• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Food & Beverage: The Aramark Era begins

Thameslink Rail said:
By improvements do you mean in terms of hygiene or quality?
Food hygiene reports do not take into account food quality, therefore fast food takeaways can still get a 5.
In terms of hygiene it's probably better that they get it right first time but if they get a low score it can be six months before the next inspection.

Scores on the Doors

UK Food hygiene inspection results, National Food Hygiene, scores on the doors
www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk
Click to expand...
Towers record on food hygiene was not brilliant. Remember the inspection is only a "spot check" on one particular day, if standards are good on that day then you're OK. Just search your local paper and you'll find a report of a place going from a 5 rating down to a 1 - the manager / owner will always wheel out the "this was an oversight / someone was on holiday" type of excuse.

Remember Ripsaw Cafe? There was a portakabin out the back of it used as a store-room. It had fungus growing in the floor. Said portakabin had been used as a staff "green room" and was shut down because of the fungus - of course, the reason given for closing the green room was that Air construction had finished & there were two "shiny new" [portakabin] green rooms behind the Air-gates.

If you want to hear a mouse laugh, show Mickey Mouse the decrepit back-of-house infrastructure at Alton Towers.
 
It's pretty easy to get a 5 star from an EHO inspection. They'll have a look at the processes in place which for a big company will always have been signed off by the local council of where the company bases it's operations but they're pretty similar nationwide standards anyway. You'd imagine companies like Aramak or Merlin will pretty much have these nailed down. They'll check a few dates and take a few temperatures. Most of it is hygiene related on the day.
 
Danny said:
329592100_6584017781614684_5410899522558261694_n.jpg


329771217_936151587739928_2349255024650451221_n.jpg


When you consider the standard of service in SGR is a roulette wheel in the first place, these prices are beyond eye-watering.

What an absolute joke.
Click to expand...
As crazy as £4.40 is for a steak sauce. Aramark has only added their 10% across the board increase. Steak sauces were already £3.95 in 2019.
The steak has gone up by a crazy £10 though. Was only £1 more than sausage to have duck breast back then too.
But the crazy pricing isn’t new under Aramark, it’s been an issue for years.
 
s_g_k said:
The pricing on the SG menu makes absolutely no sense. Duck breast is a significantly more expensive cut of meat than pork belly, yet the pork main is over £5 more expensive than the duck main?
Click to expand...
On the 2019 menu it was a pork tomahawk steak which justified the higher cost than duck. But pork belly as you say is a cheap cut.
 
Kraken27 said:
If you want to hear a mouse laugh, show Mickey Mouse the decrepit back-of-house infrastructure at Alton Towers.
Click to expand...

Like the green room behind Driving School, that was literally green because of the mold. The toilets in it had been condemned for as long as I had been there, and was only demolished last year and replaced by some temporary looking portacabins on breeze blocks. .
 
Last edited:
People still eat there though; it doesn't seem like the combination of bad reviews and crazy prices dissuade many. Something needs to change.
 
The worst decision Merlin ever made was removing Burger King from the resort. I could just about take McDonald’s making way for Burger King, but seriously, the Burger Kitchen sucks. Not only did Merlin ruin a good facade on the restaurant by what was Cloud Cuckoo Land, they also ruined Chessington’s exterior of the Counts Cauldron. Interesting how Thorpe have retained Burger King for so long.

Back to Towers though, is Eastern Express still in Mutiny Bay?
 
Still can't get my head round them outsourcing the catering seeing how if done well it's such a good source of income and secondary spend.

All I can think of is that they've had such an issue getting staff in across the entire resort they've just decided to take the guaranteed money from Aramark instead, and to try and staff up all their positions for operating the park before Aramark realise there's no one left to apply for jobs in catering and their stuck paying for recruitment agencies to get them staffed up. Probably not good for the prices on the park or their overheads.
 
John_P said:
Still can't get my head round them outsourcing the catering seeing how if done well it's such a good source of income and secondary spend.

All I can think of is that they've had such an issue getting staff in across the entire resort they've just decided to take the guaranteed money from Aramark instead, and to try and staff up all their positions for operating the park before Aramark realise there's no one left to apply for jobs in catering and their stuck paying for recruitment agencies to get them staffed up. Probably not good for the prices on the park or their overheads.
Click to expand...
I think this is the only possible motivation. It came off the back of the 2020 season when they were having an incredibly hard time adequately staffing everything.

The way these contracts will be structured, Merlin will make a packet in agreed charges in the event of an understaffing breach and of course they are able to concentrate their own resources on filling other seasonal roles.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top