The Catering Longside

[colner]

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The catering has been outsourced to Compass, a massive conglomerate. Their subsidiary Chartwells has a dreadful record of feeding poor families.
That they haven’t thought things through to provide food quickly and of the right standard comes as no surprise to me. I will be writing to the club today about our catering problems . There is clear breach of contract to the club, and more importantly the fans.

I thought the catering was done by Levy or are Levy just responsible for the corporate side of things? Either way,if BFC arent seeing a penny other than the contract these companies are paying the club to run it,they wont get owt out of me

[claptrappers_union]

How was it today?

[Boss Hogg]

I refused to buy anything in it after the last 2 games. It looked like many others have too.

[Roger Mellie]

Tried to buy a pie and a cup of tea. As I got to the front of the queue the person behind the counter just walked away without saying a word.. and didn’t come back! As the other queues were too long I gave up.

[Taffy on the wing]

The suspense is killing me.......were they any better?
Was the beer flat?

[Wembley09]

Nobody bothered trying to buy any after the disaster for the past two games.

[Taffy on the wing]

Ahh.

[Tuddybfc]

Beer as bad as ever but service better in the CFS imo

[Swizzlestick]

First time trying today and it will probably be the last. Only wanted a bottle of water but the service is so slow. Part of the problem, weirdly, is them insisting on taking the bottle tops off. Then for one order in front of me, the girl serving just walked off somewhere and didn’t return for the best part of two mins. Gave up as the second half was starting.

Longside upper btw - may have been better elsewhere

[JohnDearyMe]

Better today

[burnleymik]

Much Better in the JML. Extra staff around helping on the new machines.

[Chris]

Service in JHU was awful, queues slightly better, beer flat, they had pies left at half time

[Bob Lorder]

Shocking queues in Bob Lord at H/T for beer, much worse than last year ..

[Goody1975]

Still using milk sachets instead of providing white coffee.

Intense meetings came up with the plan of moving condiments away from tills, brilliant work everybody.

[MT03ALG]

I refuse to buy anything to eat or drink at the ground. Why would you?
Park View etc. supplies much better value and actually accepts CASH !!

[Burnley1989]

Nobody bothered trying to buy any after the disaster for the past two games.

I genuinely didn’t, fancied one as well, stuck with a Fanta

[Lowbankclaret]

Interestingly, we used to buy 3 pies each game.
Now it’s £4.20 a pie we will buy none.

Not sure they are judging the people of Burnley. Don’t mind paying a premium , but £4.20 for a crap Holland’s pie. It can stay n the warmer.

[jdrobbo]

Very polite guy behind the kiosk
Queue was shorter
An extra few kiosks were open

Asked if I wanted extra water: almost everyone was saying ‘yes’ as the cup was only 60% full

Still have to put milk in whilst at the front of queue
Still paying 20p more for an inferior product to last season

An improvement though

[CoolClaret]

Don’t bother with these lot.

Support local businesses in and around the town/turf

[4midable]

Pints before game were superb in JHU
San Miguel tasted amazing after coming in from the sun

Dont bother going down at half time

[NewClaret]

Couldn’t tell you as didn’t bother today. Went to the pub prior and left it at half time. Despite the temptation after Spurs’ second

[Claret Till I Die]

Shocking queues in Bob Lord at H/T for beer, much worse than last year ..

Didn't even bother joining a queue at HT so went without...

[AGENT_CLARET]

I don't understand people paying £6 for a crap pint in a plastic cup and £4:20 for luke warm Hollands pie

[Claretforever]

Queues seemed shorter today pre-match, but I don’t think I’m bothering with it this season. The price hikes are beyond a joke. I’ll aim to eat beforehand or wait. There’s a tipping point with pricing and I think they’ve just gone over it now. We’re a small working class northern town, it’s not London.

[brexit]

Absolutely fantastic in the Lounge - great.

[IanMcL]

Compass wrecked school dinners by minimising the product and stuffing the labour. Looks like they have kept their recipe!

[AlargeClaret]

Queues were less before match and seemed to move pretty quickly at HT ( Longside lower -Mather bar ) There were management “suits” all over the show , multi “ machine helpers “ and a LOT of pre pouring . Appears there was even hot water and milk !

Downsides - a lot simply won’t have bothered and food sales were clearly way down . The display of food looks appalling with only a machine screen to guide you what is for sale ! and the sheer ballache of not being able to “ grab a pie /mars/soft drink “ on your way back out is a poor show . The pricing ie £4.40 for a pie and £6 for San Miguel is getting a bit “ tipping point “ too .

[oswyclaret]

Seemed to be getting their act together,after the shocking performances of the last 2 home games.

I steadfastly refuse to be ripped off, for totally inferior products!

Over £10.00 for a pie and a crap pint ,in a plastic glass.People want their heads feeling for paying it imho.

[dougcollins]

Very polite guy behind the kiosk
Queue was shorter
An extra few kiosks were open

Asked if I wanted extra water: almost everyone was saying ‘yes’ as the cup was only 60% full

Still have to put milk in whilst at the front of queue
Still paying 20p more for an inferior product to last season

An improvement though

Unfortunately, the main reason for the shorter queues was fewer punters.

[jdrobbo]

Unfortunately, the main reason for the shorter queues was fewer punters.

I very much felt the same but wanted to ‘try’ and find some positives.

[Aclaret]

Interesting that Stuart Hunt, one of the Directors was mingling in the JML concourse at HT, asking for opinions......I didn't see him queuing for a pie !

[jdrobbo]

Interesting that Stuart Hunt, one of the Directors was mingling in the JML concourse at HT, asking for opinions......I didn't see him queuing for a pie !

Doug metcalfe too.

Interestingly, for twenty minutes before the teams came out, Russell Ball stood at pitch level, facing the longside and conversing with a gentleman…a fan, guest or steward, I couldn’t tell. I might be completely wrong, but I’m sure it would have offered a better insight to him as fan engagement officer, if he’d ventured onto one of the concourses during that first of two peak service periods during the matchday experience.

[claretgimmer]

In the JHU the lad that served my Bene moved with speed of a striking slug, painfully slow looking like it was a big effort to put the hot water in the cup, my mate had been at at a different kiosk and asked for three potato pies, the girl said she would need to see if they had any and went away to check, came back and said yes they had then had to go back again to get them when he said well I want three !! couldn`t script it really.

[dougcollins]

Kids on minimum wage.

[dougcollins]

Interesting that Stuart Hunt, one of the Directors was mingling in the JML concourse at HT, asking for opinions......I didn't see him queuing for a pie !

Yeah, I spotted him, recognised from the 'Mission' documentary.

[deanothedino]

Doug metcalfe too.

Rovers fan…

[Myk]

In the JHU the lad that served my Bene moved with speed of a striking slug, painfully slow looking like it was a big effort to put the hot water in the cup, my mate had been at at a different kiosk and asked for three potato pies, the girl said she would need to see if they had any and went away to check, came back and said yes they had then had to go back again to get them when he said well I want three !! couldn`t script it really.

JHL at half time for our pie, we went to the kiosk that was on the receipt as usual and after what seemed like a lifetime of her looking for said pie, she came back to say “we’ve none left at this one, maybe try the other one further down”.

Like it was my job to roam kiosks looking for stock I ordered 45 mins or so earlier.

[Nori1958]

Rovers fan…

And ?

[deanothedino]

And ?

Just an observation on his allegiances.

[Nori1958]

Just an observation on his allegiances.

To what point in this discussion

[deanothedino]

To what point in this discussion

You know if you don’t like a post you can just ignore it?

[BillyHamilton9]

Rovers fan…

Not sure about that but he's definitely a B#$@*# alright ...

[dougcollins]

In which universe does having an 'order point' and then a different 'collection point' improve things?

Two visits to procure your purchase?

You don't have to apply too much logic to work out why this may be a problem.

Technology is often applied by people with no practical experience.

[Taffy on the wing]

Kids on minimum wage.

Probably not the brightest either......pay peanuts, get Monkeys who don't give a damn.

[Jamesy]

Probably not the brightest either......pay peanuts, get Monkeys who don't give a damn.

That’s a tad harsh. That could be anyone’s child working there after just leaving school or in full time education, I would say it’s a lack of effective management not the low paid teenager trying to earn a few quid.
It’s been a consistent theme for years at BFC in the commercial, retail, ticketing and catering operations. Poor throughout and even with our new American franchisees it ain’t going to change any time soon.

[Bosscat]

We got a beer in the NU 3 beer concession on Saturday ... yes its dear at pints @ £6 for a San Mig and £5 for a Wainwright, but we were served quickly, the beer was drinkable, and the supervisor asked us about Ben n hot and how many they needed ready (that we didn't have a clue about) which sort of shows they are trying after a dodgy opening start to the season ...

[claptrappers_union]

From my observations not many people at the club actually follow football

[YClaret]

The club have totally failed to read the room both this and last season. They’ll be crypto only next year, you’ll have to order 3 days before the game and a robot will tell you where to go when you get passed your £10 pie.

[Dressinggown]

I'm at a loss how people can't go without food or drink for a couple of hours.

I had drinks in 7 pubs yesterday and a bag of Beef Space Raiders prior to the match.

A pint in the New Brewm was £2.

No need to use the catering on the ground.

[FeedTheArf]

Bring back the meal deal!