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Food & Beverage: The Aramark Era begins

I still just don’t understand the inconsistency of it all. The basic options like fish and chips, burgers, petrol station style hotdogs etc are all absolutely terrible and overpriced to the stratosphere, but then you have things like the new ice cream stand in Alton Manor area that’s absolutely fantastic goods and not a massive rip off either.

People will always pay more for a bit more quality..
 
Steve74 said:
If they did investigate, let's hope they don't uncover a Baldrick-style coffee making procedure! 🤣 🤣
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From what I remember from my time at Towers (I was on rides) I would suggest that Baldrick-style coffee making was the tip of the iceberg back then (NB: I am going back 20yrs now, so am not saying what current standards are like). I can attest that the portakabin behind the then Ripsaw games unit had mushrooms growing through the floor when it was used as a staff green-room. The following season the same portakabin was in use as a food store for the new Ripsaw Cafe food unit - but again, I note they'd had a closed season to hopefully remove the mushrooms. I don't think the "Scores on the Doors" scheme was quite as prevalent then either (it wasn't, it started in 2005).
 
Kraken27 said:
From what I remember from my time at Towers (I was on rides) I would suggest that Baldrick-style coffee making was the tip of the iceberg back then (NB: I am going back 20yrs now, so am not saying what current standards are like
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It used to be some Nescafe whipped instant stuff but for the 2019 season all the coffee machines (including hotel breakfast) got replaced with bean to cup.
 
In fairness the standards one expects from a generic cup of coffee have changed quite a bit in 20 years. Remember how vile McDonalds coffee was before McCafé became a thing?
 
WillPS said:
In fairness the standards one expects from a generic cup of coffee have changed quite a bit in 20 years. Remember how vile McDonalds coffee was before McCafé became a thing?
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100% true. I remember the "McSludge" filter coffee well - and am pleased to forget about it.
 
Tom said:
Is a flat white really likely to have more calories than a latte? I can feel a Panorama investigation coming on into practices behind the scenes.
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Traditionally a flat white is made with whole milk rather than semi-skimmed so that could explain why it has more calories than a larger sized latte has.
 
The difficulty at Alton with the coffee is that they are charging 50p-£1.00 more per cup than you would pay at a high street coffee shop (chain or independent), but the training is vastly inferior.

So, you'll pay the best part of £4 for a flat white, but in truth, many of the staff don't really understand what a flat white is because they haven't had adequate training.

It is also baffling that AT are charging the same for a machined coffee as for a barista brewed one.

There is blatant profiteering on some products at ATR at the moment, Aramark taking advantage of the current crisis by jacking up basic products by crazy amounts.
 
AstroDan said:
It is also baffling that AT are charging the same for a machined coffee as for a barista brewed one.
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Is that so crazy? Costa Express is barely any cheaper than a barista made one.

The real difference is in the quality of the finished drink, and by the sounds of things you might be better off with something from a bean to cup machine.
 
Has anyone gone after a towers directly on the twitters asking what exactly their beef and chicken is actually made of if it's not 100% beef and chicken? I'm not a twitterer myself, but I imagine it's not a question they will want asking....
 
WillPS said:
Is that so crazy? Costa Express is barely any cheaper than a barista made one.

The real difference is in the quality of the finished drink, and by the sounds of things you might be better off with something from a bean to cup machine.
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But it's not Costa Express. It's those unbranded, generic coffee machines they use at breakfast. They're not good quality. And it's around £4 a coffee.

I have had a good flat once at Alton. But if those barista brewed drinks were served at an actual Costa, they'd be taken off the machine.
 
I had a flat white from Coffee Lounge on Saturday and beyond the slight froth on top it just tasted like a very milky coffee. Certainly not a flat white. If you are going to offer barista brewed drinks then you should at least try to train staff to a certain standard. The consistency of what I had would have been better had it come from a machine!
 
djtruefitt said:
Here’s some more random Aramark and towers stuff. For a simple bottle of water, most Aramark outlets charge £3:
IMG_6399.jpeg

However just Chicken will charge £3.10:
IMG_6397.jpeg

Then in at towers ran kiosks, it’s £2.70:
IMG_6398.jpeg

Then in towers trading a larger bottle is £3:
IMG_6408.jpeg
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Do they really sell all those different sizes ? 500ml, 600ml and 850ml ?
 
pluk said:
Has anyone gone after a towers directly on the twitters asking what exactly their beef and chicken is actually made of if it's not 100% beef and chicken? I'm not a twitterer myself, but I imagine it's not a question they will want asking....
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It appears they have been told to simply ignore Aramark related comments/questions. I haven’t seen that specific question asked, but similar ones referencing food quality and prices are never replied to.
 
Long before the Aramark days, but I once ordered a coffee from what was once the Wobble World cafe and quickly realised that it was mainly just hot milk. I then went on The Smiler. Not a blend I can recommend.
 
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