Beer Vouchers

Thats only half the issue though.

Slow service, unpreparedness, under staffed bars... etc etc

 

Yep contactless payments and bottles/cans only.

 

Rookery bar was still taking cash v Pool, plus contactless and tokens, so I paid in cash.

I did ask a guy where he bought his tokens and he said from the bar before the game (doesn't that make sense - buying tokens from the same place where you can use them so why not just pay in cash anyway?!!!).

I imagine cash will still be taken but don't take my word for it.

As an aside, even using tokens the bar staff were completely slow and *****.

 

All points re. there being an ongoing problem regarding the efficiency of the catering staff and their operation agreed with. Vouchers ain't gonna solve that.

Last night I joined the queues under the SEJ at the Rookery end bang on h.t.. I was still waiting to get served when Capoue scored. I was in a cash only queue which seemed to move along at the same pace as the other three or four queues surprisingly. i.e. snail's pace.

What was particularly annoying was that the second (smaller) bar there wasn't even open. There was an opportunity right there to have some shorter queues for a lower profile fixture which was foregone. I got a lame excuse about 'more having turned up than expected'. Not good enough. Just staff all the outlets always. Give the fans a break.

In the past I've been both critical (and occasionally complimentary) about the catering operation. Last night it was all negative though. No pre-poured pints (which they've done sometimes in the past and has worked). So why not continue with it then? It's not just a question of which team turn up on the pitch. The same would seem to apply to which catering team's gonna turn up as well.

B.t.w. The vouchers idea is to phase out cash transactions for beers at h.t.. That's all. So whatever becomes apparent in the detail that is its purpose. Easier to do the cash bit before the match when it's quieter than at h.t.. And you can buy as many as you like and use them for as many matches as you like.

All of the above critique will be fed back to the club later this p.m.

 

SEJ last night, half time. Voucher bar - practically unused. Normal bar - painfully slow, ran out of pies, generally crap. The problem IMO is not systems, cash/vouchers etc - it is staff. They are ******* useless. If they worked for me they'd last half a day (because I like to give people a chance). If they worked in a pub or restaurant they'd last half an hour. No urgency whatsoever, everything done ponderously as if they are trying to get paid for the least amount of work that they can do. Can't add up, can't work the tills.

Solution - piecework. Pay them per pint/pie served. There are kids out there who will do this (look at Deliveroo for example who my daughter is working for). If the club/catering company makes £1 a pint, pay the staff 25p a pint - they would sell way more than enough to cover the loss of margin, everyone would be a lot happier.

 

In the Rookery one person wanted a chicken pie - the attendant went over and looked and came back and said there were none. They then asked three other assistants if they knew where they might be - by end there were 4 people staring into an empty glass container scratching their heads rather than pouring pints.

It was so poor it was slightly amusing

 

Yeah, bought a token for a laugh (and mainly as I thought it was the only way to get a beer at half time.

Problem was, if it is supposed to be that way, they didn't enforce it. Long lines with people paying in change for beer, so there was nothing gained by it. The 'supervisor' seemed a little clueless sadly. He called out, 'anyone got a token?', I appeared to be the only one and waited the same duration of time to be served.

Not sure it can be enforced without being super brave so can't see it lasting.

 

I asked the very young looking girl who sold me a token if she got a commission for selling them and she answered yes (as the 'supervisor' came over to explain how it worked) so I guess it's in their interest to try and sell them, but realistically how many people are going to say yes if the option is there to not have to?

 

I've got that King Canute feeling here. A 'hip flask' is sounding increasingly attractive. But a precis of all your comments has gone to the club via the Roadie feedback as promised. So we'll see.

But the club has contracted out the catering so can only go so far in trying to improve it beyond looking for a new contractor.

This lot are the contractor at a number of stadia. Beats me how that's possible. But there you go.

 

There is another advantage to the caterers. With vouchers there is less security risk unless there is collusion between voucher sellers and bar staff.

 

The token initiative might get better with a bit of time. At the moment, do gain a token for a half time beer means that person must be in the stadium using the facilities or at least wishing to queue up previously. What if you only want a beer at half time and not pre-match? The result is you'll still get paying customers who aren't using the token initiative.

I would support a similar scheme whereby ST cards are multi-purposed. Supporters can 'top up' their card with funds and this can be used anywhere within the Stadium - kiosks, club shop etc. Be interesting to know if this would quicken things up or not. I suspect the same issue will arise - the effectiveness of staff. For what it's worth, there probably isn't enough of them.

 

They had this for a few years after the season cards were launched. It was presumably ditched because not enough people used it.

 

Thanks for feeding back to the club Kelso. On the point of contracting out, provided that the club have specified that the staff should be properly trained and supervised and be able to deal with the rise in demand at half time etc... the club should still be able to deal with poor performance through the normal contract management procedures.

 

I think this will go the way of pre-ordered half time pints.....there was an idea which never caught on

...look out, I'm off on a mini rant. Why is the catering so cr@p? Why are the food options reminiscent of awful school dinners? Why can't we have a decent hog roast? Pizza slices? Or as someone else has suggested, BK and McDonalds franchises in the ground?...or a waitrose food to go?

A few decent beers wouldn't go amiss, I'm ok with the cider but everything else is pony..and bring back Guinness

Rant over..its been a long day and I'm I'm just a bit tired...

 

Fair rant. Rantings have been passed on.

 

Quite. Passed on too. Probably for the third time.

 

...and possibly illegal?

 

But it will be built on a business model of "open for around 30 days a year".

I thought a cheap way to tray and do something is "rent" something to Oaklands/West Herts college (notably their catering/hospitality course). It could be built into the course as some sort of FMCG-type catering.

Anyone used this?

 

Most certainly. Bummer isn't it?

 

Going back to my earlier post about Warrington Wolves using the voucher/token scheme for beers, they also have a hog roast in the South Stand too! Obviously way ahead in their thinking

 

Already a moany letter to the Wobby about the token scheme. Sure fire proof it's effective and going to work a charm if the whingers are all over it.

 

Before the game I buy a pint and a token. At half time I use the token therefore no hassle with money. Hand over a token and a pint is handed straight back. Makes sense to me.

 

Problem is that taking money was never the issue. Having awfully slow staff who didn't know what they were/are doing is.

So buying a token from the same place as you would be paying anyway makes no sense, unless you just don't trust those staff to handle cash.

As has been repeatedly said, improve the staff serving efficiency and you've no need for silly token schemes.

 

As Warrington has said it's worked up there. Improving staff efficiency is essential but the tokens can assist in that too.

 

Didn't work so well today. No beer pre-poured, seemed to be a lack of staff and as mentioned on this thread some very simple people serving.

 

In the sir G.T. Stand the kiosk I went to at 1430 today didn't have any draught as they had run out?
Why? At the Liverpool game they had a sheet on the counter giving details of meal deals, shame the staff hadn't been briefed as they had't a clue when we asked for one of them!

 

At 2:30 in the central bar behind the UGT all but one of the Carlsberg taps were covered again, why is there a lack of preparation?

 

Bought a beer and 2 tokens before the game and was served by someone who slowly counted the 3 £1 coins I gave her, was completely unaware of the 10% discount offer (and then didn't know how to apply it), gave me the wrong change and forgot to give me my tokens before trying to serve the next person. Do these people have any type of interview to check they're even slightly competent?

 

Why would they need interviewing? They've probably got their A stars from school and are university-bound, I'm sure they can count, can't they?

 

The lady in the rookery bar yesterday said that the main end bar (nearest the GT stand) will keep accepting all forms of payment.