A number of complaints have been received and forwarded on to the relevant bodies about the catering facilities and service run by Rubery Based Compass Catering Group.
Some of the complaints are as follows:
1. Signage stating pie & pint for £5.50 yet the beer sold was £3 for a
bottle, not a pint. Many supporters feel very ripped off at the price
increase this year.
2. Bitter not being sold at all kiosks, no clear signage for this and people
only finding this out after getting to the front of the queue - no mean feat
at half-time!
3. Bottled beer stocks running out at 14.05L before the game at some kiosks.
4. Zero space for those ordering the pie n pint option, to actually eat the
pie by being able to put the pint down somewhere safely.
5. Hot drinks being spilled as the purchaser left the kiosks and had to
battle through the crowd to get to the milk & sugar - some areas had milks
removed by Compass staff whilst people were actually about to use them for
their drinks!
6. No clear signage in the concourse to inform everyone where the new
outlets for fish n chips, and guiness actually are. After 2 years most
supporters are now creatures of habit in the entrance gates used.
7. Concourse bars closed 20 minutes after the game rather than the usual 60 minutes, and stewards forcing people out of the stadium as a result. Some
supporters felt very intimidated by this action.
8. In the Jewson stand there were no programmes on sale in the concourse
area, and only one kiosk open for the whole home support so no chance of
getting a drink before the match or at half-time, despite there being a far
larger kiosk behind the stairs to blocks 10 & 11 being closed.
Our very good friends at GMK also received a number of posts about the subject and these included.
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" Went to Jimmys (won't pass comment until its finished) - kids shared
sausage and chips, £4.60 for an overcooked sausage and the worst chips I
have ever tasted - how hard is it to make chips!! Half time daughter queued
for 20 mins to be told there are no kitkats - other people queued to be told
no food - why couldn't they tell people to save them queueing as soon as it
had all run out? Perhaps they hadn't been told there might be a crowd coming in on the day! Overall very poor."
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"They seriously need to sort out the queues for food n drink in the CET at
half time. I hate leaving before HT, but waiting in a queue at the kiosks
till the start of the second half for a beer is ripping it more than just a
little bit..."
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"Son went down 15 mins b4 half time to be told they`d ran out of
burgers.....I queued up all of half time for a pie to soak up the beer only
to be get 3rd from the front and see the last bits of food go.Like (poster
id) said didnt they know it was the first game at home and maybe,just maybe
a decent crowd would turn up.Not really much change from last years pathetic service."
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"the queues for pints in the tesco stand were huge before the game, didn't
help that it took 3 staff to pour each one and nothing was pre-poured. The
guy apologised to me and said they hadn't been trained in pouring pints!"
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"Whoever is in charge of the refreshment ordering department should be
sacked. 90% of the time I actually want something to eat at Half Time,
they've run out of it (even for Cup games with only 6,000 people there!!!)
Pies? "Sorry, sold out."
Crisps? "Sorry, sold out."
Drinks? "Sorry, sold out." "
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"The square Steak and Ale Pies are tasteles and bland. Bring back the old
Steak and Kidney Round Pie!!!!."
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"Total Joke in the CET.
They have the new pizza kiosk was told on the halftime whistle that nothing
was ready!!
A woman behind me starting complaing and some little jumped up little hitler
in his yellow "team leader top" advised us they did not think it would be
that busy!!!
Then was told by another kiosk that they were closed even though another
member took in 2 more trays of pies to be sold. "
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"its not a case of moaning about the catering facilities, ours are
impressive (dare i say it, Premiership standard), now with more choice of
food and drink. The problems lie with the inept staff and catering
management. Queuing for the entire length of half time to get a beer is
unacceptable, I'm sure you'll agree. Hundreds of pints should be poured
ready for half time IMO, that might be a start....
The level of intelligence of the staff doesn't need to be high
(thankfully!), they just need proper training and management support. With
any luck it will improve with time, hey, its only our third season at the
Ricoh...
The prices for certain brands of food are far too high IMO, people will
always moan when they know that ACL are trying to rip the punters off."