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Food & Beverage: The Aramark Era begins

I have to vent, it’s annoying me so much, but I love going to Alton and the fact Merlin are reducing the “magic” so much is really p’ing me off to be honest.

To partner up with a company that supplies prisons and which has such a terrible reputation for its food, standards, cleanliness and treatment if its staff i just really can’t get my head around.

Granted every business needs to make money even Weatherspoons,but I don’t feel like I’ve been bent over the table with my pants down when I eat in there, nor do I worry about getting ill from the food afterwards.

I would LOVE to stay in the Alton towers hotels again, I would love to have a decent meal in the park again, but the product has been reduced so much and the prices hiked so much it’s impossible to justify doing it.

I know a day in Alton is what you make it, but it frustrates me so much just how poor things have got now. Makes me so sad given how it used to be.

Aberdeen Angus steaks anyone from the secret garden restaurant (back in the 90s). Freshly cooked breakfasts? Curry, carvery, chocolate fountain in Flambos when it first opened. How I miss those days.

Now it’s hot dogs in a flask or bring my own rollover hot dog and heat it up under the hot air dryer in the toilets
 
I genuinely think it all stems back to the architecture of the business being focused on finance rather than customer-orientation. The marketing department should play a huge role in understanding customer needs, behaviour and expectations then doubling down to meet those expectations and keeping the promises it makes to its customer base through integration with other departments like operations.

To me, it signals that the marketing function just don’t have any involvement in decisions which impact customer experience. They’re just being used as a tool for promotional/advertising activity.

I firmly believe this is why they keep making these decisions on outsourcing to dreadful partners, setting overinflated prices, failing to maintain operational standards expected from the over-promising and over-setting of expectations in customer-facing comms, etc.

I wouldn’t be so miffed if the website didn’t sell the food/beverage experience as ‘out of this world’. It just seems there’s no cohesion between departments and no marketing input into things which impact the customer’s experience.
 
This post is not an excuse for the outsourcing of F&B to Aramark, however with the recent increase in investment seen across the company, could this be some sort of method Merlin has used to partially raise capital for new attractions (Horizon, Exodus, Jumanji etc) and they've potentially concluded that any brand damage caused within the period of the outsourcing is outweighed by the increased attention towards new attractions? I'm not that well-versed in business ideas so I'd love to hear what other TS members think.
 
Bert2theSpark said:
This post is not an excuse for the outsourcing of F&B to Aramark, however with the recent increase in investment seen across the company, could this be some sort of method Merlin has used to partially raise capital for new attractions (Horizon, Exodus, Jumanji etc) and they've potentially concluded that any brand damage caused within the period of the outsourcing is outweighed by the increased attention towards new attractions? I'm not that well-versed in business ideas so I'd love to hear what other TS members think.
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Not my department so can’t categorically state that this isn’t the plan, but “roll out the prison burgers for a few years so we can afford that new coaster” doesn’t seem like a common business plan to me.
 
They aren’t serving “prison burgers” I would expect the supply chain hasn’t changed.
It is possible for a company to operate across a wide range of locations, Aramark also run food at a lot of stadia and arenas in the US.

The food quality and choice issues massively pre-date Aramark taking over.
 
I think anyone working in "Guest Excellence" at Towers or Merlin (probably Thorpe & Chessie too) need some rapid re-training, or firing.

The left hand has lost sight of what the right hand is doing. Out-sourcing all the food offer, whilst promoting it online as "fantastical" and cranking the prices up and up in the process. I would strongly suggest that many guests will not find the Aramark offer to be remotely "fantastical" - quite the opposite. I look forward to the TripAdvisor / Twitter reviews (we've already had the infamous AT breakfast in a box and the season has not yet started).

I am sure Aramark will be able to dictate the supply-chain they use for their food at the Merlin attractions as part of the out-sourcing deal. Merlin were excellent at sourcing breakfast sausages from local sawmills (i.e. practically inedible sawdust). I am sure Aramark will be able to find a cheaper supplier. Again, the left hand / right hand comment in Guest Excellence applies. Merlin have control over the prices that the hotels charge at Towers, they are charging premium prices and through their out-sourcing catering, offering food that is seemingly way overpriced & does not match the price-point of the accommodation in terms of quality.
 
jon81uk said:
They aren’t serving “prison burgers” I would expect the supply chain hasn’t changed.
It is possible for a company to operate across a wide range of locations, Aramark also run food at a lot of stadia and arenas in the US.
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I’m well aware of how it works, having previously worked for Compass who are a very similar company - just having a bit of a laugh :)

I think as far as ‘brand damage’ goes, nobody in an outsourcing agreement goes into it with an expectation that quality will suffer. Any outsourcing company worth its salt will go in with promises, presentations and case studies to prove that they can cut costs and improve experience for guests, but we all know of times where this doesn’t work out quite as intended - at least in the early days.
 
jon81uk said:
Aramark also run food at a lot of stadia and arenas in the US.

The food quality and choice issues massively pre-date Aramark taking over.
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Yeah they do colleges too.

www.csudhbulletin.com

Stop Aramark: Students Continue to Protest the 10 Year contract - The Bulletin

In a demonstration led by the BSU, many showed up to denounce the university’s deal with Aramark. Photo by Brenda Sanchez-Barrera. By Brenda Sanchez-Barrera, Editor-in-Chief and Leah Quintero, Managing Editor The Black Student Union (BSU) organized a peaceful protest Nov. 10 at the LSU Palm...
www.csudhbulletin.com www.csudhbulletin.com

To quote this bit :

“students have spoken up about the continuous digestive problems they’ve experienced that have left them ill for hours and some even days. ”

Also talks about mistreatment of staff and recycling of old food. This is dated 2022.
 
Without going over the whole prison food arguments again, one would imagine the rules around food hygiene and food safety are higher in the EU and UK than in the USA.

I'm not sure anecdotal stories from the USA have any relevance to the Merlin operations.
 
Alsty said:
Without going over the whole prison food arguments again, one would imagine the rules around food hygiene and food safety are higher in the EU and UK than in the USA.

I'm not sure anecdotal stories from the USA have any relevance to the Merlin operations.
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Wait until the UK government passes the Retained EU Law Bill, Aramark will cost-cut to their US operationational standards at the first possible opportunity...

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3340
 
I highly doubt that Aramark do what they want regarding menus. I imagine the park has to approve everything.
 
Poisson said:
I highly doubt that Aramark do what they want regarding menus. I imagine the park has to approve everything.
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It'll all have been benchmarked against what they were doing prior to handover.

And that's one of the most depressing things about the arrangement, because it basically confirms that the crap standards will continue for the foreseeable.
 
It’s a bit disappointing that although Aramark have had a year down south to see what works, what doesn’t work, etc, we are left with identical menus (or even reduced menus) this season at towers.

I was hoping we might have seen some big changes to F&B, I’m sure in the original press release it mentioned major changes to outlets, themed food, etc. none of which has happened at towers!
 
djtruefitt said:
It’s a bit disappointing that although Aramark have had a year down south to see what works, what doesn’t work, etc, we are left with identical menus (or even reduced menus) this season at towers.

I was hoping we might have seen some big changes to F&B, I’m sure in the original press release it mentioned major changes to outlets, themed food, etc. none of which has happened at towers!
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You would have thought at Aramark would be very interested in themed food - particularly where there is an IP tie-in on the ride or restaurant (so mainly CBeebies Land / TWODW / CBeebies Hotel restaurant). You only have to see the premium that Disney get away with charging for any food item that is in the silhouette shape of Mickey's head & ears.
 
djtruefitt said:
It’s a bit disappointing that although Aramark have had a year down south to see what works, what doesn’t work, etc, we are left with identical menus (or even reduced menus) this season at towers
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Don't worry, the menus down south are crap too!
 
I'll be quite relieved if the Woodcutters menu remains the same this year, as I was worried Aramark would take it and slim it right down. It has been the only decent place to eat on park for the past few years now.
 
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