Catering Experience at Amex

[clapham_gull]

there are issues with transport which the club are hoping to alliviate by encouraging use of the refreashments before and after the game.

Always thought that was an odd idea, unless there was something about the beer and food that would make me want to stay.

It's just big arena catering and warm flat booze served in a plastic glass. Why would you to hang around for more of that ?

Felt sorry for one of the lads behind the bar yesterday who I had a quick chat with. Suggested the people running the place didn't have a clue (at the moment) and he it was just leading to him getting abuse from disgruntled customers.

I tend to agree.

It's shame, I expected a number of outlets serving all sorts of stuff - attempting to do something different.

Possibly people don't really want that at football ?

 

[Beach Hut]

I think the club missed a real opportunity here where there could have been some real quality.

Mini bought a hot dog that had a sausage in it so not what he really expected. No chips, huge queues and lack of service......

 

[pishhead]

I've given up now, rather than leaving the pub half an hour early to grab a beer in the ground I'll just stay in the boozer.
for me in WSU its not pleasant as it's far too hot, and the queueing system/lack of staff training makes the pretty simple task of getting a pint an almost military exercise. Real shame though as I'm sure I'm not the only one who feel like this.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Oh, no. Not another moan in, pleeeeease!

Ha ha. It's not really a moan. Just something I thought would involve myself in.

The daughter of a work colleague works in one of the kiosks and it seems that they are sold very short. But they face the brunt of the displeasure. Sadly, some people are lacking in common courtesy.

 

[clapham_gull]

Ha ha. It's not really a moan. Just something I thought would involve myself in.

The daughter of a work colleague works in one of the kiosks and it seems that they are sold very short. But they face the brunt of the displeasure. Sadly, some people are lacking in common courtesy.

Noticed that on Friday, the staff appear to be under great stress and need support.

 

[pishhead]

Noticed that on Friday, the staff appear to be under great stress and need support.

It does have an air of being thrown to the wolves.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Noticed that on Friday, the staff appear to be under great stress and need support.

This particular staff member is the nicest girl you could hope to meet. She isn't under trained at all. She has made orders for further supplies and they haven't turned up.

The break situation is a big issue concern the basic supply of things like water. There seems to be a high turnover of staff thus far.

The front staff being let down a high the middle management. Not quite the picture painted in the planning process.

 

[pastafarian]

Always thought that was an odd idea, unless there was something about the beer and food that would make me want to stay.

It's just big arena catering and warm flat booze served in a plastic glass. Why would you to hang around for more of that ?
?

we stay around for a couple of beers post match in the north as its becoming quite a gathering place for people in other stands to come to and its a good opportunity to meet friends met over the years for a chin wag,nothing really to do with the quality of the fare on offer just the company.

as far as the general food and drink service at the amex its ok,but about the same as every other football ground

the only place ive ever had quick queues at a sporting event is twickenham and cricket test matches and thats because they have designated bars that dont mess around with food or tea and coffee

 

[BALDISBEAUTIFUL]

You need more real ale not that Fosters shit. I drink elsewhere as the choice and service is better, Azure have f***ed up big time in my opinion.

 

[saafend_seagull]

Put a load of food vans outside the ground and split each kiosk halfway down into beer only / food + soft drink only

 

[saafend_seagull]

And specialise people on each area like Starbucks.

 

[Notters]

Put a load of food vans outside the ground and split each kiosk halfway down into beer only / food + soft drink only

Buggers the pie and a pint deal doesnt it?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Surprised nobody's had a real go at projecting the amount of revenue lost by the club due to potential punters walking away from a catering queue that's going nowhere.

Even at a really conservative estimate I make it something in the order of:

25 games (League & cup) x 1000 potential punters walking away from queue x £6 guesstimate average spend

= £150,000 lost revenue over a season.

Suspect the actual figure will be far higher.

 

[saafend_seagull]

Buggers the pie and a pint deal doesnt it?

good point

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Surprised nobody's had a real go at projecting the amount of revenue lost by the club due to potential punters walking away from a catering queue that's going nowhere.

Even at a really conservative estimate I make it something in the order of:

25 games (League & cup) x 1000 potential punters walking away from queue x £6 guesstimate average spend

= £150,000 lost revenue over a season.

Suspect the actual figure will be far higher.

What I don't understand is that a company with the pedigree and experience of Azure can not find a serving model which works efficiently at the AMEX.

 

[Ernest]

Can't be bothered queuing for a beer now pre kick off and would need a 30 minute half time interval to get a beer then so simply don't bother anymore. It's a shame as we've been sold short on a few things such as the bookies in the ground and the catering which is costing the club a fair bit of income which one day might bite them on the backsides

 

[Hotchilidog]

Managed to get a beer at half time from the portable Harvey's guy in the WSU. On the whole I do not think the experience is as bad people make out. The beer is ok and whilst the service could be improved I've never had to leave the Amex under-refreshed.

One thing I did notice on friday was that the sales were going through quicker than the pints could be pre-poured. I notice that we are using single pint pumps to pour the pints, when there are many multi-pint dispensers. They use the ultra flow system at the Emirates for example which pours a tray of beers in less than a minute. Something like this would help the staff out a lot.

I think it's pretty obvious that Azure and the club under-estimated the insatiable demand for practically everything they sell by a massive amount and they were simply unprepared for it. They now have a significant amount of data which they can use to improve the service, I hope they do so.

 

[Chicken Runner61]

Can't be bothered queuing for a beer now pre kick off and would need a 30 minute half time interval to get a beer then so simply don't bother anymore. It's a shame as we've been sold short on a few things such as the bookies in the ground and the catering which is costing the club a fair bit of income which one day might bite them on the backsides

Why do you think its costing the club a fortune?

I would guess the club get their money from the franchise pitch not the amount of sales - Unless some thing major happens The club get a guaranteed income no matter how much is sold or whatever the attendance in and on the other hand Azure have a guaranteed pitch whatever the attendance and on whatever they serve.

I have no doubt that their are minimum standards set for Azure and probably attendance targets for the club that might tweak the figures but basically the club have to provide a venue and entertainment and Azure have to serve food - the quality of both is dependant on how much cash is available to each at the end of the deal.

 

[Billy the Fish]

What I don't understand is that a company with the pedigree and experience of Azure can not find a serving model which works efficiently at the AMEX.

Poor management is the only possible answer. All of this filters down from the top, I rekon most people posting on this thread could improve the kiosk in the space of one game, it's not rocket science but it just needs the corect structure.

That said, I use the kiosk at the West end of the North and think they all do a good job every week. There were visibly less people in there this week and they all went as quick as they could with the manpower they had. Most complaints on here seem to be about the WSU

 

[Another Berkshire Seagull]

was in the north after the leeds game, a customer took a sip of his fosters and complained it was flat. At which point he was given a new pint and his one returned with the other pre-poured pints - nice.