Catering

[wigstonboues]

Who is the catering partner I've been trying to find this out for a little while regarding work

[FantasticMrFuchs]

When does their contact end?

 

2022 - so unlikely to improve the quality, price or standards anytime soon. the club must see them as a valuable asset to give them a longer contract than anyone else at the club. 

[Fez of Mahrez]

I don't really understand why people bother with eating and drinking inside the stadium. 99% seem to agree it's crap and overpriced, the queues are too long and the customer service is poor.

When there are so many good pubs, cafes and restaurants you can go to before or after the game, it seems a bit like heading to a motorway specially to buy more expensive petrol and extortionate, sub-standard food from the services.

[tylesta]

Sell local sell Everards.

The 2 everards pubs I go the pints are £3.50 a pint

[Finnegan]

It's catering at a football ground. It'll always be crap. Who cares?

Literally comes about last in the list of things to worry about.

[Lesta Legend]

I don't really understand why people bother with eating and drinking inside the stadium. 99% seem to agree it's crap and overpriced, the queues are too long and the customer service is poor.

When there are so many good pubs, cafes and restaurants you can go to before or after the game, it seems a bit like heading to a motorway specially to buy more expensive petrol and extortionate, sub-standard food from the services.

I bypass it altogether for the various reasons that have been listed or highlighted countless times previously. Fans perhaps rightly feel nonchalant or sarcastic to well meaning but pointless processes like this.

Good luck with your quest but the club just need to realise how bad the situation is and take action, not like these things haven't been said by feedback groups like this in the past. Perhaps with Premier League riches they now have budgetary room to implement change...

[Vlad the Fox]

I pretty much gave up years ago, the beer is awful (unless bottled) and the food expensive and poor. I'll tend to eat in the pub beforehand.

[AKCJ]

Improve the service. Some serious training is needed IMO. I get the impression that they know what they are doing on the tills but communication between staff and customer is zero.

The staff look demotivated, I don't think Ive ever seen one member smile.

[AKCJ]

It's catering at a football ground. It'll always be crap. Who cares?

Literally comes about last in the list of things to worry about.

This. I get the impression that people won't be happy until they are served a full Sunday roast for £1.20.

It will always be expensive and it's not going to taste incredible. It just needs to be quick and snappy so people are served what they want immediately as there really isn't much time.

[davieG]

The best way to get the service,  quality and choice improved is to stop buying it.

 

I don't  understand how so many people can be this dissatisfied  and yet continue  to use them you surely wouldn't  else where and it's  not as if there aren't  other options for most people.

[Vicki Vixen]

I (Ian) represented the Foxes Trust at the Concourse Redesign Meeting last night - can posters please stop posting catering comments in Leicester Lasses topic & keep that focused on the questions raised.

 

The first half hour of last night was attended by the catering company, who now "receive little feedback", so we have opened direct dialogue with them.

So we are happy to take feedback on catering by posting on this thread, but posts such as "they are slow, they don't care" will be ignored.

 

If you have criticism (or praise) on service - then alongside your comment, for the feedback to be useful, the comment needs to include details of which game, which stand, ideally which kiosk (rough location within stand) and a key point, the approx. time of the issue. Being aware of this thread, please think about this at future games.

 

All the tills are linked & record the amount of customers served, so the catering company is tracking information to improve service.

 

Also on this thread, feel free to make suggestions of different food (or drink) you would like to see served, these could be fed back to the caterers for feasibility (not all foods are practical) and then maybe those that are feasible & initially appear popular could be pulled into a wider survey.

 

What this ignores is that LCFC has taken the decision to outsource catering.  There is an alternative option, which is to manage catering in-house, where the club would employ catering staff directly and have more control over menus, pricing, service levels and the accountability of staff to fans and to the club.

 

Has the club considered whether the outsourcing of catering services is still the right solution?

[fuchsntf]

Can you follow Vlad's example, which is detailed so can be utilised as feedback

Your post above cannot be used, you need to be specific about which food is dreadful

Your a laugh....

It would be easier from your side, to ask 'which food is good, if any'??.

Just think about it, a little more.So it really shows, you really do want to improve the situation.

The idea you put forward, about mentioning either the stall, itself or area is so immaterial.

Take it that everthing is below standard relevant to food.

Pies, Burgers, Hot dogs, the easiest type of food, to get right, is by and large ..Rubbish

THE problem with queues and time needed in serving,

1) During the match.

2) Before the Match

3) At halftime.

Employ students, or even fit pensioners.For 4-8 matchdays , Give them a questionaire. ( not clipboards).

Then ask for a 100 various voluntary( free meal) fans, and have them anonymously to go around the various stalls, trying the wares.with the expectancy that everything is poor, and not what is the best or worst.

In stadia around, Europe, USA, and Oz n NZ, there are some poor places, but majority, blow UK standards apart. Take the notion, that the Brits are probably the only nation on earth, that are willing, to pay and eat > poor quality , sub standard faire < and are dumb enough, to repeat doing so week in week out.

[AjcW]

So the catering partner is a delicate flower then? Hardly surprising!

 

We're owned by Thais, used to beautiful, fresh food, you think they'd eat the shit served in the ground? It needs bringing into the 21st century simple as that. It's the same old story with feedback though, as soon as you introduce guidelines everyone loses interest and not a lot will get done. 

 

I appreciate the job you guys are doing, a lot of very good change has happened, but try not to cave to the pressure of an over sensitive catering company. There's a 1000 better options for catering around the ground, I bet a group of fans could save the club a fortune if they listened to new ideas.... it's just whether they will that is the problem! 

 

Instead of being charged by a catering company to provide a service, they could charge actual vendors to sell their produce! It's not rocket science.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

The best way to get the service,  quality and choice improved is to stop buying it.

 

I don't  understand how so many people can be this dissatisfied  and yet continue  to use them you surely wouldn't  else where and it's  not as if there aren't  other options for most people.

This. Never seen so many people moan about something but then every match day there are queues out the door. At the end of the day your in the ground for a couple of hours, can't you just go without Burgers, hotdogs, crisps sweets and a cup of tea for that length of time? 

Just sort out pre-poured, decent beer in fast lanes with contactless card and bin the rest off completely I say. 

[Bayfox]

So we know the catering contract was dished out by mad mandy, and it is massively long term, I assume that means the buyout figure is that high even our money bags owners don't think it is worth terminating early. So i guess we are stuck with it.

 

However, this leads me to think 2 things, clearly they feel there is no real profit in the catering side of the company, I guess the previous owner thought the same else why sub contract it. 2nd why is it that football clubs are not seen as a viable option for main street business to want to set up a franchise? 

 

I know your sales period is limited, but take mcdonalds for an example, I use them as as used to work for both company and franchise, you have a relatively small set up fee to install the correct ovens, grills, fridges etc into the concourse set up as it exists now, you take 8 of the staff you are employing to work at town hall or clock tower branches, 4 tills, 4 kitchen staff, you fire out big mac meals for 2 hours before the game, you remain open during the 1st half and shut up just after half time if you wish, clean up and are back in the store in town by 6pm as the footfall increases after the game.

 

Yet we seem to be left with, well I have no idea where the current set up sources there food, but it is shocking, if I have to resort to it, it really is as I am running late and starving, the places outside the ground although not great must be at least 3 times better.

 

 

I know it has been noted this contract runs for a long time, but imagine if you managed to get, Mcd's, Pizza Hut, Burger King, whoever it maybe to all have kiosks inside the ground, the competition alone would drive up customer service.

 

No idea if anyone agrees, it just has to be better than what we have now.

[goose2010]

Why don't they invest in like what you get at festivals where it pours about 9 pints at the same time??

 

Personally I've never used them if you cant go 90 minutes without a beer or something to eat you need to really look at issue over coming to the football.

[Ricky]

Chips... I would like some chips.

[AKCJ]

Bit different.

 

It's not like you can just go to the shop next door.

 

 

People who go to the football need/want refreshments. Many people can't get food beforehand because of work or whatever and many people quite like a drink to socialise with at half time.

[kingcarr21]

Chips... I would like some chips.

Chips would be a winner. Also do away with pukka pies and get the pies in that they have at Spurs. When I went last year the balti pie from there smashed ours all over. Cant remember the brand name but it certainly wasn't pukka. Sunderland or Newcastle have them as well cant remember which one though.

 

Half the time its not so much the food but the low standard of staff that serve the food. So often you eat a hot dog with a dry/stale bun or a pie that's as dry as a badgers arse after sitting under the light for too long and yet the staff don't give 2 shits they just hand it out in the hope people don't complain. I've had a couple of run ins with the staff by SK3.

[Nick]

Hi Ian

Good to know that there is a dialogue with them now.

Who are "the catering company"?

When does their contact end?

If they are interested in getting feedback then maybe it would be a good idea for them to have some of their managers on the ground on a match day taking to their customers? This forum is great but it isn't really the right channel for the company to glean feedback.

In a nutshell, the problem with the food is that it is not of sufficient quality. The hot dogs (£4) are barely edible. Dry bread roll, low quality sausage. Their manager should taste test one of " his" hotdogs with one sold from the mobile unit outside the South Stand.

Same goes for burgers - not as good as the ones sold outside the stadium.

Crisps, confectionary overpriced.

So you can tell them this from me - if they are serious about listening to us, get their managers/supervisors down to the stadium wearing a tabard saying "catering manager" or similar and position themselves near the queues.

This is a good post.

I feel like most of the stuff sold on mass is really poor quality and overpriced, especially when considering the mobile stands do it better.

I also think there is nowhere to rest your pint and eat in the concourses (wrong thread I know)

I do think there is a market for quality chilli/curry and rice as there is nothing remotely healthy and everybody just gets fed fatty, unhealthy rubbish. I'm not suggesting a salad bar here, just a option which isn't pastry and burger.

[kingcarr21]

This is a good post.

I feel like most of the stuff sold on mass is really poor quality and overpriced, especially when considering the mobile stands do it better.

I also think there is nowhere to rest your pint and eat in the concourses (wrong thread I know)

I do think there is a market for quality chilli/curry and rice as there is nothing remotely healthy and everybody just gets fed fatty, unhealthy rubbish. I'm not suggesting a salad bar here, just a option which isn't pastry and burger.

Deep down you are suggesting a salad bar aren't you

[Nick]

I also think the club should revise their policy on e-cigarettes.

Football is rubbish when you have a few beers, arrive at the stadium then can't drink or smoke in the stands for an hour and a half.

If you sit in the posh seats you can buy brandy and coke and drink it from a coffee cup container and that doesn't hurt anybody.

[Nick]

Deep down you are suggesting a salad bar aren't you

Yes. I want prawn cocktails.

[Biggus]

For me the Western has great Real Ale and the Barge Burger is quality.  Food at the ground just does not come close.

 

I go to Test Match Cricket a lot and you should take a lesson from there.  They have Real Ale - perhaps on a concession basis.  They know how to serve a lot of people quickly by having a front of house to take money and pass over beer which has been pre-poured by a team at the back.  Probably a ratio of two pourers to one cash taker.  OK there is a queue at lunch/tea etc but it moves quickly and is martialled in lanes - on the concourse.

 

Why not use the old cinema approach to sell things like chocalate and other packaged goods from those trays held with a strap around the neck?

[Guest safetosurfthisbeach]

I am amazed that anyone eats or drinks inside the stadium, or indeed from the various stalls outside.

The food quality is appalling, the prices are way too high and the service is abysmal.

There is a food revolution quietly going on in this country - sadly it seems to be swerving football grounds.