Half time shambles

[Ispyshrimp]

I know its the first game of the season but I'm not sure what was worse, todays performance or the fact that I stood all half time and 5 minutes of the 2nd half for food and was told when I arrived at the counter that they had run out and have nothing left. Obviously nothing learned from last season dont want to have a go at the staff however they could make it known there is no food left.

i heard also that they were running out of cold drinks after my visit.

Hope the shrimps trust can have a word about this as lost revenue to the club and also annoyed that i missed the start of the first half for nothing (not missed much)
To make matters worse they were selling left over pies at full time at the front of the ground - joke

[Posh]

How many times can we keep saying this?

The club made the case that pre-selling tickets would help them give a clear idea of the number of fans they need to cater for. Well no one bothered to do the maths.

- Ran out of hot food
- Ran out of soft drinks (except warm cola)
- 20 people walked away from the queue
- At least 30 people still queuing at 4.07.

It’s pointless having a roof if the service is so abysmal. I really thought it was improving at the end of last season but we’re back to square one.

[Ispyshrimp]

Maybe learning from ideas introduced and implemented at Stanley of beer bars would free up a lot the time also as people in front of us only got their beer at 4:05pm, after the 2nd half had started so rushed their drinks or missed a good chunk of the 2nd half.

Might be easier if we all start to take our own refreshments if things don't improve fast.

[HALMA 1983]

How many times can we keep saying this?

The club made the case that pre-selling tickets would help them give a clear idea of the number of fans they need to cater for. Well no one bothered to do the maths.

- Ran out of hot food
- Ran out of soft drinks (except warm cola)
- 20 people walked away from the queue
- At least 30 people still queuing at 4.07.

It’s pointless having a roof if the service is so abysmal. I really thought it was improving at the end of last season but we’re back to square one.

Meanwhile, under the mainstand I'd put my house on everything being spot on, never had this problem back at Christie when it was run by those who couldn't afford to mess up.

[BerlinWaller]

I have suggested bottle booths to a trust member in the past. Blackpool have them and you can only pay on your card. So much easier than the over complicated inefficient system they have now. Easier to stock, no cash payments and a happy fan. Does the club ever listen or are they to pig headed to listen to the minions?

[KenH]

Meanwhile, under the mainstand I'd put my house on everything being spot on, never had this problem back at Christie when it was run by those who couldn't afford to mess up.

Even in the Local Choice suite, the service can be painfully slow and they run out of things. So, it's not a "class" thing at all.

[Westgate Wanderer]

Total shambles ON the pitch AND off it! I'd suggest those in the queue for no drinks /pies were the lucky ones because they missed parts of the game! Think we should embrace relegation as we can only handle crowd s of about a1,000. Give Jim a 10 year contract and enjoy non - league football! On a plus note it was nice to the sprinklers put in an appearance after a couple of years at halftime....a true highlight of the day!!

[Screenster]

Might be easier if we all start to take our own refreshments if things don't improve fast.

I have already done so for the past 2 years!

[al1]

Worcester Warriors also use a drinks dispenser system! But we are nothing to do with them are we? Think we were told that MFC would benefit from our association with WW,just more bull!

[mrpotatohead]

As sure as night follows day, the annual debate about inadequate catering and shabby treatment of the bread and butter fans behind the goals , and the lack of cover etc will continue , it always has been, and always will be, a mess until an outside caterer is given the opportunity to put it right, same as the abject failure of a "pub" in the main stand, it's an on going shambles.

[Andy D]

Get Derek Liver's Lass back, like at CP.

They always did a great Job, even in a bigger packed out North Stand too!

[Wild Bill]

Were they still trying to pour cans into pint pots one by one? This was how I was served in D block but at least there wasn't a queue at 3.40pm.

Food is a separate issue but beer in a bottle is the only sensible option for a half time queue. Simple pricing reducing change and contactless payment would also speed things up a lot.

[BerlinWaller]

How hard would it be to put something like they have at Blackpool up behind the goal? Accrington converted plastic booths used in private car parks to sell bottles from. It would also be nice to see some recycle bins for all the empties.

[BerlinWaller]

Despite the problems, the Hospitality team have won a Bronze medal in the small Stadium category. At least some people are getting fed and watered.

[Phoenix Shrimp 2017]

OK it's not perfect and needs tweaking, a bit like the team probably. First off we went in JB's before the game and as usual my youngest son was starving! A bag of crisps I thought would sort him out till we got the pie and peas later. First problem (well not a problem for us but anyone who followed who fancied a snack), there was one packet of ready salted available then that was it, nothing left, no nuts no scratchings, nada. I snapped them up before any other ravenous customer could snatch the last packet from my grasp.

We entered the ground about 2:30 and queued in the very small queue for our pie and peas. It still took about five minutes to get them and one other server was slowly but surely transferring beer from tins to plastic glasses, oh so carefully and very very slowly for anyone requiring a beverage. At this point I allowed myself a knowing smile about the carnage that was to come later.

Fast forward to half time and the larger than usual crowd who naively thought they could obtain sustenance during a fifteen minute half time break now stretched almost to the end of the stand.

There is no fast food outlet in the world that could cope, from one small serving hatch, with that volume of customers in 15 minutes, not Maccys not Colonel Sanders not no one!

I agree it could be improved. Yes we need to serve beer in plastic bottles ala' Accy Stanley. In my opinion we also need two food outlets. Let a burger van in to cope with the not unexpected rush of customers during the game. I know this may not be straightforward but the alternative is pissed off punters who don't enjoy the experience and don't return. Surely there must be Burger van operators out there who would be glad of the pitch once every two weeks and if we ever hit the big time they would really reap the benefits.

I don't know, it's not easy to solve but it can surely be improved!

[Screenster]

Despite the problems, the Hospitality team have won a Bronze medal in the small Stadium category. At least some people are getting fed and watered.

The staff aren't the problem, it's the setup!

[KenH]

The staff aren't the problem, it's the setup!

I think it's both. I've used nearly all the counters inc the berlin wall and Local Choice suite, as well as the home end, and both under the main stand - it's only the away end I've not used. The vast majority of the staff are very good and do their best given the poor set up they have to work in.

There's no doubt that the set up is wrong at all counters - there's no "flow" like you have at, say a Subway branch, so staff are waiting for each-other to do their bit so it slows down the entire customer flow. They need an old style "time and motion" study to change the layout of the counters and change the duties of each staff member to speed up the whole process. Every staff member should be doing something at busy times, not just stood there waiting for the staff next to them to do their bit. A simple re-design of where each piece of equipment is located and a re-think of who does what would solve a lot of the problems.

But, also, whilst as I say, the vast majority of the staff are very good, there are a couple who are weak links. One is on a till (not saying where to be fair to her), and does nothing else (no serving etc, just handling the cash) - after several months doing the same job every match day, you'd think she'd be proficient with the till - but no, she still dithers around about which buttons to press, often forgets what you've asked for if you ask for more than 2 things, then has real trouble working out what change to give, often getting it wrong. It causes a really slow service with the other(s) behind the counter stood around unable to do anything. Ironically, one of the others, now manning the hot water urn used to do the till and was a whizz on it. How hard would it be to swap them around again?

[HALMA 1983]

The staff aren't the problem, it's the setup!

I think it's both. I've used nearly all the counters inc the berlin wall and Local Choice suite, as well as the home end, and both under the main stand - it's only the away end I've not used. The vast majority of the staff are very good and do their best given the poor set up they have to work in.

There's no doubt that the set up is wrong at all counters - there's no "flow" like you have at, say a Subway branch, so staff are waiting for each-other to do their bit so it slows down the entire customer flow. They need an old style "time and motion" study to change the layout of the counters and change the duties of each staff member to speed up the whole process. Every staff member should be doing something at busy times, not just stood there waiting for the staff next to them to do their bit. A simple re-design of where each piece of equipment is located and a re-think of who does what would solve a lot of the problems.

But, also, whilst as I say, the vast majority of the staff are very good, there are a couple who are weak links. One is on a till (not saying where to be fair to her), and does nothing else (no serving etc, just handling the cash) - after several months doing the same job every match day, you'd think she'd be proficient with the till - but no, she still dithers around about which buttons to press, often forgets what you've asked for if you ask for more than 2 things, then has real trouble working out what change to give, often getting it wrong. It causes a really slow service with the other(s) behind the counter stood around unable to do anything. Ironically, one of the others, now manning the hot water urn used to do the till and was a whizz on it. How hard would it be to swap them around again?

Just goes to show how efficient those ladies were through the pie hatch at christie but that only comes with dedication and experience, kids of today aren't really bothered and in most cases would rather be somewhere else when the going gets tough.
Can't blame em mind, serving joe public is difficult at the best of times.