Villa Park Catering.....

[Nii Lamptey]

What. The. Actual. Fuck!

It's never been great, but today in the Upper Trinity was woeful! I arrived about an hour before kickoff, and fans were not only queuing from the counter to the back of the concourse, but having to circle round in a snail shell shaped line?

HOW can it be so bad?? There have been so many advancements in event catering in recent years, our club seems stuck in the dark ages - Why has it not been addressed over the summer?

With the constant demand for beer pre-match/HT, why are they not dedicating 2-3 staff from each bar for constant 'pint pulling duties' and then the remaining staff just have to hand them over and take the money? Cider seemed even worse - They were having to grab cans from the fridge, open them and manually pour them into pint glasses?!  WTF??

Anyone know if it is Villa that control catering, or has it been 'outsourced' to a third party? Whoever controls it, it needs addressing urgently as it's fucking terrible!

[ozzjim]

It is outsourced.

[frank black]

I just can’t be arsed to get e pre match pint at VP. Even worse now if I fancy a Coffee (no chance since they relegated the coffee to a small single line kiosk. I get a pint and eat elsewhere and I’m sure there are many like me…

[Meanwood Villa]

I very rarely engage with in stadium catering because it's crap but I tried to buy some water at half time today and gave up. Truly abysmal.

[olaftab]

Anyone know if it is Villa that control catering, or has it been 'outsourced' to a third party? Whoever controls it, it needs addressing urgently as it's fucking terrible!

Even if it's outsourced it's Villa in control and therefore accountable for quality, quantity and service.

[Dave P]

The beer in the Holte suite before the game was like dishwater. Plus the place is still understaffed.

[ozzjim]

I very rarely engage with in stadium catering because it's crap but I tried to buy some water at half time today and gave up. Truly abysmal.

Whoever manages the contract at VP should be doing a full review with the supplier come Monday am by the sounds of it. Catering contracts are bloody difficult beats to get right, but knowing the weather forecast and the number of people coming to the stadium it shouldn't have been difficult to mobilise something to cater for it.  Seen a lot of Everton fan comments about it too.

Having been to the new Spurs stadium over the summer,  their outlets and catering makes VP look like something from prehistoric times. 

[dave.woodhall]

It might have helped if they'd used a bit of sense and let people take water inside.

[Gareth]

Doug Ellis Upper is always poor, the selection is abysmal and the staff are Fawlty Towers poor but the cans thing was bizarre….50 yard queues because every can ordered had to be poured and none of the staff knew how to pour a beer…nothing pre-poured.  Cans in this days and age :-)

The concourse up there is too narrow to be clogged up with people queueing but they don’t seem to care about maximising profits.

As Dave said had people been allowed to take water in that would have been sensible.

[Beard82]

Unreal - wanted to get water - gave up after queuing for 20 mins and still only being half way up the concorse

[London Villan]

Worse than ever today, which is some achievement.

[richtheholtender]

No curry sauce in the holte. Putting that to one side, one of the bottle stands was closed and there didn't appear to be any increase in speed of service. We all knew what the weather was doing, so access to drinks was quite important.

[London Villan]

Ironically, the kiosks were shut by the time of the second half drinks break.

[Legion]

It might have helped if they'd used a bit of sense and let people take water inside.

I took two bottles in. The contents of my bag were inspected just before entry and they were fine with it.

[dave.woodhall]

It might have helped if they'd used a bit of sense and let people take water inside.

I took two bottles in. The contents of my bag were inspected just before entry and they were fine with it.

They were afraid you'd drown them. I saw someone not allowed to take a bottle in.