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Closed Outlets

I could not believe what I was seeing when they were shutting Wobble World Cafe at 3pm, which had a long queue of people wanting ice cream. The staff in there had said they'd phoned whoever was making the decisions and told them that they were busy but they were still told to close.

In effect it was Towers saying that they don't want money, madness!

:)
 
I think the message got mixed up, there was someone on their way over with a bunch of "Ice Cream Fast Track" tickets
 
TheMan said:
I think the message got mixed up, there was someone on their way over with a bunch of "Ice Cream Fast Track" tickets
Click to expand...

Ice Cream Fast Track?! How the hell would that work? Imagine what it would've been like if you were at the front of that queue, and then got turned away. I hope some of them went to Guest Services.
 
Obviously Alton Towers F&B don't give a damn.

I've never known this in 25 years of visiting.
 
AstroDan said:
Obviously Alton Towers F&B don't give a damn.

I've never known this in 25 years of visiting.
Click to expand...

Given the service I saw in one visit early this year, I agree with you entirely, the signs were bad from the off - they're just proving it week on week. They're on a downward spiral, it's where it's coming from that I would be concerned about.
 
Now people may have moaned in this read earlier on that this thread was a bit silly with it being a quite off peak day. But I think yesterday proved that who ever is in charge of food and beverage at Alton Towers really is living on another planet. Yes on a quiet day keep things closed and save money, yesterday the park was busy, all food outlets had queues and the weather was lovely all day. Yet outlets still remained closed, where is the logic?

Courtyard BBQ had a queue half way across the courtyard, yet the Hotdog/pancake/Pasty outlet remained closed. Waffles and Ices was closed when we went past at around 1pm, apparently it opened later according to Alton Towers. But the strangest of all was Wobble World Cafe, we were in there at 2.50pm and the staff were putting the chairs on the table and getting ready to close. The queue was out of the door with people wanting drinks and ice creams, yet it still closed at 3pm because management had told them to close. You couldn't even get a Ben & Jerry's because that remained closed all day. The weather forecast said it was going to be sunny all weekend, so it wasn't as if Towers had no warning of the hot weather or the increase of guests.

I have never known a company who try and cost cut and make so much money actually turn away customers and profit by keeping ice cream shops closed when its hot or closing them at 3pm when the park is still rammed.

Now I'm pretty sure Alton Towers management read these threads, of course they will never make an account and reply to us (except for the old hotel manager who was very friendly), but please take our feedback!
 
Or alternatively by @djtruefitt very astute comments, offer me a job as your customer relations manager, and I can feedback to your F&B what a balls up of everything you're presently making

;D
 
I wonder if these closed Cold food and drinks outlets during hot days are whats causing merlins shares to drop in price.

since the 15th of may. the price has dropped from 355.00 to the lowest ever price of 338.00 (17may) although it was at 339.30 at close of London stock exchange yesterday (17may).
 
They just don't think about what the customer wants, providing the correct product at the correct time and at a good price.

It's like last year when they had the ice cream van out in November, who wants ice cream in 5c temp. Get some coffee barrows, have ice cream van out on hot days, coffee barrows out on cold days....

.... Come to think of it the Icecream van didn't come out on Saturday either.
 
It does make me wonder who the hell makes decisions like this. If a multi million pound supermarket chain can hear about hot weather coming, order in, ship out to their thousands of stores and get products onto their shelves in less than a few days, then surely 1 themepark, with most of the products already stored on resort, can get them out for sale as soon as they realise its hot!!!!

Its as if the park make up their minds of what ride close it is going to be, what outlets will be open and what entertainment the park will have about a week in advance and then stick to it no matter what! That is not how you run a business. If you cannot be flexible to meet demands, then you are going to struggle!
 
Whoever is in charge it seems to be translating into the service.

You do NOT reduce offerings! Mexican Cantina was a joke last year it was awesome.

Dragon Bar? A joke. Last year, decent, year before? Better.

It's been a decline but this year is without a doubt the worst I can remember it both being, and being reported.

It smacks of a Micro Manager, a "meddler", someone who needs to mess with everything rather than setting things running and allowing them to flourish.

Appalling management wherever it is coming from. It is coming from somewhere, it's just where I wouldn't say because you don't know the restrictions. From my experience though it is usually someone trying to prove their worth by meddling with everything until it drives everyone mad.
 
So heres what I would have been doing today. Straight away I would know its going to be warm for a few more days, so I'd order more post mix drinks in and make sure there are plenty of ice creams. Most food outlets sell cold drinks and as a result, it will be hard to cut back any outlet without it causing long queues.

I would justify have as may outlets open by the fact you are bound to sell a shed load of ice creams and drinks. Also sell other things such as caps, suncream, balloons. These will bring in even more money! As much as we hate upselling, if its something people want, then flog it! The front lawns would be a great place for a little summer shop selling stuff for hot weather.

In short, if people want to buy stuff, let them! Dont shut half your outlets!
 
I think it might also be worth pointing out that, on Saturday, the demand for drinks and refills was obviously higher than usual yet most stands only had the usual one person serving - thus causing huge queues even for something as simple as a refill.

Must say though that the staff were always friendly once you reached the front though :)
 
There is a clear disconnect between the ideas Management have of a business being run, and what the theme park business actually is. You can tell instantly wherever you go around the park that individual teams are not at all linked up, and all each are concerned with is money and budgets. Yes, it's a business, but not the business they seem to think they are - which is more like a high street department store than a theme park
 
One of the two ice cream vans was out in Fountain Square on Saturday. However when I walked past it not long after 3pm (just after when Wobble World Cafe had been closed) the window was shut with two staff members inside either counting money or stock. I guess they were done for the day as well.

I will never understnad why on the hottest weekend of the year they either did not open the ice cream outlets on park or closed them early. You could say it's poor management, I call it a complete lack of common sense.

:)
 
It is as if they don't have a food manager, or even some kind of park manager! If you were the area manager/park manager/operations manager/etc, surely walking past a closed ice cream shop on a very hot day, even if it isn't your department you should still question it with upper management to see why it is closed, maybe that did happen? I have no idea, but someone in charge should be looking around the park at things like this.

Alton Towers just Tweeted back to someone saying they could get a Ben & Jerry's in towers trading, which is hardly the same as the much better choice and a cone from Ben & Jerry's, Waffles & Ices or Wobble World Cafe, all of which either didn't open or closed stupidly early.

I also feel sorry for the staff, i'm guessing the ones in wobble world went home at 3pm, as no other outlets opened after 3pm, so these are also losing out of wadges.
 
I was thinking, and why not have something like the wobbly hole in the wall Ice creams. Where there they place Ice cream, cold drink chillers and a till next to a big wide opening window and turn it into a small one person outlet, when the cafe area is closed.

If they really thought about it, it could be retasked during the colder months for hot drinks. and called the wobbly hole in the wall hot drinks.
 
It really is a joke and the parks going down hill haven't got anything else to say sorry
 
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