Villa Park Catering.....

[Nii Lamptey]

I finally got served pre-match in Trinity Upper with around 10 mins to spare today(!), and then once paid up, taught the young girl serving me to tip the glass when pouring a pint, so that she didn't have to spend another 30-60s mopping up the mess after every drink she was serving! FFS

[astonvilla82]

Please remember these are young kids working the bar and have no experience beforehand,I wasn't perfect at my job when young but learnt on the way, so we need to cut them a bit of slack especially when they are on minimum wages,

[Border villan]

That pathetic apology message from the club only mentions the Everton game, we and the Villa know that the catering offer and service has been unacceptable for several seasons.

[London Villan]

“standards fans are accustomed to” was the phrase. Hardly a ringing endorsement.

[Nii Lamptey]

Please remember these are young kids working the bar and have no experience beforehand,I wasn't perfect at my job when young but learnt on the way, so we need to cut them a bit of slack especially when they are on minimum wages,

Yep, understand that totally - I used to work in bars in my younger days and they're extremely high pressured scenarios for people with little experience of it.

I wasn't in anyway harsh on the girl... I was even questioning to myself whether I should say anything at all. I offered the advice with the utmost respect, in a friendly manner - She seemed to take it the right way, and I'm sure many perfect pints will be poured in the future! 😁

It's a travesty that bar managers don't run new starters through these most basic of skills before they open up. 😔

[V1lla]

Similar experience to Mr Lamptey in the UT today.

Easily a 10 min delay because they’d run out of chips. I mean, fancy people wanting chips before the game!

Agree it’s not the kids’ fault but the contractors. They need to be held to account for their shoddy service.

[artvandelay]

So Levy Restaurants, who manage the catering contract for both Villa and the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, ended up having to give out beer for free for 2 hours at the American Football last night... Not their fault apparently

https://www.middletownpress.com/sports/article/Free-beer-was-right-call-at-Dublin-game-says-17403374.php

[astonvilla82]

Please remember these are young kids working the bar and have no experience beforehand,I wasn't perfect at my job when young but learnt on the way, so we need to cut them a bit of slack especially when they are on minimum wages,

Yep, understand that totally - I used to work in bars in my younger days and they're extremely high pressured scenarios for people with little experience of it.

I wasn't in anyway harsh on the girl... I was even questioning to myself whether I should say anything at all. I offered the advice with the utmost respect, in a friendly manner - She seemed to take it the right way, and I'm sure many perfect pints will be poured in the future! 😁

It's a travesty that bar managers don't run new starters through these most basic of skills before they open up. 😔

👍

[ChicagoLion]

Awful again today. Piss run up could in a brewery not

[Chris Smith]

Holte Suite was much better yesterday, service was quick as there were plenty of staff. They have obviously taken notice of  the criticism.

[SaddVillan]

It needs a major overhaul from start to finish. The aim should be to sell the most stuff to the most people in as short a space of time as possible

1. Simplify the range on offer. The caterers should have metrics on what sells most and is quickest/easiest to sell/serve
2. No fancy coffees - black or white. If you want a skinny decaff Americano with vanilla syrup then bugger off.
3. Bitter, lager or cider. People at the counter just serving, thise behind just pouring
4. Balti or steak and kidney and sausage rolls
5. Card payment only. Pay before you approach the counter and whilst your in the queue. Proper stock control/monitoring will tell if they've got what you want in stock by the time you get to the counter. If not, you can pick something else and no time is lost.
6. Queues to be railed to keep them in order
7. The kids serving food should be doing just that - nothing else.

Pies/chips at one counter.
Beers at another
Coffee/crisps/sugary fizzy stuff at another.

One final point:

If they're trying to serve 500 fans at a counter and it takes just an additional 3 seconds to serve each customer then the last person in the queue will have to wait an extra 25 minutes to get served.

[not3bad]

I hadn't eaten all day so went down to Pietanic well before half time. The queue was long and not moving. They had run out of glasses to put drinks in. There was much frustration but once the glasses arrived they did alright.

[SaddVillan]

Some final observation.

Villa Park is a "legacy" ground., which is why it is so wel liked by visitors "proper" old fashioned"  "full of character" etc. etc.

But therein lies the problem.

The stands have insufficient space beneath them to enable adequate, modern catering to function.

The Witton Lane (aka Herbert's Stand) is probably the worst of the lot. Long, narrow concourse, with little or no room for volumes of food to be stored or cooked/heated and really shitty conditions for the poor kids who work there. And there's not enough room either for the fans waiting to get served or to eat/drink what they've bought or queue for the inadequate toilets.

It needs a major overhaul - preferably dropping and extending back out onto Witton Lane - but that's something for another thread.

[astonvilla82]

Is it only season ticket holders allowed in the holte suite before entering the ground, friends coming from London and hoping to meet him there

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

Got served swiftly in the lower trinity 20 odd minutes before ko but did notice there were no pies on sale, just sold out signs.