Catering issues at ICT [official]

[Scotty]

Darren from ICT has contacted us and asked us to run a poll/survey about the fans' concerns over the Lindley Catering services within the Caledonian Stadium. We have added a few general areas of concern as a poll (which is multiple choice so you can choose more than one answer) but would ask that those with issues please detail them clearly and concisely below.

This is your chance to list your concerns or comments about the catering in an official capacity and have Darren raise them with the company. Darren is keen to listen to the grumbles and sit down with the company and see if they can be addressed.

Please note: As this is an 'official' request from the club, we want to make sure it stays on-topic and within the range of the question being asked. Because of this we will summarily delete any comments that are off-topic or seek to drag the topic away from the question.

• If you have an issue please show it in your response by typing ISSUE near the top of your response.
  
• If you have a suggestion on how to improve one or more aspects, please show it in your response by typing IDEA near the top of your response.
  

The original "who ate all the pies thread" that has led to this action by the club can be viewed here

http://community.caleythistleonline.com/in...showtopic=15885

NOTE: This topic will only remain open for issues/ideas until FRIDAY 12th MARCH @ 12PM (UK Time) as Darren meets with the area manager of Lindley that afternoon.

[Alex MacLeod]

I've been to most of the grounds in Scotland that use Lindley catering and the same problems arise at all of them.

• ISSUE: They frequently run out of food.
  
• ISSUE: The quality of the food is diabolical considering the price being charged.
  
• ISSUE: They hire very young adults with little or no experience and expect them to cope during the fifteen minute rush.
  
• ISSUE: They are extremely slow at serving.
  

I could go on but, as I said, this is not unique to TCS. This is the way they operate at other grounds. Some folk complained about the quality of pies pre-Lindley but in all honesty they were far superior. And so was the service.

Edited March 8, 2010 by Scotty
edited to use format that is easier to read for the various issues

[old caley girl]

ISSUE - Counters staffed by very young staff with little supervision or customer service skills. Including the time it takes to serve each customer and lack of a smile or manners. Already posted what happened to a young boy who paid for his pie at Partick game and did not receive it or an apology.

ISSUE - Quality of produce on offer. They run out of items early especially the vegetarian option (macaroni pie). Water often lukewarm for hot drinks.

ISSUE - Prices high for the merchandise offered. I personally would be willing to pay these prices for a decent coffee or pie for instance.

ISSUE - Not opening the counter at the Bridge side last home game which made the queues under the main stand even longer.

ISSUE - no room to swing a cat under the main stand at busy times due to queues.

IDEA - Use local butchers for the pies etc. Buy an old fashioned tea urn for hot water for the hot drinks.

IDEA - Make sure there is a responsible adult supervising the young staff (as there was when Linleys started)

IDEA - pie runners or similar to keep the queues shorter

IDEA - really glad Darren is listening re this but maybe someone in authority could come down and see the problems for themselves and speak to the fans affected. Not everyone comes on cto.

I know I was one that moaned about the old crowd but honestly it was much better. At least they could raise a smile, worked quickly and the food was better.

Edited March 8, 2010 by old caley girl

[Sorted]

Issue - Is this not a case of closing the barn door after the horse has bolted?

Idea - Ask your customers what changes they would wish prior to making change?

Edited March 8, 2010 by Sorted

[Kirishima]

IDEA Pie runners. This idea was brought up many moons ago because a lot of the issues were that elderly or those with mobility issues were unable to get any refreshments. This is a serious matter, and although it was brought up in the defunct BB, nothing was ever tried. Pie runners/Bovril/Tea/Coffee runners could be waiting in the wings for 3.45pm and set off around the stadium. This would allow the queues to be reduced, keep people in their seats, increase sales and most importantly, help those with mobility issues.

[caleykid1994]

ISSUE - Prices, far too extortionate

ISSUE - Quality, food is cold by the time you eat them and burgers are too small(or buns are too big)

ISSUE & IDEA - Queues, terrible way that its set up and should be barriers inside to control and direct people to and around the food kiosk.

[donald]

Issue - the prices are too high for the quality of goods supplied.

Issue - the service is far slower than it used to be and there is no room for people to queue in the main stand.

Issue - why could I not get a hot coffee 10 minutes into the second half on a freezing cold February afternoon.

[tokelyisvictorious]

ISSUE - Massive queues put me off trying to get anything at half time.

ISSUE - Prices have gone up, quality gone down.

IDEA - Agree with the runner idea, would reduce queues.

[caleymore]

IDEA. Drinks machines for those not wishing to purchase food.

[cal234ey]

ISSUE - The queues are just too long! I was in a queue once that was so long I missed 2 goals which btw were both ours.

IDEA - Just have a drinks machine away from the main queue that way anybody who just wants a drink doesn't have to increase the size of the main queue

[MissICT]

Issue: The price of tea and coffee has increased too much

Issue: the last time my mum got a coffee it wasn't hot enough

[Dan Clark]

i agree prices to high and it takes far to long to get food. i had an issue where one sat i got a coke and when i got to my seat i found there was no syrup left and the coke tasted of fizzy water. rather than going back down as game was about to start i waited till the end of the game where i told them and i was told i would get one free next time. couple of weeks later i ordered a pie and told them about the coke but was told i could not get it because the supervisor at the time did not know anything about it. because of the queue behind me i did not want to hold things up more so i ended up buying my coke which i was not happy about. its not about the money its just the first one was not drinkable and i told them and was told i would get another next time. when the time came i didnt get one.

[DornochJAGGIE]

They close the shop too early.

Too expensive, for the quality of the pies.

Slow.

Not enough choice.

[gordyfromsneck]

ISSUE: Price. The most basic commodity a cup of tea, has risen by 40p or so, with no discernible improvement. There is no extra milk on the stand opposite like there used to be.

CHOICE: As, a vegetarian, I expect a limited choice, but imagine my disappointment when I found out they were sold out of Maca Pies, half an hour before kickoff. I never asked again.

ISSUE: Queues. We go down and join the queue with little expectation of being served. Not like the old days, whan at least you had an outside chance.

ALSO: What are the cost benefit justifications of employing kids from Edinburgh. Can we not keep their no doubt meagre wages in the Highlands.

[MissICT]

A drinks machine would be good however it would probably be against Sfl rules as we are not allowed to take bottles in to the game as it could be classed as being a weapon.

However a couple of seasons ago when I was at an English friendly I got a drink from a machine and was allowed to take it to my seat as they took the lids of before you returned to your seat so they were made less dangerous.

[AJS]

The queues are often long and spread out. Makes it a real test of endeavour and effort just to get to the toilet and take a freakin leak!

And agree with Dornoch that they shut too early and are overpriced, they also tend to run out of stuff quickly.

Edited March 8, 2010 by ajsict92

[12th Man]

ISSUE - The queues are just too long! I was in a queue once that was so long I missed 2 goals which btw were both ours.

IDEA - Just have a drinks machine away from the main queue that way anybody who just wants a drink doesn't have to increase the size of the main queue

I have leapt from my seat on the half time whistle and hastily made my way down to the pie que and stood there for half an hour, thinking to myself why am I still in the que in the second half, I must get served any minute now surely, I have a compelling urge not to give up on the time already wasted in the que and foolishly stand there like an idiot whilst missing a good game of football, well I'm refusing to do that again, I just buy chips now and get served by people hungry for my money. The highlighted above is the main reason why every single fan is at TCS, the pie shop comes second to this, fans are willing to spend more money at the stadium but are being prohibited from doing so.

The problems.

1,The food is more expensive but there is nothing to justify the price hike,

2,The staff are too slow

3,Total gridlock, all access routed blocked of significantly hindered.

4,No guidance as where to stand

5,Health and safety issue,

Have a chat with the manager and see what he proposes to do to resolve the problems that are occurring.

Hes the manager, he should be motivation his team, not walking around with pie trays trying to force his way through congested crowds.

I would suggest hanging a writing board on the back wall, If its out of stock its up on the board, always look here first before ordering.

Get some queueing poles with the ribbons, and have a snakes and ladders queueing approach like at passport control at larger airports, with 2 entry points and enough space to swiftly leave the serving area too, for crowd control.

The above will improve safety and allow more access around the area.

1 team leader who makes sure there is hot water in the urn, the pies are getting restocked and writing up on the board etc,

Motivate the youngsters, get them switched on,create teams, 1 on the till who does cash and drinks and a half time helper on pies, give them bonus targets on top of their pay and an extra bonus for the best 2 pairs with the highest till roll when cashing up, this creates less wastage so all the bonuses are created by selling the food that would have been binned.

Edited March 9, 2010 by 12th Man

[donald]

I presume the club changed the caterers to make more money from them but from the responses on here, this will backfire as a lot of people I know (including me) will just not bother going to the catering stand now as it is grossly overpriced and takes way too long to get served.

Last game I went down 5 minutes before the half time whistle and still took about 15 minutes to get served an expensive cup of lukewarm coffee :D

[Georgeios]

I stopped buying pies and snacks years ago because for me im there to watch 90 mins of football, not leave my seat 10 mins before half time to get a pie, so i honstly dont even know how much or what the pies are like, but im put off getting one as from my seat i can see the door to the pie shop and there is always a que from about 10 before half time till 10 mins after... so i ticked que.

I miss telford street because you could still see the game in the que.

Edited March 9, 2010 by Georgeios

[Libero]

Out of interest can anyone remember prices of items at the shop at present?

[Scotty]

I have deleted the 3 comments regarding TV monitors showing the game because they are topic drift.

TV monitors have nothing to do with the service of catering provided by Lindley and although it is an excellent idea, floated in the past, it is an idea for general improvements not improvements by the catering supplier.

As noted in the first post, we are trying to keep this thread specific to issues and ideas surrounding the provision of the catering supplied by Lindley.

Lets stay on topic please.

[Georgeios]

To be far, if we had the TV's in the area, i would maybe go get a pie, thus drumming up a little more trade and over the whole course of the game it can at least be viewed.

[Scotty]

whilst that may be true, and I agree that its a good idea personally, the TVs would be supplied by ICT as part of the infrastructure of the stadium and therefore is for another discussion, not a discussion that is specifically about Lindley. If someone wants to start another thread about this kind of thing, fair enough, but as noted in the original post we are keeping this discussion intentionally narrow and on topic.

[donald]

To be far, if we had the TV's in the area, i would maybe go get a pie, thus drumming up a little more trade and over the whole course of the game it can at least be viewed.

While it may help with regard to missing the action, putting TVs in the catering area is not doing anything to address the dreadfully slow service or the extortionate prices being charged.

[Bridge_Ender]

Not really got any comment regarding quality and prices as generally I feel that at most grounds quality is low and prices are relatively high and have come to realise this is the norm and the trend is not going to be bucked at ICT in the near future. Not even a criticism of the club, just an acceptance that any situation where there is a such a captive market as a football stadium crowd this scenario is going to exist...

Issue

Queue management and speed of service are both an absolute shambles, bordering on the downright ridiculous. The Ayr game, with the West side of the ground closed for whatever reason, was simply unacceptable as it was impossible to move from the North Stand to even the toilets, never mind even get a cup of coffee or something hot to eat.

Blatantly obvious that staff are untrained and not supervised. If there was a supervisor present they certainly were not doing their job.

Idea

Dedicated drinks kiosks at either side of the North stand, perhaps where the portaloos stand just now? I'm not too bothered about pies etc. when going to a game but do like to get a coffee or hot drink, but I'm usually put off by the queues.

Introduce a queueing system which is managed by stewards and perhaps put down a couple of flow barriers which you see at other grounds to control access and egress from the serving hatch.

Get some staff who know how to work and a Supervisor/Manager who is interested in making sure they do. From the evidence of the Ayr game in the North side of the Main stand it was a gaggle of young girls having a chat and occasionally serving while literally hundreds of people waited.