spanish flair
Well-known member
Just show them this
http://www.drinkbars.co.uk/mdu.html
Our MDUs
From one unit, we can pour 6 pints in 20 seconds! Now, image if we setup 10 for your event. That would be 10,800 pints an hour. Want to know more?
Do you spend as much on catering at the Amex as you would like?
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Just show them this
http://www.drinkbars.co.uk/mdu.html
Our MDUs
From one unit, we can pour 6 pints in 20 seconds! Now, image if we setup 10 for your event. That would be 10,800 pints an hour. Want to know more?
Hillian1
( . ) ( . )
It was posted on here last season, someone started taking hot dogs in a wide necked flask and just popped them in rolls at half time.
I wonder how long it would take the club to ban flasks if this got popular?
albion534
Well-known member
Whether this is the case now, I don't know, but I know the club look for money up front from the Caterers, plus a % of takings, which is why staff get there so late, are never trained, and is usually under stocked, as they need to make tier money back
Postman Pat
Well-known member
North West corner of the ground.
I usually get to the ground at 2.10 - 2.15, go to the bigger kiosk as they have more choice, usually no queue, get a pie and pint for me and hotdog and soft drink for my son, eat/drink whilst watching the end of the prem game and at my seat in time for Fanzone.
On the odd occasion I'll get a 2nd pint.
No real complaints from me. Was a bit late at the Sheff Wed game so went on 40ish mins, ordered steak and ale, got balti, didn't really mind tbh.
I usually get to the ground at 2.10 - 2.15, go to the bigger kiosk as they have more choice, usually no queue, get a pie and pint for me and hotdog and soft drink for my son, eat/drink whilst watching the end of the prem game and at my seat in time for Fanzone.
On the odd occasion I'll get a 2nd pint.
No real complaints from me. Was a bit late at the Sheff Wed game so went on 40ish mins, ordered steak and ale, got balti, didn't really mind tbh.
Superphil
Dismember
To be fair, that sounds plausible for a catering contract. Sodexo paid up front to win the tender, and pay ongoing based on turnover. The likely thing wrong is that Sodexo over-paid to win the tenderf, hoping they could wheedle in puka pies and carlsberg, thus increasing their profit margins. *
*speculation based on my own experiences in the business of competing to win tenders
Stinky Pete
New member
Efficiency in service has gone backwards since the opening of the Amex. I sometimes avoid buying a beer because I know it is going to take too long and/or something will go wrong. Also with the quality of pies now no where near what they were, I'd say I am spending close to 100% less than what I would like to.
Prince Monolulu
Everything in Moderation
I would certainly spend more were it less complicated with regards to queues, significant variation in quality of the food/drink served and the staff need to be more efficient. Last week it took a few minutes to explain to the guy serving my that my ST card for payment did NOT in fact go into the debit/credit card machine and so help was called for to confirm what I was saying about it going on to the flat card reader.
He was training someone else on service to boot.
He was training someone else on service to boot.
I don't often have the money for loads of food and drinks at the Amex, but when I do here are my gripes:
1) as stated on this thread, they really do need a pre-order system in place, much like the theatre. I'd say in the days of the internet, you should even be able to pre-order pre-match on-line. It needs thinking about
2) I understand the need for a fairly homogenous product list. One bitter, one lager, one cider. Soft drinks are fizzies, water or fruit juice - I'm fine with that. However, the trade off needs to be that they are ALL available. Fruit shoots often run out, as do some of the fizzy drinks.
3) Please please please train the catering staff! Please? So many of them are slow, and lacking any sort of motivation to deliver the food QUICKLY. Pre-match and half time, it needs to be ALL about speed.
1) as stated on this thread, they really do need a pre-order system in place, much like the theatre. I'd say in the days of the internet, you should even be able to pre-order pre-match on-line. It needs thinking about
2) I understand the need for a fairly homogenous product list. One bitter, one lager, one cider. Soft drinks are fizzies, water or fruit juice - I'm fine with that. However, the trade off needs to be that they are ALL available. Fruit shoots often run out, as do some of the fizzy drinks.
3) Please please please train the catering staff! Please? So many of them are slow, and lacking any sort of motivation to deliver the food QUICKLY. Pre-match and half time, it needs to be ALL about speed.
For me the main problem is at the end of the game. Particularly with evening games, when what I eat at the Amex is my dinner, I might want a pie before the game and a pie or a hot dog (or whatever) afterwards if I'm still hungry. I'd likely buy a Coke or similar with it too.
I know that, for obvious reasons, they can't cook a lot after an evening game, as much would likely go to waste, but it still annoys me. It also really winds me up that sometimes they put empty boxes into the hot food trays, making you think there's loads of food at a kiosk when there's little or nothing left in reality.
I know that, for obvious reasons, they can't cook a lot after an evening game, as much would likely go to waste, but it still annoys me. It also really winds me up that sometimes they put empty boxes into the hot food trays, making you think there's loads of food at a kiosk when there's little or nothing left in reality.
I've seen something similar at Wembley and it works very well. I would say the staff at Wembley are worse than the Amex but this gadget makes them look super efficient.
[MENTION=29964]Bagelman[/MENTION] would make a killing
Harveys only would work even better. I was behind ONE person for ten minutes last week whilst they tried to reduce the head on his two pints of Fosters.
TWOCHOICEStom
Well-known member
The trick would be to get Paul Barber to sit in the North Stand for a whole season. Get him to buy something pre-match, half time and full time at every match. Watch how long it takes before something changes then.
I've said it a million times. If you could run a business where the only barrier between you and profit is the speed at which you can sell your goods. You or I would be trying every trick in the book to get that cash. Judging by this poll, we're begging to give the club more money, but they can't take it.
My two suggestions are this.
- No fan should have to wait for a pint to be poured before the match or at half time. There should be a wall of prepoured pints ready. It's not like they can say they weren't expecting people to order beer!
- There should be the people taking the money and people fetching the goods. Once you've paid, step to one side and wait for the runner to give you your stuff. Then the cashier can serve the next guy. None of this standing there whilst Billy on the till works out how to use it, works out how much change to give, ambles over to the beer, wanders back, goes to get your burger, wanders back, gets something wrong, does it again.... All whilst the next customer is standing waiting with cash in their hand.
I'd love to see the club make what they deserve for attracting such a huge fanbase. They're losing out and I reckon they can fix it with a few small tweaks.
I've said it a million times. If you could run a business where the only barrier between you and profit is the speed at which you can sell your goods. You or I would be trying every trick in the book to get that cash. Judging by this poll, we're begging to give the club more money, but they can't take it.
My two suggestions are this.
- No fan should have to wait for a pint to be poured before the match or at half time. There should be a wall of prepoured pints ready. It's not like they can say they weren't expecting people to order beer!
- There should be the people taking the money and people fetching the goods. Once you've paid, step to one side and wait for the runner to give you your stuff. Then the cashier can serve the next guy. None of this standing there whilst Billy on the till works out how to use it, works out how much change to give, ambles over to the beer, wanders back, goes to get your burger, wanders back, gets something wrong, does it again.... All whilst the next customer is standing waiting with cash in their hand.
I'd love to see the club make what they deserve for attracting such a huge fanbase. They're losing out and I reckon they can fix it with a few small tweaks.
Weststander
Well-known member
WSU queues before the game and at half time put me off. The H/T queues start whilst play is still going on, with advance parties from groups sent to get in early, then their mates pile in with large orders of beer and grub in joining them on the H/T whistle. Making those queuing further back going no where every slowly. Simply isn't worth joining the queues.
father_and_son
Well-known member
I come with my son so alcohol isn't really an option. Eating at the ground, for various reasons is some we always plan to do. He'll have hot dog, drink & bag of sweets and I'll have something similar. He won't eat the burgers or the pies so its hotdog or nothing (therefore, quite frequently, nothing). If he doesn't eat then I won't either.
My experience of the catering is that since the first season at the Amex is that it has got progressively better but still has a VERY long way to go.
The staff are generally nice enough, some are even friendly, but I have never seen a single one actually RUSH to serve someone. They never seem to be in a hurry to get the queue moving quickly, no one ever deals with the money while still pouring a tea or starts taking the next order while the previous customer pays with a smartcard, etc etc. When they did have extra people just pulling pints, I have actually seen servers just stand there and wait for the pint AND THEN get the food order rather than multitask.
I assume that the vast majority of the staff are students from the uni earning just enough beer money for a saturday night out so I feel the blame lies squarely with the managers/supervisors. If they were seen mucking in, helping, demonstrating a little "hustle", then the staff would be more inclined to behave the same way - more people would be served, more money would be made!
I am not totally convinced he is bothered though. Either this or he does not have the ability personally or contractually to change anything. I cannot think of any other reason why the catering is still so shit after so long.
He has been in his job for well over 2 years now, pretty much the first thing he took on was the catering shambles and there has been no noticeable improvement. Given the Sodexo contract is allegedly very highly front-loaded this suggests the threshold above which the Albion get a percentage of sales is high......maybe unrealistically too high and there is therefore no incentive for the club to do anything? Or do the club literally make a percentage on every sale? All things considered I find this latter point hard to believe though.
Dick Knights Mumm
Take me Home Falmer Road
ESL on Saturday - they had half pints pre-poured which they then filled up to order. It was a start.
No - the queues put me off. Change the kiosk queue mechanism to a single snake barrier so you go to the next available server, rather then stuck behind the 10 minute I want a full pint no head. Need to make the process behind the counter more production line, one person one function.