West Upper Service

isawalonsonplay

Does anyone else find the standard of the service in the West Upper wholly unacceptable? I have sat there since it was built and to begin with everything was fine. Over the years things have got worse season after season. it came to the point last night where I arrived to the ground ten minutes before kick off and was second in line. I missed the first two minutes of the game. I have to leave my seat at least four minutes before the end of the first half to ensure I get a beer at half time (otherwise you will NEVER get served if you leave with everyone else when the whistle goes) and was told last night when I went that they had given all of the beer away to another part of the ground as they needed it. They have different staff almost every week and god knows where they get them from as they have about 3 1/2 brain cells between them. I'm not one to moan at all but sitting in the most expensive part of the ground I expect a better service. Cue the CL clique saying no one is EVER happy on here and we always have something to moan about but I really needed to see what other peoples views on this are. Is it like this in other areas of the ground?

Addickforlife

Getting a half-time beer in NU is absolutely awful.

Off_it

The service was always pretty poor, mainly due to the lack of outlets and the design of the stand and lack of space. Considering how many people sit in the WU these days you would've thought it would have got a bit better, but obviously not.

RodneyCharltonTrotta

Addickforlife said:

Getting a half-time beer in NU is absolutely awful.

Agreed. It's been debated on here before and I don't understand why otherwise astute business people who run football clubs across the country are seemingly happy to forgo probably an extra few grand each game by not being in a position to meet demand.

Not rocket science and makes me laugh that most grounds ive been to including ours seem unable to implement a system whereby they can take the dosh that punters are more than happy to part with.

I think probably a handful of us mere mortals could probably devise such as system on a beer mat in 5 minutes that would be an improvement on now.

Alan sugar wouldn't be amused.

Gravesend_Addick

Gave up trying to get a beer at half time in NU a couple of seasons back. To be honest I suspect it's the same all over the ground. It just take too long & the service/staff is shocking.

JT

Is the kiosk next to Wimpy at the NE end of the upper north open again yet? Ridiculous having to queue up past that whilst it sits there closed. Just make that a beer only queue.

se9addick

Thought everyone in the upper West had their butlers nip out 10 mins before half time to get their champagne and caviar ready !

But yes, us commoners in the North Upper also suffer terrible service too.

cafcfan

I can't say as I'm surprised that getting a drink a few minutes before kick-off or at half-time is difficult. It's really a big problem - but everywhere -that's why theatres call them crush bars, after all.
At Wembley for the Olympic footie the service was a shambles, with long queues and they had run out of food altogether - if they can't get it right what chance have we got?
It seems to me that it takes a certain length of time to pour a beer and a certain length of time to take the money and give the change. And that's without adding pies, crisps and other consumables into the mix. Employ more staff and they wouldn't fit into the kiosk or be able to operate the tills. And you're not going to get graduates looking for that extra special 2 hrs once every two weeks type job are you? So I think you are being a bit cruel to the staff. I've yet to find one in the Valley concessions that has been anything other than polite, friendly and helpful.
What do you think the answer is?
It seems to me that the only possible way forward is to embrace technology. You know the type of thing - you use your smart phone to scan a barcode in your programme and the bar gets a message that you have already paid for your pint, they can get it ready for you and put a sticker on it. You scan it again and it accepts you're the buyer and away you go -sorted. Only trouble is the beer will cost about £10 a pint rather than £3.50 so no one will buy one anyway.

Vinnie V.

Beer only queue and hot drinks queue. When someone asks for 6 Cappuccinos and it takes ten minutes to get them. I wouldn't mind but they must taste awful out of a machine. Or worse when the coffee machine breaks down and they get the kettle out. SERVE OTHER PEOPLE WHILE YOU ARE WAITING FOR IT TOO BOIL YOU IDIOTS. Or better still just say sorry the machine is broken no hot drinks.

DickVanDykesDiscoDog

JT said:

Is the kiosk next to Wimpy at the NE end of the upper north open again yet? Ridiculous having to queue up past that whilst it sits there closed. Just make that a beer only queue.

the one in the corner was closed last night
can we have queues for hairy bears as well as just beers ?

Addickforlife

Also they have about 3 people serving for 4 or 5 queues. It really does need sorting out.

Markive

I'm north upper, so can't comment on the west service, but I share your pain; last season we often found that you had to leave before the 40minute mark to ensure not missing any of the second half.

At Birmingham they pre-poured pints!! :O

I left around 41/42mins asked for 2pints of fosters, the fella turned round behind him, picked up 2x pints of the shelf [that his colleague was stacking with fresh pints] and span round to deliver them immediately to me, I was stunned and had to stand there like a lemon waiting for the half-time whistle to blow, pints in hands.

We tried pre-pouring last season, or was it the season before? However it was disastrous, there was not enough initiative amongst the pourers to recognise when it might be a good idea to stop or slow down. Instead of only pre-pouring just before half time or for the first few minutes, it was 10-15mins into the break and the queues had died down considerably, yet they were still pouring like their life’s depended on it, result was much wastage.

Perhaps they could try again but this time employ someone with a masters degree in management studies to stand at each bar who would instruct the pourers when to stop pre-pouring, give him a whistle!.. or just set a time of when to cease pre-pouring activities.

/rant.

richie8

If you want anything to do with common sense keep graduates right out the way!

Jints

It's amasing how poor it is. It's almost as if the catering department's mission statement is to minimise profits and annoy customers as much as possible.

isawalonsonplay

It cant be difficult to have the pints pre poured like at most other grounds or even half poured. Team that up with beer queue and food queue and you have your answer. Having trained staff would also help as none of them know how to use the tills. The whole thing is a joke.

DickVanDykesDiscoDog

bear

isawalonsonplay said:

It cant be difficult to have the pints pre poured like at most other grounds or even half poured. Team that up with beer queue and food queue and you have your answer. Having trained staff would also help as none of them know how to use the tills. The whole thing is a joke.

bear queues and food queues will only lead to disaster !!!
bears tend not to be very polite when it comes to waiting in turn

simples101

Quite agree. Always sit in the WU and I'm constantly amazed that the club seem happy not to serve people who want to spend money!
Just have the beer pre-poured (and know when to stop!), it really can't be that difficult can it??

Im_Jordans_Cousin

isawalonsonplay said:

It cant be difficult to have the pints pre poured like at most other grounds or even half poured. Team that up with beer queue and food queue and you have your answer. Having trained staff would also help as none of them know how to use the tills. The whole thing is a joke.

How do I get my Pie and a Pint? Queue 2ce?

Robbo on the wing

Work out what the profit for a specific area generates (i.e. North Upper).
Use this figure to offer francises for each of the units.
Seeing as we can't organise, let someone who can.
Sorted.

Bedsaddick

North upper is dreadfull . You can start queuing five minutes before half time and still be there when the second half kicks off. The club obviously don't care because we have been complaining about it for years.

LenGlover

Is it an unreasonable expectation to want to watch the whole of the match you've paid to see and have food and drink at half time?

I suspect it is.

CatAddick

I agree it's very poor. Walked up to WU wing bar last night just before 7pm to start of the season with a pie and a pint and my heart sank when I saw that the guy who appears to be in charge (and tbh is a good 'server') was training yet another new bunch how to work the till. Oh well, another few weeks of random prices (and occasionally random pies ;-). I know it's VERY scratchy work and you can't expect a great deal of dedicated staff but I'm sure there must be some way to encourage me to buy that second pint without queueing

RodneyCharltonTrotta

LenGlover said:

Is it an unreasonable expectation to want to watch the whole of the match you've paid to see and have food and drink at half time?

I suspect it is.

It's piss poor business sense Len. Cannot think of many other organisations outside of the world of football clubs in the uk where you have thousands of people turning up each week desperate to give them a tenner and they are unable to take advantage of it. Must have lost hundreds of thousands in potential revenue over the years.

Always going to be limitations due to the restrictive nature of the size of the concourse but must be ways to improve it so they can take more cash.

Doesnt bother me personally not being able to get a pint or a rancid burger but winds me up when I see us losing vital potential revenue.

Off_it

We should get the ball boys to do it.

LenGlover

RodneyCharltonTrotta said:

LenGlover said:

Is it an unreasonable expectation to want to watch the whole of the match you've paid to see and have food and drink at half time?

I suspect it is.

It's piss poor business sense Len. Cannot think of many other organisations outside of the world of football clubs in the uk where you have thousands of people turning up each week desperate to give them a tenner and they are unable to take advantage of it. Must have lost hundreds of thousands in potential revenue over the years.

Always going to be limitations due to the restrictive nature of the size of the concourse but must be ways to improve it so they can take more cash.

Doesnt bother me personally not being able to get a pint or a rancid burger but winds me up when I see us losing vital potential revenue.

I agree with you but successive catering managers seem unable or unwilling to solve the problem.

suzisausage

in the west lower there is now a queuing system instead of a free for all, but for quite a wide kiosk, only one till, so the 2 queues that form don't move quickly as there is a delay with using the till. A girl last night at half time couldn't remember everything I ordered so did everything one at a time at half time. the coffee water machines aren't great, but instead of grabbing the cold drinks from the fridge whilst waiting for the hot water to fill the coffees she stood watching it. then got a lid for it, then put the lid on, then brought it to me, then got the water, then had to go back as she forgot the diet coke.

Before the game, I bought a packet of crisps and a kit kat and the girl took my order, went to the till, added it up, came back and asked for the money, went back put it in the till then gave me the crisps and kitkat, where as she could have brought the stuff back with my change?

no idea why it is so difficult to organise 1 hour and 15 minutes worth of kiosk catering, but then the 'supervisors' can be seen 10 mins before kick off standing around chatting or outside smoking and not mucking in to help what is essentially, the crux of what they are being paid to organise.

thankfully didn't miss any of the game last night despite the delays of being in the queue but there is definitely not enough time to get to the loo and queue for refreshments and get back to your seat within the time if you get up at the H/T whistle.

Gravesend_Addick

Serious point. I know they might be expensive but surely the club could invest in 1 of those magnetic beer dispensers for each bar like the one here to at least speed up the service:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiu_IX14wLI

They are used at a lot of the festivals nowadays & must increase revenue

JT

Thats what we need

Jarman

I need one in my house!

Vinnie V.

Make it like Argos. One queue, one till takes your money gives you a receipt and the orders are made up by the rest of the twonks staff.

When you can see the queue dying down stop pouring beer.

red_murph

I just don't get why they can't do the same as at the cricket or other venues and have people walking around with those backpacks on which are full of beer and they pour it out through the pipe?! Takes pressure off the other queues as well.