Is there an award for the slowest bar staff in the Prem

[moo]

The real problem is the fans .. nearly always families. Who don't get the exact money out (or close to it) and spend an age ordering crisps and checking with their overweight wife if they want another Cola for Jeremy. Then scrabbling around for the cash.

[melonhead]

The thing is, when they know it's pretty much a sell-out, you'd think they'd make sure that there are adequate staffing levels and drinks "ready to go" just before half time. Even if they started pre-pouring pints of lager 10 mins before half time, it wouldn't have gone any flatter and people are already queueing to buy it at that time anyway.

only so much you can do. cant really employ extra staff for two twenty minute spells

id imagine the limiting factor is the size of the serving areas/speed of beer pouring equipment,as much as slow lazy staff

[melonhead]

The real problem is the fans .. nearly always families. Who don't get the exact money out (or close to it) and spend an age ordering crisps and checking with their overweight wife if they want another Cola for Jeremy. Then scrabbling around for the cash.

^^^^this



proper fans arrive order beer, pay promptly, move away.

familys and kids umming and ahhing, fumbling money, changing minds, spending ages picking food up and moving away

booooooo

[mr_number]

They need to set up some beer-only queues, so the people getting hot drinks even though it's thirty degrees and sauna-esque in the concourse don't delay those trying to rehydrate in a sensible manner.

[3 veesinarow]

A pre-match beer is fine when the time pressure is off the staff, but seriously? They could all be mega-versions of Tom Cruise/Bryan Brown in Cocktail, but that still won't get thousands of people served in 15 minutes flat. Surely its easier, cheaper, less stress-inducing and just overall better not to bother with anything other than taking a leak at half-time? Not being served quickly and efficiently is completely the most unsurprising thing in the world, ever, unless you're queuing up at Aldershot or something where the staff would outnumber the crowd.

[TheLawnMowerMan]

I ordered a pint and was asked if that was a small or a large .....
Seriously - is there any training or minimum standards?

[North Somerset Royal]

A pre-match beer is fine when the time pressure is off the staff, but seriously? They could all be mega-versions of Tom Cruise/Bryan Brown in Cocktail, but that still won't get thousands of people served in 15 minutes flat. Surely its easier, cheaper, less stress-inducing and just overall better not to bother with anything other than taking a leak at half-time? Not being served quickly and efficiently is completely the most unsurprising thing in the world, ever, unless you're queuing up at Aldershot or something where the staff would outnumber the crowd.

But other clubs with big crowds manage it. For example at Chelsea on Wednesday we left our seats after the half time whistle, bought & drank a pint, had a piss and still got back just as they kicked off. The fact is that the catering facilities in and around the Mad Stad are inadequate as evidenced by queues outside the Jazz and the Hotel last Saturday.

[TBM]

I ordered a pint and was asked if that was a small or a large .....

[Cypry]

A pre-match beer is fine when the time pressure is off the staff, but seriously? They could all be mega-versions of Tom Cruise/Bryan Brown in Cocktail, but that still won't get thousands of people served in 15 minutes flat. Surely its easier, cheaper, less stress-inducing and just overall better not to bother with anything other than taking a leak at half-time? Not being served quickly and efficiently is completely the most unsurprising thing in the world, ever, unless you're queuing up at Aldershot or something where the staff would outnumber the crowd.

But other clubs with big crowds manage it. For example at Chelsea on Wednesday we left our seats after the half time whistle, bought & drank a pint, had a piss and still got back just as they kicked off. The fact is that the catering facilities in and around the Mad Stad are inadequate as evidenced by queues outside the Jazz and the Hotel last Saturday.

On the other hand it took nearly 15 minutes to get a beer before the game on Wednesday, despite being first in the queue, because the bloke behind the bar appeared to have never poured a pint before....

[North Somerset Royal]

A pre-match beer is fine when the time pressure is off the staff, but seriously? They could all be mega-versions of Tom Cruise/Bryan Brown in Cocktail, but that still won't get thousands of people served in 15 minutes flat. Surely its easier, cheaper, less stress-inducing and just overall better not to bother with anything other than taking a leak at half-time? Not being served quickly and efficiently is completely the most unsurprising thing in the world, ever, unless you're queuing up at Aldershot or something where the staff would outnumber the crowd.

But other clubs with big crowds manage it. For example at Chelsea on Wednesday we left our seats after the half time whistle, bought & drank a pint, had a piss and still got back just as they kicked off. The fact is that the catering facilities in and around the Mad Stad are inadequate as evidenced by queues outside the Jazz and the Hotel last Saturday.

On the other hand it took nearly 15 minutes to get a beer before the game on Wednesday, despite being first in the queue, because the bloke behind the bar appeared to have never poured a pint before....

The vagaries of pre match concourse drinking. Should have joined us in the Fox & Pheasant down the road where the service was excellent..

[RoyalBlue]

Really?

I'd always assumed that RFC get a set fee for the catering franchise plus a proportion of the take from Compass. I may be wrong on that but that was always what I thought it was.

I asked about this when I was a member of STAR and was told that the club were not prepared to give any information about the catering operations because it was commercially confidential. Irony is that I suspect all of Compass' competitors have a pretty good idea of the basis on which the contract is run.

[AbovetheI]

Does everyone in Y25 still give their money to Ratty so he can queue to get the beers in 15 minutes before HT

[weybridgewanderer]

chelsea were selling "beer vouchers" which might be an idea to suggest to the catering company.

When people arrive they can buy a beer and also by some vouchers for their halftime beer, reducing the amount of cash being handled at half time and, possibley, speeding up the service.

That said, I do find it funny the forum is full of people complaining about how bad the beer is, and also complaining that it takes them too long to buy it!!

[Green]

A pre-match beer is fine when the time pressure is off the staff, but seriously? They could all be mega-versions of Tom Cruise/Bryan Brown in Cocktail, but that still won't get thousands of people served in 15 minutes flat. Surely its easier, cheaper, less stress-inducing and just overall better not to bother with anything other than taking a leak at half-time? Not being served quickly and efficiently is completely the most unsurprising thing in the world, ever, unless you're queuing up at Aldershot or something where the staff would outnumber the crowd.

But other clubs with big crowds manage it. For example at Chelsea on Wednesday we left our seats after the half time whistle, bought & drank a pint, had a piss and still got back just as they kicked off. The fact is that the catering facilities in and around the Mad Stad are inadequate as evidenced by queues outside the Jazz and the Hotel last Saturday.

This, basically. Ever been to Wembley 3vees? I was literally amazed at the efficiency of getting the beer out.

Had a London Pride at halftime at Stamford Bridge yesterday, albeit bottled but I'll take that. Queued for about five minutes. Was still a bit frustrated at their service though, the woman serving me had to spend two minutes finding pint glasses - wouldn't you check you had a stash before the halftime rush?

I don't really understand why the catering companies don't hire managers who could spend five minutes training the staff and prepping the area before each game - not sure how the contract works with the club but surely a bit of money invested in the manger would yield higher revenues overall, albeit you're always going to be stuck with morons for staff.

[Ian Royal]

Got to the South Stand bar queue straight after the whistle went for HT, left the queue about 2/3rds of the way to the bar 5 minutes into the second half. It'll probably pick up a bit as the season goes on, but it's pretty annoying, especially seeing as the beer choice is fizzy crap, still crap, or chewy still crap.

[TheRoyalJoe]

Had to wait about half an hour to get a pint in the south stand. It seemed to be all the mongs that decided they wanted a pizza at half time to blame for the hold up. Don't see why they cant have a separate queue for the people what want to get the beers in and another queue for the muppets who come to football to have a pizza at half time.

[Compo's Hat]

Does everyone in Y25 still give their money to Ratty so he can queue to get the beers in 15 minutes before HT

Didn't get a season ticket this season

[Jerry St Clair]

Why do people feel the need to drink during football? - surely you can go nearly 2 hours without a pint?......just have a couple before the game, watch the game and then have a few after the game, in a pub, where you get proper glass pints

Especially when the options are so piss poor. I'd rather drink my own piss than the stuff they serve up in the concourse. Thank god there are loads of pubs near the ground where you can get a decent pre-game pint.

Oh........

[melonhead]

This, basically. Ever been to Wembley 3vees? I was literally amazed at the efficiency of getting the beer out.

theyve almost got a beer outlet per fan at wembley though

[Big Foot]

Horrendous queues in the East Stand last night