Refreshments at the Amex

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

remember that it was essentially the first day in the job for the entire workforce.........it was always going to a be a bit of a case of throwing them in at the deep end

it'll improve

(although it was shit)

Realistically, how will it improve though? Their second day in the job will be the Spurs game.

 

[trueblue]

The general patients of most fans was brilliant despite the crap co-ordinating of the majority of staff.

I was very impressed with everyone's patience too - cutting people a lot of slack as it was the first game. But when we start playing league matches and fans are missing out on the action, the mood will quickly change I suspect. Hope they put a lot of work in before and after Spurs to improve things.

 

[Smithy]

Mum was delighted when I called her to say that we had sold out after my shift. She said it's a problem, but a good problem to have

There will be three times as many people for the league games. Do you think you will cope?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Mum was delighted when I called her to say that we had sold out after my shift. She said it's a problem, but a good problem to have

We love your mum's pies mate. They're gorgeous! You'd sell masses more if we could get to the front of the queue.

Keep doing what you're doing!

 

[Jimbo.GRFC]

I know it's the first time but FFS. They are so slow!!

Beer has plenty of fizz, pies are lovely, but it takes an hour to get served! Don't understand why when all the drinks have been prepoured.

I hope it's just down to teething problems. Bit worried that there's only two refreshment stands in the north too. Think they could do with a third.

Great to be in the new stadium though. I'll forgive them their sins!

Too many people ordering half a dozen cups of coffee/tea. Thats what causes the problem ! Give these particular consumers their own queue at the counter, then watch those queue's move way quicker

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

Realistically, how will it improve though? Their second day in the job will be the Spurs game.

doubt it'll improve by the spurs game, but experience is key in anything like that............experience from the supervisors as well is vital, as the ideal system was never going to be worked out from the start

bearing in mind a lot of the staff are young and may have little/no catering experience, it'll always take time unless we've employed a load of COMPLETE idiots

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

also, i can't help but feel that a seperate queue for people JUST ordering drinks may help......

 

[trueblue]

Too many people ordering half a dozen cups of coffee/tea. Thats what causes the problem ! Give these particular consumers their own queue at the counter, then watch those queue's move way quicker

This is true - there should definitely be a 'hot drinks only' queue. Or just a 'drinks only' queue if they do the sensible thing and have the beer ready and waiting.

 

[eastterracemike]

this. I suspect the catering company doesn't want to pay them for training outside hours - shoddy and cheapskate.

 

[eastterracemike]

I asked the lad who served me to top up my Fosters as it was about one third froth. He done it with no quibble. The issue seems to be with the training (or lack of) the staff have had. The Catering company have a contract to provide services to the required standard. If they're skimping on training to maximise profits they need to be taken to task by the club. Apart from fans suffering shit service, its unfair on the kids serving who'v been thrown in the deep end & getting abuse because they haven't been trained properly.

this. I suspect that Azure doesn't want to pay them for training outside opening hours . shoddy and cheapskate.

 

[Bozza]

It's hard to imagine the catering could have gone much worse in terms of both speed of service and availability of products.

Positive: that was what today was for (although presumably the open sessions were also there for staff training).

Negative: they don't have much opportunity to improve by the 500% required in order to have a service of the kind required and expected.

 

[Jimbo.GRFC]

Catering: Very good - when you could get to it. Happy to pay £6.50 for a pint of Kronenbourg (£3.80 by itself) and a very substantial steak 'n ale pie. Think the beer could be speeded up by having people selling from backpacks in the concourse. General consensus worryingly was that if service is that slow then there's very little incentive to stay on at the end of the game and let the train queues die down.

Trains: faultless. 6 minutes London Road to Falmer, got the 17:05 back. The platforms were well supervised and stewarded and it may pay some people wanting to go to Brighton to go to Lewes and double back on themselves. Would say though the platforms were fairly packed, half the seats in the carriage I was on were empty. Could have easily got another fifty people on there alone.

Ticketing: great access the card readers scan both swipes and paper tickets.

PA: tremendous. Though a great fan of punk, it was a nice change to listen to some fairly safe poppy toe-tappers. Seemed to go with the mood of the day somehow.

Crowd noise: North Stand were very loud with only a scattering of fans. Elsewhere in the ground: oh dear. WSU was sadly reminiscent of the old West Stand at the Goldstone. Utterly silent. Must try harder.

Big screens: couldn't really fault them, came into their own when doing close-ups of messrs Knight, Perry and Bloom.

Little screens: classy and plentiful. Sky Sports News throughout. Nice.

Club shop: Big, oddly seemed to have less of a range of stock than the Queens Road shop. Expect it'll all come onstream soon enough tho.

Football: so-so, as you might expect from the SSC. But that's neither here nor there.

General viewing: Superb

Stewarding: Light touch, friendly

Negatives: Only real grouch, which should have been easily avoidable , was having nowhere to shelter from the seriously pissing it down rain other than the club shop when they ridiculously didn't open the doors to concourse until nearly half one. As a result got far wetter than I did at Withdean at any time last season.

Conclusion: A very promising first run-out for our new home. We'll grow into it!

Anyone notice that there wasn't a clock anywhere, i.e. the tv screens or one/two in their own right

 

[Barnham Seagull]

Great pies but not worth waiting 45 minutes for in the WSL, Hotdogs looked awful. Shelves needed to put drinks on etc

Fish & chips for me before the game may give the catering a go again in 6 months if they
have sorted themselves out.

The stadium was fantastic and when full the atmosphere will be electric! Sound systgem was hit and miss, sometimes crystal clear others fuzzy or loud then not audible.

Hopefully the little things will be all ok for the Donny game.

 

[Tummy Burger]

Catering experience

Do you really need catering experience to serve someone a burger in a box ?. Anyway enough of that, a couple of other points which may interest people who were not there.

Pub in lewes ( Can't remember the name) but it was close to rammed at 1pm. So if your plan like mine is to have a couple on Lewes and then head in on the train. You may want to rethink your pub selection. With 3 times the crowd, you won't get in the door.

Oh and finally I saw some people in the WSU get asked to sit down. No one behind them. At first it looked like they refused but the stewards made them sit down. Anyone thinking you will get away with standing up there is mistaken by the looks of it. But I can't see why anyone would want to stand up there anyway.