At the beginning of March, Rachel Martin, Catering Lead at the Trust, met with Craig Doyle, Catering Director from Compass/ Levy Restaurants and Levi Harris, Supporter Liaison Officer at THFC to discuss THST catering survey feedback, how the catering provision is going, and to discuss any planned changes for next season. Since then events have changed dramatically and our thoughts are very much focused on different priorities. However, members might be interested to hear what was discussed.
We started the meeting with introductions as this is our first catering meeting with Craig Doyle who joined the team this season. For future meetings we will be joined by Fred Wilson, who starts later this month, and will take on George Robertson’s former role.
Feedback from the Club
We discussed the general trends from the January and February surveys and noted that while the quality of drink was rated very highly, and food highly, there were persistent issues reported around supply of provision, and particularly speed of service. Individual concerns were also mentioned and a copy of all feedback was given to the Club – every comment is read and considered.
It was interesting and illuminating to hear of the issues around all the different kick off days and times – and how these affect the demand on provision. Similarly, transport problems, such as on Sunday for the Wolves game, can result in delayed entry to the stadium for a lot of supporters, lower sales and increased wastage. Sundays at 4.30pm result in considerably lower sales than a Saturday at 3pm for example – for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, regardless of kick off time, the busiest periods are consistently 45 mins before kick-off and half time.
There is now a live computer tracking system for all products sold so that stock movement can be anticipated and completed while the match is on. Concourses are too busy for stock to be moved before and after the game however.
The pie and pint deal remains extremely popular and offers great value for money.
Market Place
Some recent and imminent changes in Market Place include:
New products have been introduced at slightly higher prices e.g. Hotspur Pizza is £9.95, replacing a lower quality pizza that was £8.95. The quality of all pizzas is generally considered to be excellent but the Trust’s view is that it is really important that lower price food and drink is available and that drink prices remain the same. Rachel recommended that recent increases in ticket prices (in an already very expensive stadium) should mean that the catering provision stay at the same price.
The Trust’ position is that, while it is understandable that prices will be higher for other events such as for rugby, boxing and concerts, the main purpose of the stadium is football, and our supporters should not have to pay higher prices. If anything, these other events should be able to generate enough profit to protect prices for Spurs games.
Speed of service
We spent quite a while discussing plans to speed up service: one method being the recent introduction of mobile hawkers for Heineken, and for doughnuts, for example. These reduce pressure on the main bars and we have urged the Club to consider selling healthier food options in this way e.g. smoked salmon bagels and sandwiches. It isn’t okay to say these items are not popular and don’t sell when our surveys show that people are keen to eat them but cannot locate them in the stadium or on the app.
Unfortunately, the beer only queues have now been withdrawn as people queued and then asked for other products. Rather than creating conflict by turning people away, they were served, causing others to get annoyed. The easiest solution is simply to remove these queues.
Another idea being explored is a pre-order system for half time beers, with self-service consoles for supporters to pre-order. These have been introduced at Chelsea and are proving very successful. It is certainly a potential successful way forward for next season.
In addition, the bottoms up machines have been improved ready for next season, and this should also improve the speed of service.
Finally, we asked if the TV screens in the concourses and around the stadium could please have subtitles when they are showing live matches, so that we can follow what commentators are saying. We were told that this would be looked into and we will continue to pursue this.
Thanks to Craig and Levi for their time and for the continued spirit of co-operation and openness to the feedback of our supporters. We look forward to continuing to work together once the stadium reopens.
Rachel Martin
THST Catering Lead
26 March 2020
Feedback from the Club
We discussed the general trends from the January and February surveys and noted that while the quality of drink was rated very highly, and food highly, there were persistent issues reported around supply of provision, and particularly speed of service. Individual concerns were also mentioned and a copy of all feedback was given to the Club – every comment is read and considered.
It was interesting and illuminating to hear of the issues around all the different kick off days and times – and how these affect the demand on provision. Similarly, transport problems, such as on Sunday for the Wolves game, can result in delayed entry to the stadium for a lot of supporters, lower sales and increased wastage. Sundays at 4.30pm result in considerably lower sales than a Saturday at 3pm for example – for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, regardless of kick off time, the busiest periods are consistently 45 mins before kick-off and half time.
There is now a live computer tracking system for all products sold so that stock movement can be anticipated and completed while the match is on. Concourses are too busy for stock to be moved before and after the game however.
The pie and pint deal remains extremely popular and offers great value for money.
Market Place
Some recent and imminent changes in Market Place include:
- The ordering of an additional pizza oven as pizzas are very popular and service cannot currently keep up with demand. A new premium Hotspur Pizza was introduced recently and has proved a hit!
- In Smashed Olive, salads are likely to be removed as only a tiny number have been sold. Salads are advertised clearly on the app but are not being chosen, possibly because they are harder to eat, especially if supporters are also holding a drink and cannot put things down anywhere. We need to ensure that other healthy but easier to eat options are available.
- The N17 Grill is the busiest outlet and with just two fryers it’s inevitable that there will be queues. Craig mentioned moving chips from here and only serving them at Chicken House. Rachel gave an outline of the recent campaign to have chips on their own and that it was really important not to lose this. Craig is also considering Tato Tots, a panko potato option with a variety of dips and toppings.
- Chicken Shop – A new item, jerk chicken with chips and mango salsa has been introduced and appears to be selling well. A new product for next season will be a sharing Chicken Bucket – popular on the high street and of course will also help to speed up service.
New products have been introduced at slightly higher prices e.g. Hotspur Pizza is £9.95, replacing a lower quality pizza that was £8.95. The quality of all pizzas is generally considered to be excellent but the Trust’s view is that it is really important that lower price food and drink is available and that drink prices remain the same. Rachel recommended that recent increases in ticket prices (in an already very expensive stadium) should mean that the catering provision stay at the same price.
The Trust’ position is that, while it is understandable that prices will be higher for other events such as for rugby, boxing and concerts, the main purpose of the stadium is football, and our supporters should not have to pay higher prices. If anything, these other events should be able to generate enough profit to protect prices for Spurs games.
Speed of service
We spent quite a while discussing plans to speed up service: one method being the recent introduction of mobile hawkers for Heineken, and for doughnuts, for example. These reduce pressure on the main bars and we have urged the Club to consider selling healthier food options in this way e.g. smoked salmon bagels and sandwiches. It isn’t okay to say these items are not popular and don’t sell when our surveys show that people are keen to eat them but cannot locate them in the stadium or on the app.
Unfortunately, the beer only queues have now been withdrawn as people queued and then asked for other products. Rather than creating conflict by turning people away, they were served, causing others to get annoyed. The easiest solution is simply to remove these queues.
Another idea being explored is a pre-order system for half time beers, with self-service consoles for supporters to pre-order. These have been introduced at Chelsea and are proving very successful. It is certainly a potential successful way forward for next season.
In addition, the bottoms up machines have been improved ready for next season, and this should also improve the speed of service.
Finally, we asked if the TV screens in the concourses and around the stadium could please have subtitles when they are showing live matches, so that we can follow what commentators are saying. We were told that this would be looked into and we will continue to pursue this.
Thanks to Craig and Levi for their time and for the continued spirit of co-operation and openness to the feedback of our supporters. We look forward to continuing to work together once the stadium reopens.
Rachel Martin
THST Catering Lead
26 March 2020
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