Azure need to booted out.

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

On the basis that Azure seem incapable of supplying hot food when people want to buy it, maybe they should dispense with hot food altogether. If they were to supply tasty baguettes and gourmet sandwiches then they would have no excuse for running out of stock because these could be prepared in bulk well in advance and wouldn't need to be heated up for half an hour. OK, its not the best alternative to a hot pie by any means, but it would at least give them SOMETHING to sell to the hungry masses at half-time.

 

[Ernest]

It's even pot luck with the Bovril, some weeks it is scalding hot and others just about warm enough.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Never had a problem with the catering ...

 

[rool]

On the basis that Azure seem incapable of supplying hot food when people want to buy it, maybe they should dispense with hot food altogether. If they were to supply tasty baguettes and gourmet sandwiches then they would have no excuse for running out of stock because these could be prepared in bulk well in advance and wouldn't need to be heated up for half an hour. OK, its not the best alternative to a hot pie by any means, but it would at least give them SOMETHING to sell to the hungry masses at half-time.

Could be a reasonable solution as possibly not everyone wants a hot food product but buy one because it is the only thing on offer. This could reduce demand for the pies and negate the need for the additional hardware required in the summer.

 

[halbpro]

On the basis that Azure seem incapable of supplying hot food when people want to buy it, maybe they should dispense with hot food altogether. If they were to supply tasty baguettes and gourmet sandwiches then they would have no excuse for running out of stock because these could be prepared in bulk well in advance and wouldn't need to be heated up for half an hour. OK, its not the best alternative to a hot pie by any means, but it would at least give them SOMETHING to sell to the hungry masses at half-time.

I wouldn't mind having baguettes on offer. I think they had them available at Reading and it was nice to see a bit of variety. Would like them with hot food rather than instead of though. It would solve the same issues, but hot food would still be available and overall demand for each item would probably decrease (as it'd be spread out across more options) meaning that they'd be much less likely to run out in general.

Even if they completely sold out of sandwiches/baguettes they could easily make more during the first half, and probably produce far more than pies can be cooked in the same period.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Richard Hebberd on the possibility of catering vans outside the stadium. The Albion Roar, 8 Oct 2011:

"No plans to do that at the moment. One thing is we promised the neighbours we wouldn't do that. The main reason is that we have an evacuation plan, an emergency escape plan that needs that room that's out there. If there was ever an incident at, say, Falmer Station - that would be the area to which we evacuate people. So at the moment we have no plans. We are constantly looking at what we can and can't do to try and improve the experience. It is something we've looked at, and it's something at present we don't plan to do."

Personally I find that very so, so negative, and also extremley disappointing.

There is LOADS of spare space in the walk up from the Station to the Ground, and if there were a dozen catering vans (either operated or at least 'controlled' by the club) that would be great. Offical booths selling scarves etc could also be added, much like the progranmme ones.

If Richard Hebberd thinks it's a safety issue, I suggest he goes up to Anfield next weekend (or indeed any other City centr based Stadium) to see there are lots of street vendors selling food/drink etc in a MUCH more confined area than outside the Amex.

Actually I find his feeble reply an insult.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Personally I find that very so, so negative, and also extremley disappointing.

There is LOADS of spare space in the walk up from the Station to the Ground, and if there were a dozen catering vans (either operated or at least 'controlled' by the club) that would be great. Offical booths selling scarves etc could also be added, much like the progranmme ones.

If Richard Hebberd thinks it's a safety issue, I suggest he goes up to Anfield next weekend (or indeed any other City centr based Stadium) to see there are lots of street vendors selling food/drink etc in a MUCH more confined area than outside the Amex.

Actually I find his feeble reply an insult.

The whole catering situation is very very weird. Its almost like the Albion/Azure have very little interest in maximising the profits from their catering setup. It always seems to be 'hooray, we're f***ing brilliant, we serve 5000 pies a match' or whatever, as opposed to 'oh shit, there's 4000 customers who want to buy pies but can't, either because they've run out or they don't want to queue for 20 minutes for the privilege'.

 

[Billy the Fish]

On the basis that Azure seem incapable of supplying hot food when people want to buy it, maybe they should dispense with hot food altogether. If they were to supply tasty baguettes and gourmet sandwiches then they would have no excuse for running out of stock because these could be prepared in bulk well in advance and wouldn't need to be heated up for half an hour. OK, its not the best alternative to a hot pie by any means, but it would at least give them SOMETHING to sell to the hungry masses at half-time.

I wouldn't mind having baguettes on offer. I think they had them available at Reading and it was nice to see a bit of variety. Would like them with hot food rather than instead of though. It would solve the same issues, but hot food would still be available and overall demand for each item would probably decrease (as it'd be spread out across more options) meaning that they'd be much less likely to run out in general.

Even if they completely sold out of sandwiches/baguettes they could easily make more during the first half, and probably produce far more than pies can be cooked in the same period.

But they would just have all the same issues. How many to prepare? Who makes them? Where are they made? Where are they stored?

All that would happen is they'll run out and it's one more thing for people to moan about. The pies couldn't be easier for the staff at the moment. Get pies, put in oven, put in box, put on shelf. Time so they are replenished in busy periods.

We've already been told the problem is capacity in the ovens, they know that and are rectifying it. Adding more products for the staff to get confused over isn't going to help anyone.

My main problem is the fact Elliot whatshisface refuses to acknowledge that more staff in the booths would help. To say they are overcrowded is nonsence, he needs to go into a central london Maccy Ds at lunchtime on a saturday to see what can be achieved in a tight space with lots of people. The real answer is probably that they're making a big profit at the moment and are too tight to pay for more staff.

 

[The Large One]

Personally I find that very so, so negative, and also extremley disappointing.

There is LOADS of spare space in the walk up from the Station to the Ground, and if there were a dozen catering vans (either operated or at least 'controlled' by the club) that would be great. Offical booths selling scarves etc could also be added, much like the progranmme ones.

If Richard Hebberd thinks it's a safety issue, I suggest he goes up to Anfield next weekend (or indeed any other City centr based Stadium) to see there are lots of street vendors selling food/drink etc in a MUCH more confined area than outside the Amex.

Actually I find his feeble reply an insult.

Why on earth do you feel insulted?

 

[les dynam]

How about some of these mobile bars, like the lovely Harveys/HopHead ones, but selling pints of lager?

Half time at the Newcastle game... my mate went to get lagers from the North Stand kiosks a few minutes before half-time whistle (bad fan) and still wasn't served as the second half kicked off - he gave up at this point. That mobile Fosters fridge thing had sold out. He could have got served at he mobile Harveys stand but fancied a lager.

Just wondering why they club couldn't get some mobile lager points sorted out, like the Harveys ones? Not a complaint, by the way.

 

[Hotchilidog]

Has anyone been paying attention at the back? The catering sales have exceeded expectations and planned projections but at least 200% the infrastructure has not been built to cope with this demand and this cannot quickly be changed mid season so issues will remain throughout the entire season.I do not think that is too hard to understand.

However the problems with the staff seem to have improved since the beginning of the season and if the constructive criticism keeps coming in these CAN be worked on further before the end of the season.

Personally my experience of buying refreshments at both the main bars and mobile units has been pretty good, service prompt and the products very good.

As for halftime moans, what part of maximum demand minimum amount of time do people not understand? Of course there are queues, what do you expect?

Reading the posts on here would lead anyone to believe we have the worst catering in the world, when clearly we don't. Didn't anyone see what was on offer at Shitehurst last week, we could go back to that I suppose.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Has anyone been paying attention at the back? The catering sales have exceeded expectations and planned projections but at least 200% the infrastructure has not been built to cope with this demand and this cannot quickly be changed mid season so issues will remain throughout the entire season.I do not think that is too hard to understand.

However the problems with the staff seem to have improved since the beginning of the season and if the constructive criticism keeps coming in these CAN be worked on further before the end of the season.

Personally my experience of buying refreshments at both the main bars and mobile units has been pretty good, service prompt and the products very good.

As for halftime moans, what part of maximum demand minimum amount of time do people not understand? Of course there are queues, what do you expect?

Reading the posts on here would lead anyone to believe we have the worst catering in the world, when clearly we don't. Didn't anyone see what was on offer at Shitehurst last week, we could go back to that I suppose.

Did they do chips at Selhurst tho?

 

[El Presidente]

It's even pot luck with the Bovril, some weeks it is scalding hot and others just about warm enough to dip my cock in.

At least you don't have to worry about forgetting to bring a spoon each week Ernest, though I can see it being a problem for GUPPY.

 

[Hotchilidog]

Did they do chips at Selhurst tho?

Couldn't close enough to find out, but if they did they would have been RANCID!

 

[Bozza]

Has anyone been paying attention at the back? The catering sales have exceeded expectations and planned projections but at least 200% the infrastructure has not been built to cope with this demand and this cannot quickly be changed mid season so issues will remain throughout the entire season.I do not think that is too hard to understand.

Can you point me to the official club announcement on these ongoing catering issues which will be better next season please.

 

[honey boy zimba]

yes you do get the odd warmish pie now and then but I have to Say its getting better , I belive that the club have got former Grand hotel manager Richard Baker on board to run his eye over things which is a start but Mr H is not an expert in cateing or many others in in the club its still early days it could take at least two sesons to settle down and for them to get a handle on things .I belive Eliott More is a good guy and really wants to sort things out but I think his hands are some what tied by his directors who dont know that the expectations and demands of the albion fans is some what diferent from the other clubs they run . Bear in mind that Azure have never been at the start of a new stadium and have always taken over from sedexo or compass so everythink was in place ,they also made a big song ans dance about the new head chef and things were promised that he could not deliver as he had no experience of mass quality catering ,he was TBs choice and not azures and has since left again that was a leaning curve .Having said all this Azure the company need to let Eliott and who ever they appoint as Head chef to choose thier own supliers and not be tied to central buying which limits chioce and quality until they do we will still have crappy burgers and poor standards in the 1901.

 

[honey boy zimba]

JUST a foot note the shit served up at selhurst was dire so be carefull what you wish for

 

[les dynam]

Quick aside on this... i think we all recognise that what the club are pioneering is amazing and will, hopefully, be copied by other clubs in the future. The local ales, the lovely pies, opening the bars after the game, loads of screens etc, welcoming the away fans properly... we are streets ahead of anything else i have ever come across.

At Anfield there will be 1 crappy counter stuffed under the stand with 2 blokes in there serving bottled lager and bovril - not that you'll be able to get served even if you wanted to be. For the entire away end. That, sadly, is football ground catering across the country.

Not sure what my point is... just sort of saying that ours is amazing if not yet perfect, but even with a few problems it's still pretty amazing compared to the rest!

 

[Hotchilidog]

Can you point me to the official club announcement on these ongoing catering issues which will be better next season please.

If my memory serves, I think it was in discussion with TLO amongst others that I heard that would changes to kitchens would happen in summer to cope with increase demand. They simply were not prepared for the level of demand. The projections weren't just a little bit out, they were out by a very very long way indeed. Even if there was some slack in the infrastructure it has well and truly been taken up.

Whether there are improvements next summer remains to be seen but I'm pretty sure there are some things they cannot do anything about until then at the earliest. It is things like staff training/recruitment and management etc they can continue to develop.

I'm not here to stick up for Azure, as I think on the human side of the equation they have not been the best, but the constant wailing and gnashing of teeth over the fricking catering this season is just unbelievable. By football ground standards our catering is pretty superb, and it's only when go somewhere else and you cannot get decent pint or stand in a reasonably sized concourse, visit a supporters lounge or hang around after a game that you begin to appreciate it.

I have bought food, beer, and soft drinks in the WSU, I purchase stuff pretty much every game and I have yet to have an experience which plunges me into the depths of despair. Ultimately if you don't like the catering don't use it.

 

[Bozza]

If my memory serves, I think it was in discussion with TLO amongst others that I heard that would changes to kitchens would happen in summer to cope with increase demand. They simply were not prepared for the level of demand. The projections weren't just a little bit out, they were out by a very very long way indeed. Even if there was some slack in the infrastructure it has well and truly been taken up.

Whether there are improvements next summer remains to be seen but I'm pretty sure there are some things they cannot do anything about until then at the earliest. It is things like staff training/recruitment and management etc they can continue to develop.

I'm not here to stick up for Azure, as I think on the human side of the equation they have not been the best, but the constant wailing and gnashing of teeth over the fricking catering this season is just unbelievable. By football ground standards our catering is pretty superb, and it's only when go somewhere else and you cannot get decent pint or stand in a reasonably sized concourse, visit a supporters lounge or hang around after a game that you begin to appreciate it.

I have bought food, beer, and soft drinks in the WSU, I purchase stuff pretty much every game and I have yet to have an experience which plunges me into the depths of despair. Ultimately if you don't like the catering don't use it.

So, no club announcement then?

Is it beyond the wit of man for the club to put something out to say "By jimminy are you lot hungry and thirsty when you're at the Amex - far more than we ever expected. As such, we understand that sometimes you may not be getting the consistently high level of service that we wish to deliver but we are working hard to improve that. Some of these changes can not be completed until the Summer, so please stick with us whilst we continue to improve." ?

As it is, there is a vacuum of information around this stuff that partially gets filled by a number of unofficial sources, such as Al's diligent efforts. But it doesn't have to be like that, does it?