Food & Beverage: The Aramark Era begins

[Poisson]

I was (rather naively) expecting something remotely similar to the Krusty Burger one....how wrong I was!

Ah, they misheard and made a crusty burger, nice and fetid

 

[GaryH]

Jeeeez oh my god, what the heck was that! I would rather eat from a dodgy kebab van that eat that thing.

 

[AstroDan]

I ate at Woodcutters for the first time this season on Saturday. The menu was largely unchanged on 2022 (just with the 10% uplift in price), however I did note that:

• There were no real healthy alternatives. The salad, which has always been a staple on the menu, was not shown.
• No sauces were shown for steak. They have always offered peppercorn.
• Service was abysmally slow. It is unacceptable to wait 45-60 minutes for a main meal.
• Meals did not arrive at similar times - even though we all ordered at the same time, they arrived within a 15 minute period.
• We had to ask for steak knives, they were not provided with the steak meal automatically.

My steak itself was fine although the onion rings served are *extremely poor quality*. I do ask myself why we can't have self-service outlets in the UK, though... it would really speed things up but at the same time offer a nice meal.

 

[Spark]

To be fair that doesnt look to bad,

 

[Poisson]

I assume they no longer have an expeditor, be it the lead chef or a specific role. Cuts down on staff.

 

[Zeock]

I ate at Woodcutters for the first time this season on Saturday. The menu was largely unchanged on 2022 (just with the 10% uplift in price), however I did note that:

• There were no real healthy alternatives. The salad, which has always been a staple on the menu, was not shown.
• No sauces were shown for steak. They have always offered peppercorn.
• Service was abysmally slow. It is unacceptable to wait 45-60 minutes for a main meal.
• Meals did not arrive at similar times - even though we all ordered at the same time, they arrived within a 15 minute period.
• We had to ask for steak knives, they were not provided with the steak meal automatically.

My steak itself was fine although the onion rings served are *extremely poor quality*. I do ask myself why we can't have self-service outlets in the UK, though... it would really speed things up but at the same time offer a nice meal.

Looks pretty nice actually! Never been to Woodcutters, so can't really comment on how tasty the food is.

 

[Rick]

I'd be pleasantly surprised if that turned up.

 

[Earthwürm]

I'd be pleasantly surprised if that turned up.

So would I, if I'd ordered it in a Sainsbury's cafe for a tenner or less.

 

[Craig]

Dan’s comments about woodcutters were more regarding the service than the food, the steak is usually pretty decent. I do agree on the onion rings front, they really are cheap, but in general the food is fine especially considering the alternatives on park.

What’s not fine is having to chow down on it while the person opposite waits another 15 minutes on top of the 45 you’ve both already waited. Wait times and service times shouldn’t be that high or vary that much when you’ve both ordered at the same time.

 

[djtruefitt]

As Burger King and just chicken have had menu changes in the past week or so, I imagine other places like woodcutters will as well, which doesn’t bode when when the steak will probably be replaced by “generic meat” steak and the chicken burger will become a “bird in a bun”.

I definitely think the quality has changed elsewhere, these signs have been altered in the windows of burger kitchen:


I think it used to have 100% in the bits which have been removed, which I assume now means they aren’t using 100% pure beef or 100% chicken breast

 

[Ash]

As Burger King and just chicken have had menu changes in the past week or so, I imagine other places like woodcutters will as well, which doesn’t bode when when the steak will probably be replaced by “generic meat” steak and the chicken burger will become a “bird in a bun”.

I definitely think the quality has changed elsewhere, these signs have been altered in the windows of burger kitchen:


I think it used to have 100% in the bits which have been removed, which I assume now means they aren’t using 100% pure beef or 100% chicken breast

Wow.

A new low.

The place needs to get a grip, they wouldn’t serve this rubbish to the chief exec so why should we accept it? When will this please actually attempt to be “better”?

Trip advisor. Trip advisor. Trip advisor.

Hit them where it hurts

 

[Kraken27]

This is really scraping a new low. Quite what were Merlin thinking?! The now head of "Product Excellence" for Merlin used to be on these forums - given that there is very little product excellence on the F&B front (park operations a bit dubious also this year) I can see why he is silent.

With regard to Aramark...

TripAdvisor
Twitter
Any other forum
[email protected] (the CEO's email address)

The fact that Towers have already stopped responding to TripAdvisor comments regarding food says it all. No more Fantastical boiler-plate replies from the 17yr old work-experience person on the social media channel.

 

[GaryH]

That’s really shocking taking out the 100% bits from be signs on the windows!!

 

[pluk]

I don't understand how removing the 100% would address the legal implications of such claims though?

Although pure is not a defined term for food marketing purposes, it has a standard definition in English that would amount to 0% of the product not being beef. The chicken breast claim is even clearer, all of our chicken is still 100% of our chicken.

While these are not protected terms (like natural amd organic), the food standards rules are pretty clear...

Food information shall not be misleading, particularly:
a) as to the characteristics of the food and in particular, as to its nature, identity, properties,
composition, quantity, durability, country of origin or place of provenance, method of
manufacture or production;
b) by attributing to the food effects or properties which it does not possess;
c) by suggesting that the food possesses special characteristics when in fact all similar foods
possess such characteristics in particular by specifically emphasising the presence or absence
of certain ingredients and/or nutrients;
d) by suggesting, by means of the appearance, the description or pictorial representations, the
presence of a particular food or an ingredient, while in reality a component naturally present
or an ingredient normally used in that food has been substituted with a different component
or a different ingredient.”


...so what are Aramark up to, and is it legal?

 

[GaryH]

I think there is a questionable stuff going on there at the moment

 

[Alix]

Has anyone had any success with vegan options since Aramark took over? I stayed in the Shark Hotel end of March and dinner was abysmal, (vegan sausage or nothing) planning a trip to Towers and wondering if it’s any better/worse?

 

[D4n]

Has anyone had any success with vegan options since Aramark took over? I stayed in the Shark Hotel end of March and dinner was abysmal, (vegan sausage or nothing) planning a trip to Towers and wondering if it’s any better/worse?

Woodcutters is nice if you like burgers. They do a decent "jackfruit" one (which I'm convinced is no longer jackfruit since December but is still good quality).

Also do a curry and a wrap which I wouldn't particularly recommend but tmmeans there are three choices.

The worst thing about the curry is the rice. It's always heated in the microwave and the rice is clammy at best.

Other options are more limited, although Vegan Rollover Hot Dogs are served and I believe most fast food outlets do some kind of poor quality burger.

 

[Alix]

Woodcutters is nice if you like burgers. They do a decent "jackfruit" one (which I'm convinced is no longer jackfruit since December but is still good quality).

Also do a curry and a wrap which I wouldn't particularly recommend but tmmeans there are three choices.

The worst thing about the curry is the rice. It's always heated in the microwave and the rice is clammy at best.

Other options are more limited, although Vegan Rollover Hot Dogs are served and I believe most fast food outlets do some kind of poor quality burger.

Thanks @D4n - it shouldn’t be this difficult these days didn’t someone say Woodcutters take ages to serve? Perhaps packed lunch is best option for now until Aramark get the hang of things.

 

[Rob]

Thanks @D4n - it shouldn’t be this difficult these days didn’t someone say Woodcutters take ages to serve? Perhaps packed lunch is best option for now until Aramark get the hang of things.

Unfortunately it does, yes. And depending on when you go it may take a while to get seated, so if you opt for Woodcutters, be prepared to have up to 90 minutes of your day taken up.

 

[Alix]

Unfortunately it does, yes. And depending on when you go it may take a while to get seated, so if you opt for Woodcutters, be prepared to have up to 90 minutes of your day taken up.

Goodness. I can’t do that! I’m the sort who eats lunch in a long queue to avoid wasting time