £10.80. The cash back should have been 15% (making the price I should have paid £10.20), I think, given I ate at 1:00pm, but that's a separate point.

So - £10.20 or £10.80 plays £12.70. Was it worth it? Pluses: I ate at the Amex, with a pint of Harveys, reading the programme, watching whatever was happening on the pitch and waiting for my new-found friends to turn up so we could start discussing the football. Downsides: it was lukewarm and the ingredient quality was not as good as GBK. But it was 20% cheaper than GBK. Personally, I'd have preferred a better quality patty and paid an extra couple of quid, but that's subjective.

Overall, I thought it was ok. True, they have some niggles to work through, but it was nowhere near the disaster area that my reading of this and similar threads had led me to believe it would be.

Well this is what it looked like. I had one too and echo the thoughts about being luke warm.

 

[middletoenail]

I was VERY close to joining 1901 about 2 years ago, I'm so glad I didn't.

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

Well I had my 1st burger at the Swan. Cooked in front of me, cheese & onions at no extra cost plus a large salad try and some dishes of various spices to which you could help yourself to.

best burger I've had for some time, tasty & filling too.

Oh, and the price? £4.70.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Well I had my 1st burger at the Swan. Cooked in front of me, cheese & onions at no extra cost plus a large salad try and some dishes of various spices to which you could help yourself to.

best burger I've had for some time, tasty & filling too.

Oh, and the price? £4.70.

I just don't think it's reasonable to compare the price of a burger bought in a pub with one bought in a corporate/premium fans section of a Championship football club pushing for promotion. It will always be cheaper. Surely the fairer comparison is with something like GBK (as I did) or indeed at another similar club (say, QPR, Reading or Wigan). I have no idea what those clubs charge for a burger in their premium priced seats, but I very much doubt it's a fiver....

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I just don't think it's reasonable to compare the price of a burger bought in a pub with one bought in a corporate/premium fans section of a Championship football club pushing for promotion. It will always be cheaper. Surely the fairer comparison is with something like GBK (as I did) or indeed at another similar club (say, QPR, Reading or Wigan). I have no idea what those clubs charge for a burger in their premium priced seats, but I very much doubt it's a fiver....

It's not just the price issue that is being discussed. It's the customer service issue and the massive decline in perceived value for money that is being reported.

 

[Goldstone1976]

It's not just the price issue that is being discussed. It's the customer service issue and the massive decline in perceived value for money that is being reported.

LB - my post was in response to a post talking about price. I agree about the customer service issue and have had several email exchanges and meetings with the club about it. It is currently very poor, but I have received assurances it will be improved from three senior people. I get the point about the massive decline in value for money. I can't comment on that, not having been in 1901 last season. I can say that two out of the three managers I've spoken to at the club have reported that the club were losing money in 1901 every game. Obviously, they didn't give me management accounts to peruse to verify that statement, but I have no reason to disbelieve their assertion. Without seeing management accounts it's hard to comment on how/why they were losing money.

From my own experience in corporate hospitality/premium fans offerings in tents/boxes at other sporting events (cricket/F1/rugby/golf as examples), I can say that £10.80 for a "gourmet" burger and chips is in no way out of line (indeed cheaper than most), providing that the burger is in fact "gourmet". I'd say on yesterday's showing that the patty needed to be of higher quality to meet that standard and the whole dish needed to be hotter.

Of course, this all leads us back to whether 1901 is/should be "corporate" or "premium fans". In my lounge, the punters are pretty much all fans and not corporate. As many others have said on other threads, this potential conflict will be massively exacerbated if, in three years time at the end of the fixed price deal, we're in the PL when the club could reasonably expect to sell true corporate hospitality packages at £150-300 per game, not £91 (for Gold) or £120?? (for platinum) per month.

 

[Official Old Man]

Seems the club are putting all their eggs in the revised "East stand brasserie" basket,they have seen the Hikers rest and more significantly The Swan take shed loads of business away from Falmer.
Having lost loads of goodwill Barber hopes that a bigger "Dicks Bar" will capture lost revenue.
Barber is deluded.

Is the East Brasserie still open? I understand it will be turned into the players lounge soon.
Not a wind up but from a good source.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Is the East Brasserie still open? I understand it will be turned into the players lounge soon.
Not a wind up but from a good source.

Seems an odd location for the players lounge? And I presumed they already had a lounge.

 

[Footsoldier]

Is the East Brasserie still open? I understand it will be turned into the players lounge soon.
Not a wind up but from a good source.

Thought the players lounge was in the south stand next to the scoreboard.