Tigers Catering Feedback.

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Iain
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by Iain »

Being at Sixways last night really opened my eyes as to how bad we've got it at Tigers. And I've been a strong critic of our catering for some time.

The Food Village Kiosk at the end of the Slick stand offered steak and ale suet pudding or faggots with mash, mushy peas and gravy, all home made and a good sized portion for £5. The quality was unbelievably good.

The bars in the Slick Stand were serving guest ales at £3.20 a pint and had a queuing system that saw my mate join a long queue and return with the beers no more than five minutes later.

Cheaper, better quality and better service. And not just a little bit.

How do Tigers get it so wrong?
benn
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by benn »

If i remember rightly, Worcs pre-pour the beer which makes their queuing system work very efficiently. wasn't there some talk of that happening at WR?
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by Tiger_Dad »

Hi Iain - Thank you for the competitor analysis... I agree that the Worcester match day experience is excellent and i particularly love the sound of faggots, mash, mushy peas & a guest ale...

The only difference of course is the attendance. Catering for up to 12000 week on week is very different for catering for 17 to 24k. I'm not sure who does the catering at Worcester but it might be interesting to get a second opinion.

We need to remember that Lindleys have made a significant investment in to the stadium & Tigers and they need to see a return over the term of the contract. Tigers of course also receive a kickback.

The biggest problem it seems is staffing, both in terms of numbers, and retention as there's a significant churn rate in stadia catering. One solution to improve the consistency, quality and service levels would be for Tigers to engage smaller, independent retailers who would put in place their full-time, permanent staff and serve their specialist dishes, like faggots (yum). This would probably improve the match day experience for the average supporter but Tigers would see a big dip in profits (and the CAT stand would have cost the Club a lot more)

So there we have it, the age old dichotomy between balancing product, service and quality against net profits. Get it right, and Tigers could stand shoulder to shoulder with the other company greats like Apple and our village butchers.

Food for thought... :smt002
jack
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by jack »

Exactly that Tiger Dad - smaller catering concerns staffed by their owners/franchisees at Worcs - or at least so it was on my last 3 visits. Same or similar within Glaws walls and similar at Sandy Park (I just loved the Hiawather Ale (Otter!) and enormous pasties! Served by the lady who had been making them at 4am!)
They all cater for smaller crowds than us, but I am not sure that is much of an excuse. The catering outlets have an abundance of modern facilities. It's the old story of outsourcing - not likely to work too well because PROFIT is the driving force. I compare the Tigers present bar staff with a certain County Cricket Club with similar catering arrangements and similar incapable staff. A very short time before the start of a T20 match with the biggest gate of the season a harrassed bar manager was trying to show his very young bar staff how to pour a pint...then he moved on to how to pour a Guinness!!!! Enough said.
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Suz
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by Suz »

I have to agree about the catering at Worcs.

We have stopped eating at Welford Road now due to the queues and food on offer. We have a drink in the Drogs beofre the game and I have a flask of coffee in my bag for half time. For the early kick offs I now take my own lunch (as too early to eat at home to get to a 12.30 game). As the Warriors game was after work and a rush to get there I decided to eat at the ground, with some trepidation (expecting the usual chips and burgers) - I was worried for no reason. I had a lovely jacket potatoe with Chilli. it made a change to the usaul greasy chips and was very good quality. No queues to get it either, quick professional turnaround
Yes I know their ground is smaller, but there is nothing to stop Tigers/Lindleys offering this type of service.
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BJ.
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by BJ. »

Suz wrote:Yes I know their ground is smaller, but there is nothing to stop Tigers/Lindleys offering this type of service.
Yes there is, it's called a smaller profit margin.
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arickett
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by arickett »

down to a price not up to a standard is the issue
Frankers
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by Frankers »

Caterpillar upper stand

Dominoes Pizza
Limp boiled hot dogs
Staff who have no urgency about long queues for drinks

They couldn't get it more wrong

I don't care about local produce or premium products, I just want quick service reasonable prices and a decent snack

Main thing we need is
Controlled queueing for drinks (like at Worcester)
Decent and well priced pastries (pies, sausage rolls, pasties) ask Greggs to tender
jack
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by jack »

Greggs! Now there's a thought!!
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LE18
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by LE18 »

Has anyone offered to buy Wheelbrace a pint during a game and invited him down from hospitality to join us for a burger so he can see what goes on?
Isambard
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by Isambard »

Does he have conact with the hoi polloi these days?

The issue of size of crowd is a non issue. There are plenty of very good caterers who provide excellent food and beverages at many one off outdoor and indoor events. People have degrees and diplomas in this sort of thing and if you get it right you make serious money.

The company who provide Warwickshire members with catering do a decent job and they really don't know if there is going to be play or not depending on the weather. It is not great but it is better than at Tigers.

Leicester is a big enough city for there to be good sources of part time employees. I think, as ever it is down to the way stuff is managed.
Kinoulton
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by Kinoulton »

As I have said before, I went to Leopardstown races (Dublin) where a very big crowd were superbly served by local boys and girls who were employees of the course, trained, uniformed, and organised.

No queues, disappointments or complaints.
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Isambard
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by Isambard »

For the Glaws game the three of us joined three different queues at the beer caravan. The one who got to the bar first bought the round. It was so disorganised and dark. More a mellee than a system. The servers were clueles too.

We didnt bother buying any more.
CP46
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by CP46 »

:smt031 I'm glad I asked the question when I joined the forum the other day about catering and was advised to eat outside - at least eating out will save any upset as I'm coming down from Yorkshire (in the snow by the looks of it) with my daughter for the match - what a match to be my first visit to Welford Rd by the way! - Nando's it is then - some other posts are quite right - there should be sufficient companies out there who can handle match day grounds - having worked the catering industry for 15 years I know there are - having worked at Elland Rd for Leeds Utd (groan I hear you cry - me too) I know what 34,000 looks like trying to get refreshments and even they did it well - good luck for Sunday everyone ! :smt027
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Re: Tigers Catering Feedback.

Post by GT1 »

Enjoy your first trip to Welford Rd CP46/daughter it would be very interesting to read your thoughts though fresh eyes/your perspective etc about the place after your visit, always nice to get another view of things.
Good luck with Nando's it will be busy(can you book?) :smt039
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