Catering at the Valley

Bedsaddick said:

Me and my son had some of the famous Chicken George food before the Rotherham game . The Chicken strips were so dry they were was inedible. 

George can do one along with his chickens.

What were the vegan options?

I do hope it was a (fake) cheese and onion pastry.

Sheepie1985 said:

Chicken George is becoming my highlight of going to the Valley, managed to convince my dad and my brother to try it and they've both said it's the best food they've had at the Valley, love it!

Starting from a very very low bar

JohnnyH2 said:

If you want a beer go to a pub, people who run them do it for a living

If you want food, use the stalls, cafes, restaurants in the streets outside, people who run them do it for a living.

No pub or fast food chain could deal with a couple of thousand customers wanting to be served and completed their beer in 15 minutes

I agree with the sentiment re drinking in pubs and buying food outside the ground. It's always better, and will always be my choice. However, there's a huge market of people at every club who want the convenience of buying in the ground. 

Spurs and, to a slightly lesser extent, Arsenal and Wembley stadium, have clocked on to the fact that you make a lot more money if you sell edible food and drinkable drinks and use a combination of technology plus enough kiosks and staff to sell it at the necessary pace to make sure everyone gets the opportunity to buy what they want without having to walk down ten minutes before half time. Even with the shit crowds we get these days, we're probably missing out on a couple of grand every week at least with the rubbish quality and service on offer at The Valley. Has anything changed in the last 25 years? USA has blokes walking through the crowds with a keg and tap on their back selling beers, it's not complicated.

Bedsaddick said:

Me and my son had some of the famous Chicken George food before the Rotherham game . The Chicken strips were so dry they were was inedible. 

George can do one along with his chickens.

Millwall slag

MrLargo said:

JohnnyH2 said:

If you want a beer go to a pub, people who run them do it for a living

If you want food, use the stalls, cafes, restaurants in the streets outside, people who run them do it for a living.

No pub or fast food chain could deal with a couple of thousand customers wanting to be served and completed their beer in 15 minutes

I agree with the sentiment re drinking in pubs and buying food outside the ground. It's always better, and will always be my choice. However, there's a huge market of people at every club who want the convenience of buying in the ground. 

Spurs and, to a slightly lesser extent, Arsenal and Wembley stadium, have clocked on to the fact that you make a lot more money if you sell edible food and drinkable drinks and use a combination of technology plus enough kiosks and staff to sell it at the necessary pace to make sure everyone gets the opportunity to buy what they want without having to walk down ten minutes before half time. Even with the shit crowds we get these days, we're probably missing out on a couple of grand every week at least with the rubbish quality and service on offer at The Valley. Has anything changed in the last 25 years? USA has blokes walking through the crowds with a keg and tap on their back selling beers, it's not complicated.

Nothing has changed since we went back in 92. We go totally go round in circles, bringing in new caterers, bringing it in house, changing management at the club who say it will be better, fans reps shown pies cooked by people who will never be there on a matchday.

The issues at the Valley is the concourses are too small or exposed to the elements. Also being based in London you will always struggle to get decent staff.

The whole thing needs to be radically changed

Everything sold inside the ground needs to be done for ultra quick service that even the staff we have at the ground can cope with. Bottled beer so nothing needs to be poured, all food sold is literally something they can hand over with minimal fuss, nothing that needs to be dished up (saw this at Peterborough)

Use the car park (and in defence the new management seem to be on this track) to bring independent vendors whose livelihood depend on it, selling quality food and beer before and after the game

Mendonca In Asdas said:

My son was impressed with the new beer vending machine, only 1, but reckon it’s a lot quicker.

Is it the same price as going to the bar?

JohnnyH2 said:

If you want a beer go to a pub, people who run them do it for a living

If you want food, use the stalls, cafes, restaurants in the streets outside, people who run them do it for a living.

No pub or fast food chain could deal with a couple of thousand customers wanting to be served and completed their beer in 15 minutes

I think you're missing the point.  I agree that getting a beer/ burger at football shouldnt be a priority for a fan necessarily.

However Im coming at if from the point of view of the club rather than punters.

You literally have thousands of punters queing up to give you cash, revenue and i assume profit.

Any other business would be mortified at such a neglect to supply and demand and failure to realise pontential and much needed revenue.

  If a system could be devised to execute that properly then surely that's thousands of pounds pumped into the club each fortnight extra which at our level would be material.  

Also days like kids for a quid are a marketing drive to attract local families etc who may not have charlton in their blood but done right could become new and regular fans so we dont keep playing in a half empty stadium for another decade.  

If dad wants a watered down pint of piss to help endure the grim football and taking little johnny and jane to Charlton as a novelty, making him queue up for 15 minutes etc and then not have any food/ beer left is going to make him think sod that ill go west ham next time.


It was good to see the stand alone beer machines which seemed pouplare and definitley reduced the queues so hopefully some attention is being paid to this enduring issue now.  Can't believe American sports owners would be happy with turning away cash and willfully failing to deliver for punters in the way we seem to do season on season.

It really cant be rocket science and must be solutions as to how to economically improve the situation for both fans and the club's coffers.

cafc999 said:

Beer machine was quick and was a decent pint. 

How does the machine know if the buyer is over 18?

There was a steward/ club catering lady at the one in covered end.

MrLargo said:

JohnnyH2 said:

If you want a beer go to a pub, people who run them do it for a living

If you want food, use the stalls, cafes, restaurants in the streets outside, people who run them do it for a living.

No pub or fast food chain could deal with a couple of thousand customers wanting to be served and completed their beer in 15 minutes

 Has anything changed in the last 25 years? USA has blokes walking through the crowds with a keg and tap on their back selling beers, it's not complicated.

Fulham had that 15-20 years back, I think. 

RodneyCharltonTrotta said:

JohnnyH2 said:

If you want a beer go to a pub, people who run them do it for a living

If you want food, use the stalls, cafes, restaurants in the streets outside, people who run them do it for a living.

No pub or fast food chain could deal with a couple of thousand customers wanting to be served and completed their beer in 15 minutes

It was good to see the stand alone beer machines which seemed pouplare and definitley reduced the queues.

   

shine166 said:

Hope it's not the same garbage they serve up normally. 

shine166 said:

Hope it's not the same garbage they serve up normally. 

A shame that the club cannot follow Bromley Addicks and not charge for meeting ex players.

SoundAsa£ said:

JohnnyH2 said:

MrLargo said:

JohnnyH2 said:

If you want a beer go to a pub, people who run them do it for a living

If you want food, use the stalls, cafes, restaurants in the streets outside, people who run them do it for a living.

No pub or fast food chain could deal with a couple of thousand customers wanting to be served and completed their beer in 15 minutes

I agree with the sentiment re drinking in pubs and buying food outside the ground. It's always better, and will always be my choice. However, there's a huge market of people at every club who want the convenience of buying in the ground. 

Spurs and, to a slightly lesser extent, Arsenal and Wembley stadium, have clocked on to the fact that you make a lot more money if you sell edible food and drinkable drinks and use a combination of technology plus enough kiosks and staff to sell it at the necessary pace to make sure everyone gets the opportunity to buy what they want without having to walk down ten minutes before half time. Even with the shit crowds we get these days, we're probably missing out on a couple of grand every week at least with the rubbish quality and service on offer at The Valley. Has anything changed in the last 25 years? USA has blokes walking through the crowds with a keg and tap on their back selling beers, it's not complicated.

Nothing has changed since we went back in 92. We go totally go round in circles, bringing in new caterers, bringing it in house, changing management at the club who say it will be better, fans reps shown pies cooked by people who will never be there on a matchday.

The issues at the Valley is the concourses are too small or exposed to the elements. Also being based in London you will always struggle to get decent staff.

The whole thing needs to be radically changed

Everything sold inside the ground needs to be done for ultra quick service that even the staff we have at the ground can cope with. Bottled beer so nothing needs to be poured, all food sold is literally something they can hand over with minimal fuss, nothing that needs to be dished up (saw this at Peterborough)

Use the car park (and in defence the new management seem to be on this track) to bring independent vendors whose livelihood depend on it, selling quality food and beer before and after the game

Re your last sentence.
Lincoln City do this with great success.
At the rear of one of the stands there’s many independent vendors selling a wide range of food and drinks, many with seating.
In inclement weather they set up shelters.
They charge very reasonable prices and serve up great food, they simply have to, otherwise folk will go elsewhere as there’s quite a lot of competition.
Some live or piped music too…..sort of a summer fate atmosphere is how I’d describe it.

Sounds a lot like a fanzone ..... 

thetomahawkkid said:

I agree with what most have said, and major improvements are needed, but in fairness I do think the Pukka Pies served in the ground are decent - always hot and pastry nice and crisp (not microwaved). The chicken balti pie is excellent.

It would be really good if there was somewhere you could get a half decent cup of coffee. There was a coffee stall behind the AC for one game last season, and their coffee was good, but have not seen it since. Maybe footie isn't really the place for artisan coffee!

There also was a coffee stall inside the Fans' bar last season, not sure if he is there this season.