The 2012-13 food and drink thread - prices, running out, quality and choice etc

[cloud]

I went to get my son a kids pie meal, only to be told they don't do them any more with pies (even though it's on the menu), only with hot dogs. At first I thought it was a North Stand thing and told them that in the East and West they just give you an adult pie, but the guy said he'd get into trouble if he gave me a pie. So we went to another counter and queued up and were told we could have burger or a hot dog. Also, no more Oreo biscuits just huge chocolate bars, and no toy. So we won't be buying the kids meal again. Time to start buying a snack at Victoria station, or taking sandwiches.

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

Three quarters of the crowd being completely off their tits?

My son and five mates never got 'off there tits' because of a one hour wait to get to the bar!!!

 

[Ernest]

Given the promotors paid £50k for buses and other transport costs including stewards to monitor the buses and taxis I very much doubt they would refuse to pay for a few station queue stewards. Southern bottled it. And if fewer people hang back because of increased beer prices how long before Southern shit it and raise the draw bridge at Falmer next season?

You would cream your pants if it did , don't worry as that will happen for the Millwall match so you better get your ill informed rants ready

 

[Ernest]

Not many fewer people will hang around though. There will be a lot of huffing and puffing, but I'd be very surprised if a significant number of people leave on the final whistle because their pint has gone up by 30p. Especially when they realise that their local in town has done exactly the same.

Moan about paying £3.90 a pint then rush into town to pay £3.90+ a pint

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

You would cream your pants if it did , don't worry as that will happen for the Millwall match so you better get your ill informed rants ready

Don't worry, the minute the white flag goes up my rants will flow.

 

[luppers]

Slight problem in the east stand concourse when ordering a pint of Harveys was that I had to wait because the girl serving me did not know how to pour a pint and had to get someone else to do it! Also ordered a pie for the first time. Did not realise pastry was made of concrete !

 

[Notters]

My son and five mates never got 'off there tits' because of a one hour wait to get to the bar!!!

Think you've lost the meaning of "of their tits" somewhere along the line there.

 

[Napper]

Let's face it , doesn't matter who votes with their feet . Ques at the station will dictate that the club will barely notice any that don't as enough will

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Let's face it , doesn't matter who votes with their feet . Ques at the station will dictate that the club will barely notice any that don't as enough will

It's an interesting business model, raise the price until the demand drops to match Azure's inability to serve.

 

[sparkie]

Moan about paying £3.90 a pint then rush into town to pay £3.90+ a pint

Indeed. Normally the beer I drink in town is £4.10+, so won't be rushing back any quicker just because the extra is slightly less. Have already got £1.56 creditted back towards my first free pint - which I guess I'll have enough cashback for at the Barnsley match.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

It's an interesting business model, raise the price until the demand drops to match Azure's inability to serve.

Exactly. A classic case of 'race to the bottom.'

Such a shame, after everything that was promised re catering etc at the Stadium, that Azure are so shit, and the club are now taking the piss re prices.

It won't affect my enjoyment of the football, but it's such a missed opportunity to both generate extra money and, equally important, encourage people to arrive early/leave later.

 

[ROSM]

Moan about paying £3.90 a pint then rush into town to pay £3.90+ a pint

I think you're missing the bigger point here. This mostly isn't about people complaining about prices - it is about people who want to spend money but cant either because;

a) there are no suitable products (reduction in vegetarian options from 3 to 1),

b) lack of product availability (not cooked, sold out),

c) lack of choice (removal of a favoured lager option which has some taste and left with cooking lager,

d) inability to purchase (due to queue length).

Personally c) and d) I'm not affected by or have seen improvements since beginning of last season. a) and b) however are issues

 

[Bozza]

I think you're missing the bigger point here. This mostly isn't about people complaining about prices - it is about people who want to spend money but cant either because;

a) there are no suitable products (reduction in vegetarian options from 3 to 1),

b) lack of product availability (not cooked, sold out),

c) lack of choice (removal of a favoured lager option which has some taste and left with cooking lager,

d) inability to purchase (due to queue length).

Personally c) and d) I'm not affected by or have seen improvements since beginning of last season. a) and b) however are issues

Most of it could be related. Service and, subsequently, queue length is always going to be slow if there is not adequate provision of the menu items. If you get to the front of the queue and find they're out of something then at best you are going to deliberate what you want instead, at worst you're going to have to shout over to your mates to ask what they want instead. You're also probably going to engage in a bit of small talk with the server about how ridiculous it is that there's no steak pies at half-time.

I agree on most of the pricing - £3.51 a pint (with cashback) is not unreasonable at all. £2.25 for a bottle of drink is unreasonable, I think.

 

[halbpro]

It's funny that every time I've been in the WSL post match it takes an age to get served, yet in the WSU the service on the whole has actually not been too bad. Does the WSU get the better staff, or are they just better stocked?

I was wondering what makes the difference, WSU was so quick every time last season that it was odd that WSL was so slow. ESL was pretty quick on Saturday as well, so maybe it's just WSL's staff? I don't mind the shortages much, but I just can't stand slow service, winds me up so much compared to anything else.

 

[Hillian1]

The point is The Amex has become a victim of it's own success.

The prices are not unreasonable, the queues and availability of your desired purchase are. Look around next time in the concourse, I would say a large percentage of our fans are mid-forties like myself and if most mid-forties think the same as me then they will find the whole pre-match experience uncomfortable.

There's nowhere to put a drink or food down unless it's on the floor between your feet and I've still managed to have at least 3 or 4 pints kicked over.

The stadium is a fantastic football venue, and I will continue to use it as just that, a Football Venue and eat and drink elsewhere. When you consider myself and my mate would normally have at least 3 pints inside the stadium the sums are:

£3.51 x 3 x2 = £21.06 per game lost

£484.38 per season lost.

Multiply that by the amount thinking the same and it's a large amount of revenue.

 

[drew]

Price hike is annoying at £6.75 for the pie and pint but what annoys me more is the withdrawal of Kronenburg.