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Great performance Saturday - minor catering issue....

What a great performance Saturday. On the pitch couldn't be better

One minor complaint off the pitch. Upper tier only had one till at each kiosk open during the half time for refreshments. I know this as I queued up at both. I first waited in line at the first kiosk towards the home end for ten minutes to arrive at the front of the queue only to be told that they had run out of beer.

So I had to queue again at the kiosk down by the away end.

My main issue is this, beer (lager / cider) takes ages to go out of date, so running out is a little unforgiveable if it's bottled. Also why aren't the club opening more tills? Instead of having 1 till open and 3 people standing around them.

Just think this is an easily solvable issue and one that the club would want to know about. If anyone knows of a contact at the club I would be happy to email them, however if this isn't a wider issue and I'm the only one bothered by this then I will leave it.

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Comments

  • They often say they have staffing issues - workers pulling out late on and suchlike.
    Is that still the issue?

  • Think the catering side is proving more difficult to resolve than the Yanks ( from a service based culture) had imagined.

  • I think Rob and co will resolve it sooner rather than later - if my conversation with him a couple of weeks ago is anything to go by.

  • Yeah it's fair comment. I imagine it's not easily solvable as its low pay and workers may not turn up last minute, just slightly frustrating as you have that 15 minute turnaround time to get back out to watch the 2nd half.

  • I've no idea how the staffing is organised at WWFC, but when I first turned 18 I worked for an events agency that would ring you on the evening / morning of an event and offer you bar/hospitality/catering work.

    My mates and I were basically ad-hoc stand-ins for unreliable workers across the county for all sorts of events (and there's a hell of a lot of unreliable kids working in hospo. It is difficult to find people who actually turn up so we always had work)

    If we're not using one of those already, we probably should be.

  • @Wheresthechips said:
    Yeah it's fair comment. I imagine it's not easily solvable as its low pay and workers may not turn up last minute, just slightly frustrating as you have that 15 minute turnaround time to get back out to watch the 2nd half.

    Good to see someone making a valid point in such a reasonable manner. I believe the club has just introduced a system that allows you to pre-order your drinks although I confess I don’t know all the details. I would suggest that you email Mark Palmer or Kelly Francis at wwfc.com and they can forward it to the appropriate person.

  • @glasshalffull Thanks, I will drop a note over

  • I wish I'd taken a picture of the blank look I got when trying to order a Creole burger in the Woodlands stand. Despite a sign three foot from their head they told me it was just the name of the new improved burgers.

    Didn't have the energy to debate but did I imagine this new burger?

    The staffing issues on matchdays is something that may prove as hard to solve as increasing attendances.

  • The burgers become a Creole Burger when you or the staff sprinkle on creole seasoning from a pot supplied. Rob told me at the first game he brings it over from the US with him on the plane.

  • No crisps either

  • The food offering is just lousy all round, probably complicated by it being outsourced. Letting people go for a beer in the village is helping reduce queuing in the terrace but my once three monthly burger to see if they have solved things was pretty grim.

  • @thedieharder said:
    No crisps either

    @Wendoverman bought the lot as he is stockpiling in the event of a no deal brexit.

  • edited September 2019

    Unlike a lot of people, I'd never eat at a home game, as I can handle 2 hours without food.

    But a question i've always wondered, is what is the deal with the food van outside the gates.
    Do they have some sort of club permission / link to sell there? Or is it just some totally independent person?

  • One way to cut the queues at the food kiosks would be to bring back the drinks trolley that used to be sited on the walkway by the touchline.

  • @Malone said:
    Unlike a lot of people, I'd never eat at a home game, as I can handle 2 hours without food.

    But a question i've always wondered, is what is the deal with the food van outside the gates.
    Do they have some sort of club permission / link to sell there? Or is it just some totally independent person?

    They don't need permission from the club as it's outside the perimeter. Has permission from WDC & relevant certificates. Totally independent & delivers a hot tasty burger for a lot less than inside the stadium. That's why there is always a que there.

  • @EwanHoosaami said:

    @Malone said:
    Unlike a lot of people, I'd never eat at a home game, as I can handle 2 hours without food.

    But a question i've always wondered, is what is the deal with the food van outside the gates.
    Do they have some sort of club permission / link to sell there? Or is it just some totally independent person?

    They don't need permission from the club as it's outside the perimeter. Has permission from WDC & relevant certificates. Totally independent & delivers a hot tasty burger for a lot less than inside the stadium. That's why there is always a que there.

    Rather begs the question of whether a few independent local traders could band together and do a better job.

    Whilst people can do without food its potentially an important revenue stream and adds to the day out, you've got to take people's money when they want to give you it.

  • The van outside should be the benchmark for the club on the quality needed. Still mourning the pork baguette which they used to do though, that really was good.

  • @mooneyman said:

    @thedieharder said:
    No crisps either

    @Wendoverman bought the lot as he is stockpiling in the event of a no deal brexit.

    My Anderson shelter has been full since we signed article 50. You'll all be sorry soon...

  • Linda's offerings just outside the gates are consistently superb. I've told Rob to pay her a visit if he wants to get an idea of just how far behind we are with our offerings, both in terms of food quality and customer service. Hopefully he's done that.

  • @EwanHoosaami said:

    @Malone said:
    Unlike a lot of people, I'd never eat at a home game, as I can handle 2 hours without food.

    But a question i've always wondered, is what is the deal with the food van outside the gates.
    Do they have some sort of club permission / link to sell there? Or is it just some totally independent person?

    They don't need permission from the club as it's outside the perimeter. Has permission from WDC & relevant certificates. Totally independent & delivers a hot tasty burger for a lot less than inside the stadium. That's why there is always a que there.

    Thanks for confirming. I suspected this but always wondered about a competitor in effect taking money away from the club right outside.
    But yes like others say its down to the club to do a better job.

  • @Malone said:
    Unlike a lot of people, I'd never eat at a home game, as I can handle 2 hours without food.

    You really love making that point don’t you? Ever considered some of us set off after breakfast and arrive home late evening with only a string of service stations for sustenance?

    An edible and available bit of snap is not a big ask!

  • I've got my pre-match routine sorted - couple of pints at the Rose and Crown, then a walk to the ground, stopping for lunch at Grill Box in Desborough Road.

    Both excellent and we've had a 100% win record since I adopted the regime

  • edited September 2019

    @arnos_grove said:

    @Malone said:
    Unlike a lot of people, I'd never eat at a home game, as I can handle 2 hours without food.

    You really love making that point don’t you? Ever considered some of us set off after breakfast and arrive home late evening with only a string of service stations for sustenance?

    An edible and available bit of snap is not a big ask!

    No offence meant chief.
    I did say home game and it soundz like your routine for a home game is like an away.

  • @Malone you can see how it affects my blood sugar levels!!!

  • I’ve not eaten a meal at AP since they took the veggie burger off the menu under the Smith reign of terror.

    I used to have to sneak to the front to get them to start cooking it so it would be ready by the time I actually got the the front of the queue.

    In these more enlightened culinary times, with ‘normals’ even trying the odd non-meat based dish, it could be a money spinner.

    I was lucky enough to have a behind the scenes tour by Forest Green’s chairman and it was great to see the passion in their food prep. They use stadium touring groups in the week to help make their burgers and bring in local outfits to help support their own catering efforts. It seemed both a money spinner and great marketing idea.

  • @StrongestTeam said:
    The food offering is just lousy all round, probably complicated by it being outsourced. Letting people go for a beer in the village is helping reduce queuing in the terrace but my once three monthly burger to see if they have solved things was pretty grim.

    My burger from the grill next to the Rebellion tent was pretty good I thought. Freshly cooked, decent wack of onions on it, cheese slice acceptable and with American mustard and and a liberal sprinkling of the creole seasoning it went down well with (ahem) three pints of the good stuff.

    And by the lore of football superstition I must now down three pints before every game until we lose.

  • ....and a Creole Burger!

  • @Manboobs said:

    @StrongestTeam said:
    The food offering is just lousy all round, probably complicated by it being outsourced. Letting people go for a beer in the village is helping reduce queuing in the terrace but my once three monthly burger to see if they have solved things was pretty grim.

    My burger from the grill next to the Rebellion tent was pretty good I thought. Freshly cooked, decent wack of onions on it, cheese slice acceptable and with American mustard and and a liberal sprinkling of the creole seasoning it went down well with (ahem) three pints of the good stuff.

    And by the lore of football superstition I must now down three pints before every game until we lose.

    I had a look out that way but it wasn't running at half time. Definitely agree on the beer side.

  • @Lloyd2084 said:
    I’ve not eaten a meal at AP since they took the veggie burger off the menu under the Smith reign of terror.

    I used to have to sneak to the front to get them to start cooking it so it would be ready by the time I actually got the the front of the queue.

    In these more enlightened culinary times, with ‘normals’ even trying the odd non-meat based dish, it could be a money spinner.

    I was lucky enough to have a behind the scenes tour by Forest Green’s chairman and it was great to see the passion in their food prep. They use stadium touring groups in the week to help make their burgers and bring in local outfits to help support their own catering efforts. It seemed both a money spinner and great marketing idea.

    The food offering at Forest Green when I went was dire, chips or a chip butty available at half time, no sauces, not even milk for tea, and a rank "green" cola that was tossed away. The samosas that were walked round at half time smelt decent but again ran out quickly.

    Having a vegetarian option is a good idea- do we really not do one? but the FGR extreme was equally poor

  • I thoroughly enjoyed the veggie burger and chips that I had at Forest Green and there was a choice of soy milk or almond milk for people to put in their teas and coffees, of which I found the soy milk perfectly acceptable in my tea. And the half-time samosas were very good.

    This was all much better in comparison to the last beef burger that I had inside Adams Park (admittedly probably three years ago, since I gave up buying them as they seemed always to be cold and/or partly raw and I was concerned about a possible corresponding risk of food poisoning) and the last cup of tea that I had inside Adams Park (start of this season) which had lumps of undissolved and apparently insoluble powdered milk floating about in it.

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