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Food & Beverage: The Aramark Era begins

Does this mean that non-passholders will be getting almost the same perk on food in this scenario that a passholder paid for when purchasing said pass? Can said passholder get a partial refund now that it isn't really a perk during this period? Or do passholders now get 40 odd percent off to make it fair?
 
BarryZola said:
Does this mean that non-passholders will be getting almost the same perk on food in this scenario that a passholder paid for when purchasing said pass? Can said passholder get a partial refund now that it isn't really a perk during this period? Or do passholders now get 40 odd percent off to make it fair?
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It's a temporary promotional offer, for a select few outlets, during a specific time period. Promotional offers are not permitted to be used in conjunction with other offers, or discounts, as per the terms of the deal. It's not unusual for any discount card.

I have a professional body's discount card, tied to my type/area of employment. There are plenty of offers on there, for various retail and food outlets, all offering a fixed percentage off my bill. None of the discounts apply to any items which are subject to any other promotional offer, or discounted line, and I can't stack offers either. If one voucher gives me 12% off my drinks, but the other gives me 9% off my total bill, I can only use one or the other.

The only real exceptions to this case tend to be staff employee/family discount cards, but even then there are caveats. My Partnership card gives me 25% off at John Lewis and 20% off at Waitrose. Not on anything that is reduced to clear. 12% on electricals. Nothing on Apple products.

Really it's down, as always, to the terms and conditions of the promotional offer.
 
Benzin said:
Ah, the old BIG DEAL and tiny small print shenanigans. Bet MAP holders will be livid "normal" guests can get a discount too.

Not sure what we'll do for Scarefest visit yet.
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Has anyone ever asked to “prove” their MAP discount entitlement when buying from the self service machines at eg the chicken place, burger kitchen etc? All the times I’ve used them I just had to enter the voucher code so assumed anyone could get away with it.

I know they scan them elsewhere like at the doughnuts and green-poo ice cream shack however..
 
dave___ said:
Has anyone ever asked to “prove” their MAP discount entitlement when buying from the self service machines at eg the chicken place, burger kitchen etc? All the times I’ve used them I just had to enter the voucher code so assumed anyone could get away with it.

I know they scan them elsewhere like at the doughnuts and green-poo ice cream shack however..
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Yes, I didn’t know the code (not sure how you are supposed to know it) and had to go ask at the service bit, by which point someone had stole my machine mid-order :mad:
 
Just thought, It'll be a shame if Cebeebies Land closes at 5 as I was thinking about getting dinner from the Little Explorers Lunch Box given the food is apparently very good and reasonably priced (the pasta especially as I'm a big fan of that). Unless the land and amenities will stay open a bit longer after the queues close?
 
Skyscraper said:
Just thought, It'll be a shame if Cebeebies Land closes at 5 as I was thinking about getting dinner from the Little Explorers Lunch Box given the food is apparently very good and reasonably priced (the pasta especially as I'm a big fan of that). Unless the land and amenities will stay open a bit longer after the queues close?
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Would be surprised if they kept it open in an otherwise closed area considering the current staff cutbacks.
 
So, it appears that adding the middle-man to take a cut of food margins isn't working out too well. Obviously Aramark weren't running these outlets out of kindness, so to get reasonable margins they immediately set out removing meat from their ingredients and jacking prices up to extortionate levels. Which, when the park isn't busy, doesn't look like an appealing buy to guests.

It looks like they've done this so much, that they have left themselves enough room for fake "discounting", a horrid and dishonest practice. This isn't discounting if you've whacked the prices up beyond that amount. What they're actually doing here is whacking the prices up for more margin when they're busy.

Just when you think the barrel has been scraped, and this awful Aramark debacle couldn't get any more embarrassing. Still, the good news is that it looks like very few people are enticed to buy this dog doo doo on off-peak days, forcing them to put their hands in their pockets and sacrifice margins. Keep avoiding people.
 
The people that pay eighty pounds for a season pass do not find a tenner for a burger particularly good value.
Merlin are painting themselves into a corner with this.
 
rob666 said:
The people that pay eighty pounds for a season pass do not find a tenner for a burger particularly good value.
Merlin are painting themselves into a corner with this.
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To be able to buy a burger for a tenner would be a dream. Even with an Annual Pass discount, you're paying more than that this season at Alton Towers.
 
One thing in life is certain: Prices go up, but they never go down. Even if Merlin were to kick Aramark out tomorrow, and some how magically fix all the quality problems, you can bet your arse a hotdog will still cost more than @rob666 's first car.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
One thing in life is certain: Prices go up, but they never go down. Even if Merlin were to kick Aramark out tomorrow, and some how magically fix all the quality problems, you can bet your arse a hotdog will still cost more than @rob666 's first car.
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Yep and the portion sizes stay the.same or get smaller, but never bigger. Shrinkflation basically.
 
Skyscraper said:
Yep and the portion sizes stay the.same or get smaller, but never bigger. Shrinkflation basically.
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Shrinkflation has to come to a natural end though. We are rapidly approaching that now with eg some chocolate bars now they have shrunk the multipack ones down to the magic 99kcal marker, so all they can do now is retain the size and raise the price, or dick around with the ingredients so everything tastes bab.
 
Matt.GC said:
You know that feeling you got on Christmas Eve as a kid? I think we're all looking forward to the report on the gastronomical delights you are about to feast upon this very eve.
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Geez I feel like a food critic 🤣

Food was slow to arrive and I had the vegetarian sausages (Oktoberfest special), which I didn’t really enjoy (undercooked potatoes, chewy sausages) - but I’m a fussy eater!

Service beyond the time taken to make the food was great though, the manager is definitely running around making sure things get done quickly. Such a shame he isn’t in charge of the kitchen!
 
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