Amex Catering reached a shocking unacceptable low yesterday-Club please read

[Lord Bamber]

Amex Catering reached a shocking unacceptable low yesterday- someone from the club please read.

The catering at the Amex has always been at best poor, not the food so much as the staffing and service.

Yesterday before the game there were queue's 20 deep with 3 queue's per area and 4 areas, thats a potential 240 paying customers at any one moment.

The service was shockingly slow taking about 2-3 minutes per person. Therefore at the back of the queue if you are lucky it is taking 20-30 minutes to reach the front, maybe longer. Because of this you are LOSING paying customers, revenue for the club and profit is walking away with a dissatsified potential customer.

Because it is now so BAD a lot of people don't even bother anymore. Does the club know that lots of people have decided to give up eating at the ground and are stopping at the burger bar at the station instead ?

I have noticed his queue's are getting much larger each game at the burger bar. I don't know how you get a licence but there is a golden opportunity to print money there. It is LOST money for BHAFC.

The quality of the food was shocking. The Christmas pie was an abomination and was only chosen as the Steak , Chicken and Ham, Balti and even Vegetarian pies had all run out by 2.45 pm.

Also Harvey's had run out and the only choice was Fosters, horrible. The Harvey's stand alone kiosks, normally 3, were nowhere to be seen.

You need to sort this out and FAST. If 2000 people a game do not bother now at an average spend of £ 5 a head , thats £ 10000 a game and nearly a quarter of a million pounds lost revenue each season for the club.

The staffing is, sorry, very poor. It is mainly students and people with NO catering experience or customer service levels or bar experience. You need some older and wiser heads to run the show, maybe a catering manager for each area who has experience and can organise each area to run smoothly and efficiently by directing the staff and prioritising what needs to be prepared ready for drinking and consumption.

The Amex stadium and experience is wonderful but this is a MAJOR dropping of the ball by BHAFC so can someone who is in charge of this aspect get to grips with this problem NOW.

Many thanks.

The most shocking thing on this thread is the "students are still on holiday so we had to get agency people in" comment from a catering manager.

The club, Azure and Elliott are all well aware of the early season problem and, on the Albion Roar, Elliott acknowledged the problems with staff turn over and the need to have a regular crew who know the products, the processes and the tills etc.

Surely, based on this, efforts would have been made to ensure a significant number of staff were locally based and, as such, not disappearing off at holiday times of the year. Some reliance on the local student population is inevitable, of course, but there must be awareness that it is vital for a decent proportion of the staff to be consistently available to provide an ongoing decent service. If, say, 75% of the staff are locally based all year round then some infilling could occur, placing the new staff in less critical positions where inexperience is less likely to hinder customer service, throughput and satisfaction.

This should just be basic stuff, shouldn't it?

Currently catching up with podcasts. Derek Chapman on The Albion Roar literally just said...

"Although it's a catering company, they're badged as Brighton & Hove Albion. They represent us. When people moan, it hurts us and it hurts everybody."

All massively valid points and I cannot believe people are jumping on US' back.

For a profit driven company (which I assume they are), success will be built on having sufficiently trained staff & sufficient products to maximise the requirement & the opportunity.

From this thread, it appears it works in certain areas of the ground at certain times, but the overwhelming feedback is, they have clearly yet to learn from problems which have been in existence since Aug 6th.

Yesterday in the East Stand they appeared to have a vast number of newbies who did not know the system. This lack of knowlegde definitely exacerbated the queue numbers and I cant believe I am typing this but they ran out of coffee at two kiosks.

I have also contacted the club seperately to try and establish one way or the other if they do "kids meals" as they are advertised on the boards but the some staff advise this product does not exist and some do but then they dont know whether to give a normal sized burger/hotdog instead of the kids one (which either does or does not exist) and what to charge. I await with interest.

Good on you US.

Shame on the mockers.

 

[surrey jim]

Catering at the Kim Jung Nige Dome is fantastic, when you approach kiosk petals are scattered at your feet. There is limitless choice of food, so long as it is rice, and I am the only FOUR star Michelin chef (self taught of couse) who make the angels cry with quality of my cuisine.

I also have microbrewery in my spare room that produce best beer in planet, and barmaids all have great racks and like sexist banter, I win, you lose.

Yes yes yes but do you still dont sell CHIPS

 

[beardy gull]

I had a Christmas Pie after the match, very nice it was too. Couple of pints of Harveys after the match aswell.
On arrival at the ground had a pint of Harveys at about 2:45.
No waiting for any of these.
North Stand.

 

[Kim Jung Nige]

Yes yes yes but do you still dont sell CHIPS

We sell rice chips, you fail. You need reprogramming at labour camp for five years.

 

[kevo]

While there is definitely room for improvement, I do think the problems are exaggerated. "30 mins queuing time, maybe longer". Really? You mean if you started queuing at 2.31 you'd miss kick off? I don't think so. 10-15 mins maybe. Not sure where the stand alone Harveys barrels were yesterday, you can usually get served almost immediately at those. For anyone in the East Stand, if you're not after a beer, try the 'secret' catering hatch, tucked away at the far South end. There is usually no queue whatsoever. Got served there (no queue) at 2.50 yesterday - chicken and veg pies had run out but plenty of the others available.

 

[Return of the Rev]

the chip basket in hove had sold out of medium cod two nights ago and it was only 7pm. This amex catering nightmare is spreading.

but if you buy a season ticket for the chip basket they might have an idea when you might be wanting food!

 

[terryberry1]

Its a shambles, at first it was blamed on teething problems but its actually getting worse. Yesterday i got a hot dog and beer meal, to be told that there was a problem with the till so i would have to pay for each item seperately meaning i will have to pay more than i should. I know its not a massive amount of money but thats not the point. I asked to speak to his supervisor but she was too busy dealing with another complaint. Having paid more than i should i sat at my seat and tucked into my Hot Dog that had all the warmth of an ice cube. I have never experienced such shit service at any ground in the country. Not good enough

 

[Dandare70]

This is why the post office, train stations etc employ this method.......youtube.com/watch?v=F5Ri_HhziI0

 

[Lethargic]

Have to say I agree with the original post, (East Stand perspective only). Its not the queues are even food running out but it is the deterioration of service that really annoys me, it is no better than it was on the opening day of the season and probably worse now. With the complete disappearance of the Harveys stands (Why they were a success?) I no longer bother queueing at the main outlet for a pint it just not worth it.

 

[BlueBeau]

I don't have problems when oredering food or drink at the Amex - I spoke to one of the Kiosk staff after half time a few matches ago, yes, a student. Her insight to it all was that yes, of course there were a lot of Students working at the stadium as no one else really wants a job that is 1 day a week or every other week at that. Sure an experienced, mature head would be great in every kiosk - but sadly... they just dont want that kind of pocket money!! at 35, I certainly don't want a Saturday job!!

 

[Springal]

Up in the WSU/North Stand corner, I can't really remember any problems? Usually a good stock up to kick off, queues are no worse than I'd expect at a modern day football stadium and food usually averages fair-good. If you are that fussy / hungry / thirsty may I suggest eating elsewhere first, and voting with your feet?

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

I was at the first game of this season for the New York Red Bulls. Like the Albion they have a new stadium – 3 years old. In previous seasons the catering at the concessions has always been good – expensive yes, but very efficient. This time it was a complete shambles. But the next day all season ticket holders were e mailed by the Managing Director saying he had witnessed this mess first hand and that it was completely unacceptable. He apologised personally and said that we would all be given a credit of $10 on our cards. Not a huge amount but it must have still cost the club a considerable amount.

I am not trying to say they always do it better in the States – they don’t. But I think the difference is that they are prepared to admit when they screw up and then at least go some way to putting that right.

Brighton fans now have a fantastic new stadium they are proud of – the club needs to address the catering problem quickly as it clearly seems to be affecting the overall experience for fans.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Couldn't disagree more - Yesterday I went for a pie @ half time and queued up for no longer than 5 mins (WSU C Section) and the person who served me was quick and friendly; I couldn't ask for more

Tend to agree. Every time I've wanted food and drink it's been quick and well served. Indeed at the Burnley match, I literally walked up to the counter in WSU at 2pm, got a Balti pie and a pint within 30 seconds and I was served by a very pretty brunette who even deemed to smile as she served me.

 

[ROSM]

.....I literally walked up to the counter in WSU at 2pm, got a Balti pie and a pint within 30 seconds and I was served by a very pretty brunette who even deemed to smile as she served me.

I'm in WSU next week so will try and seek out said serving establishment. Just for the speed of service you understand.

 

[Bwian]

I wil say for the THIRD time this is not the experience in the East Stand.

There are issues to be resolved in the East Stand. It has not improved at all since opening day.

Temperature of pies was a major moan of many people. Their solution to this yesterday? Keep the pies in the ovens at the back of the kiosks so when you order one the server has to walk behind the counters, select pies and then return to complete the sale. Consequently, what should be a 30 second spend was taking 4 times longer. Even longer if they picked up wrong pies.

There isn't one other thing about The Amex experience that isn't fantastic, however, the caterers are f***ing up big time over in the East Stand and they need a big boot up their corporate backside.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

While there is definitely room for improvement, I do think the problems are exaggerated. "30 mins queuing time, maybe longer". Really? You mean if you started queuing at 2.31 you'd miss kick off? I don't think so. 10-15 mins maybe. Not sure where the stand alone Harveys barrels were yesterday, you can usually get served almost immediately at those. For anyone in the East Stand, if you're not after a beer, try the 'secret' catering hatch, tucked away at the far South end. There is usually no queue whatsoever. Got served there (no queue) at 2.50 yesterday - chicken and veg pies had run out but plenty of the others available.

I am not exaggerating. We queued at 2.25 pm and got served at 2.50 pm with a pint, not of our choice and a cold pie.

 

[Springal]

I was at the first game of this season for the New York Red Bulls. Like the Albion they have a new stadium – 3 years old. In previous seasons the catering at the concessions has always been good – expensive yes, but very efficient. This time it was a complete shambles. But the next day all season ticket holders were e mailed by the Managing Director saying he had witnessed this mess first hand and that it was completely unacceptable. He apologised personally and said that we would all be given a credit of $10 on our cards. Not a huge amount but it must have still cost the club a considerable amount.

I am not trying to say they always do it better in the States – they don’t. But I think the difference is that they are prepared to admit when they screw up and then at least go some way to putting that right.

Brighton fans now have a fantastic new stadium they are proud of – the club needs to address the catering problem quickly as it clearly seems to be affecting the overall experience for fans.

NY Redbulls stadium any good? Out in NY in April, fancy trying to catch a game ?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Being positive, and backing up what [MENTION=5001]The Merry Prankster[/MENTION] has already said, the 1901 Profile Lounge had various issues when it first opened but Azure/Elior have listened and now addressed most of these. I do believe the catering company are aware of the issues elsewhere and I also believe that in time everything, as it was in the 1901, will be resolved. I must have been difficult to go from scratch to a 20k crowd with a demand for catering which has blown all expectations out of the water. Azure have been in this business for a long time but previously have only ever taken over contracts at long established grounds. I think they should be given more time.

 

[kevo]

I am not exaggerating. We queued at 2.25 pm and got served at 2.50 pm with a pint, not of our choice and a cold pie.

Where were you queueing?

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Where were you queueing?

East stand, but all 3 areas were pretty much the same, the far one, nearest the North Stand.