Villa Park Catering.....

[pauliewalnuts]

I used to sometimes work at St Andrews when we were away from home, & there it was much harder because they literally didn’t stop eating for the whole game!

I bet swiping up all the drool after the match took hours, though.

[Ad@m]

My mate tried to buy a coffee and a bar of chocolate last night - tried three different kiosks in the Lower Trinity and failed... didn't have any, pies only, only one place to buy a coffee with about 30 people in the queue.

I tried the same in the Lower Holte.

What used to be a coffee bar last season is now a cold drinks only kiosk.  But they do still serve chocolate.

Across the concourse is a kiosk you can buy hot drinks  but they don't serve chocolate.

It's like they're designing it deliberately to not sell stuff!

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

Upper Trinity last night, went to the counter, asked the guy if he was serving and he said he was, I asked for a coke zero, he took the top off and gave it to me and asked if I wanted anything else, my Wife asked for a tray of chips, he told me he couldnt server those and I had to go to the next counter (I could reach the counter from where I was, as could he), under no circumstances would he budge, the next queue had about 20 people in it, I said they are only there (pointing at them) he flaty refused to get them, said he wasnt allowed. We got in the next queue and waited and waited, when we eventually got to the front the girl said, I saw you in that queue, why didnt you get them there it would have saved you waiting, when I told her, she said something to a guy behind her who in turn went to the guy I first spoke to and asked him why he was only selling bottles of pop, his reply, I havent been shown how to serve anything else.

Obviously a bit of initiative was out of the question.

[dave.woodhall]

There was a mini-FCG tonight and they're still aware of the problems of catering and the turnstiles last night.

[Risso]

There was a mini-FCG tonight and they're still aware of the problems of catering and the turnstiles last night.

They seem to have been saying that for years about the catering, and then not doing anything about it. Did they have any explanations as to why it's so bad, year after year?

[Drummond]

Why not ask all the bars in town to provide a load of staff, at an inflated rate of pay... People who know how to deal with the public, how to pour a pint, serve food etc. With the prices at the Villa, they'd easily cover costs, plus would get served more quickly.

There are something like 15 Wetherspoons in Birmingham, so get them to do it (loathesome as he is, at least we'd get served).

[Dave P]

I used to sometimes work at St Andrews when we were away from home, & there it was much harder because they literally didn’t stop eating for the whole game!

Speaking of small heath, imagine the meltdown on here if these were our beer taps https://twitter.com/_The72/status/1610586022512922624.

Or if they looked like this https://twitter.com/MikeyJC_/status/1610644656395808771

Or if we got served burgers like this https://twitter.com/simo_13/status/1610622312264486914

[dave.woodhall]

There was a mini-FCG tonight and they're still aware of the problems of catering and the turnstiles last night.

They seem to have been saying that for years about the catering, and then not doing anything about it. Did they have any explanations as to why it's so bad, year after year?

They're working on it. They're always working on it.

[LeeB]

There was a mini-FCG tonight and they're still aware of the problems of catering and the turnstiles last night.

They seem to have been saying that for years about the catering, and then not doing anything about it. Did they have any explanations as to why it's so bad, year after year?

"We are aware we're constantly punching you in the face and are looking into ways to improve it"

[Risso]

There's loads they could potentially do, and it would would probably cost less than they spend on somebody like Bednarek who never, ever plays.

- Have a consultant come in and review the offerings and see first hand what all the problems are
- Invest in new infrastructure such as rapid pour drinks machines
- Pay the agencies more for better trained staff
- Look at ways at utilising outside space

[AV82EC]

There's loads they could potentially do, and it would would probably cost less than they spend on somebody like Bednarek who never, ever plays.

- Have a consultant come in and review the offerings and see first hand what all the problems are
- Invest in new infrastructure such as rapid pour drinks machines
- Pay the agencies more for better trained staff
- Look at ways at utilising outside space

Having worked with numerous catering consultants down the years I think they’d be shocked or maybe not at the standard of catering operations at the Villa. The issue for me is twofold. One we haven’t got the infrastructure and associated space to run more than the most basic of services and two we obviously pay shit wages to casual staff as part of the deal with the provider which means you exacerbate the problem of crap infrastructure with people who don’t really give much of a shit and are really poorly trained. It’s the perfect storm of circumstances which won’t be fixed until someone at the club takes responsibility for it. Yes Mr Purslow which of your middle management minions isn’t holding the provider properly to account or at least formulating a plan to try and improve what is an absolute fucking shambles.

[LeeB]

They built the Gas Lamp lounge in the North Stand which is lovely, but I bet it's hardly used. Might have been more cost effective to use the sapce for extra catering on matchday.

[Pat Mustard]

There's loads they could potentially do, and it would would probably cost less than they spend on somebody like Bednarek who never, ever plays.

- Have a consultant come in and review the offerings and see first hand what all the problems are
- Invest in new infrastructure such as rapid pour drinks machines
- Pay the agencies more for better trained staff
- Look at ways at utilising outside space

I think to be fair to the club they are trying things.  The investment going onto the Lower Holte facilities will be worth it, the self-service screen thing for beer seemed to be working more efficiently this week and they had the beerjet fast pour machine working (not sure if this was a demo before a permanent installation).  The food situation wasn't much better, but hopefully the contactless thing going in over the next few weeks will have an impact on that and then presumably whatever works best will be going in to the other stands for next season.

The staffing issue is the biggest problem and I don't see how you ever get round recruiting, training and retaining hundreds of people for a job that essentially lasts a few hours every couple of weeks regardless of pay.  The solution will be automating the process as much as possible so less staff are required, for which the Lower Holte is the guinea pig at the moment.

[RamboandBruno]

There's loads they could potentially do, and it would would probably cost less than they spend on somebody like Bednarek who never, ever plays.

- Have a consultant come in and review the offerings and see first hand what all the problems are
- Invest in new infrastructure such as rapid pour drinks machines
- Pay the agencies more for better trained staff
- Look at ways at utilising outside space

I think to be fair to the club they are trying things.  The investment going onto the Lower Holte facilities will be worth it, the self-service screen thing for beer seemed to be working more efficiently this week and they had the beerjet fast pour machine working (not sure if this was a demo before a permanent installation).  The food situation wasn't much better, but hopefully the contactless thing going in over the next few weeks will have an impact on that and then presumably whatever works best will be going in to the other stands for next season.

The staffing issue is the biggest problem and I don't see how you ever get round recruiting, training and retaining hundreds of people for a job that essentially lasts a few hours every couple of weeks regardless of pay.  The solution will be automating the process as much as possible so less staff are required, for which the Lower Holte is the guinea pig at the moment.

Agree that it was better in lower holte on Wednesday, i pre ordered a half time pint before the game and got it within a minute of half time, quite novel having the whole of half time to drink my pint.

I think more automation combined with investment in staffing, training, pay etc is the way forwards and some of that is in Villas control, by only using catering companies who commit to this. There is no reason a multi million pound company/organisation can’t commit to this.

[trinityoap]

Perhaps if everyone was allowed to bring in up to six cans .......