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Food & Beverage: The Aramark Era begins

Funny how these things come in waves. I remember back in the late 90s(?) when it was all in-house food and it was rubbish. Then the franchises came in and the food was better, at least you got what you expected. Eventually standards dropped and it went back to in-house, and now it's outsourced (but to a layperson it looks in-house still). I wonder if it will eventually go back to franchises and the cycle will start again
 
Alsty said:
Funny how these things come in waves. I remember back in the late 90s(?) when it was all in-house food and it was rubbish. Then the franchises came in and the food was better, at least you got what you expected. Eventually standards dropped and it went back to in-house, and now it's outsourced (but to a layperson it looks in-house still). I wonder if it will eventually go back to franchises and the cycle will start again
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I don't think the standards dropped with McDonalds, Tussauds/Merlin/AT/CWoA wanted more money so got rid. As far as I remember McDonalds and KFC were still serving to their normal standard to the end.

I do think its only the waited service that offered an imediate improvement and point of difference over the brands. Burger Kitchen was no better than Burger King and The Fried Chicken Co no better than KFC. But the option of Woodcutters and then later Towers St Grill and Rollercoaster Restaurant provided something new and higher quality.
 
I don’t think people will pay it and go back again next year and pay it again. I actually think things are different this time. Given the cost of living crisis people are wanting something decent for their money, and as money is hard to come by now, people can’t afford and won’t make the same mistake twice. Maybe in the past when money wasn’t so tight people might think they’ll give things another try…,, I don’t think people will now.
 
James said:
Food and beverage provisions have never been perfect at Alton Towers. When there was KFC/McDoanlds/Burger King there were complaints about poor service, when the restaurants switched to in-house it was ok at first then after a season or two the lack of a range of items and the quality of food was criticised, and now we're here with Aramark with poor food and extortionate prices. Unfortunately, poor food, crap service and high prices are the norm in UK parks. It doesn't help when you have Merlin with a monopoly.

Aramark/Merlin don't care as the majority of guests will still pay for the crap food, moan about it, and come back the following year and pay for it all over again.
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The Swiss Cottage...wonderful food, drink, staff and view.
My mum only grumbled about the cost, but she went back...twice!
I didn't have to pay, so I loved it.
 
GaryH said:
I don’t think people will pay it and go back again next year and pay it again. I actually think things are different this time. Given the cost of living crisis people are wanting something decent for their money, and as money is hard to come by now, people can’t afford and won’t make the same mistake twice. Maybe in the past when money wasn’t so tight people might think they’ll give things another try…,, I don’t think people will now.
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This is true, I also think there's a lot more shared on social media and TripAdvisor that there would have been even 10-15 years ago. Lots of discussion about the poor food quality across all platforms, people will respond accordingly. Either by bringing their own food or not going to the resort altogether. I don't think they'll come out of this unscathed somehow.
 
rob666 said:
The Swiss Cottage...wonderful food, drink, staff and view.
My mum only grumbled about the cost, but she went back...twice!
I didn't have to pay, so I loved it.
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I think many of us would go back if the food and drink was very good despite the cost.
 
Guaranteed we will see the same people queuing for Churchill Downs mystery meat burgers every week at the resort.

I haven’t had any food from Alton since 2015. It was awful then so I can’t imagine how bad it is now.

I really hope people stop buying them. It’s the only way they will learn. Unfortunately they may need to get scalded once before the lesson is learnt. They will still turn decent profit this year at least.
 
I'm not a fussy eater and will quite happily snaffle a decent good value meal at Wetherspoon.

Tend to cook my own food inexpensively rather than order takeaways and tend to keep the recipes simple, but...

...the prices, presentation, freshness, variety, flavour, portion size, advertising, photography at AT this year are absolutely dire (and I'm no gastrosnob).

Hard to believe that they have allowed it to come to this. Most people will pay a fair price for good food and some will happily pay a premium price.

There current policy seems to be, outsource the responsibility, pay staff minimum wage, deliver sub franchise quality food, mark up the price by between a third and a half again of what it should be, let it sit under arc lights for god knows how long, make it as generic as possible, and watch as people just bring their own food.

I have always commended AT for allowing guests to bring their own snap (as opposed the the virtual body cavity searches at BPB), but if they want to make good money on food sold on park, they need to make it appealing. When everyone brings their own, I can see them putting a ban on this rather than bringing their offerings up to scratch which would be sad.

For god's sake just get some massive slow cookers and serve up some tasty snap using fresh ingredients.

Serve plump burgers made to order with ground beef and good quality toppings and condiments.

The current strategy is hard to understand.

If this continues, more people will bring their own snap, more outlets will close to reduce costs, ingredients will be further cheapened, resulting in yet more packed lunches.

Give people and enjoyable experience and they will use it!
 
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Prices have been continuously rising at the Hotels and across the park in general, but this is simply extortion. There is very little competition for the park nearby right now and they know that, thus we get these massive gouges in our pockets. To charge £4.40 for a garlic butter is absolutely ridiculous given the portion size.

I've myself enjoyed many a meal at Secret Garden over the years and do still choose to visit, but luckily have Annual Pass or other discounts available to me, to the average consumer, I'd recommend going and ordering from Grillways or Cheadle Kebab.

The park either needs to realise how much this price increase recently is outrageous, or someone needs to build a decent hotel complex right outside the front gates.

The quality of food across park has decreased rapidly but prices have risen, give over Merlin.
 
A "basic" double bacon cheeseburger in my local Wetherspoons is about £11 - and that includes a pint too. Or can go for the "gourmet" BBQ burger that includes onion rings too for about a quid extra.

Someone at Aramark has been smoking something dubious - was probably sold it by a Towers guest as the aroma of weed being smoked is not exactly unusual at Towers.

I should also add that where on-park food is concerned, there have been very variable reports of slow & jumbled-up service in Woodcutters since Aramark took over. At least in a Wetherspoons the food generally turns up fairly promptly & together is everyone at the table ordered together.
 
Keep an eye out for the rest of this evening on social media (especially Facebook) for more photos of the dishes served and comments for Secret Garden Restaurant 2023.

Relife said:
Close to £10 for a starter, Christ on a bike. Cheapest main is £17 and that's before you add any drinks. Miller & Carter prices with sub Weatherpoons quality.
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I was at M&C last Thursday and to be honest M&C is less expensive by some way, especially vs. steak.

The starters at M&C are similar to SGR but SGR's starters are very 1990s with paté, soup, wings, bread and prawn cocktail. Hardly imaginative.

The pricing across the board is mind bogglingly inconsistent.
 
I would like someone at Merlin to explain to me how it’s only 55p more to get a side of chips compared to a £4.40 ramekin of garlic butter… It‘s almost like they’re trying to put you off having the garlic butter and steak sauces!
 
You see, looking at your socials now. The food looks good. On the pricy side, but certainly appetising and well put together.


From: https://www.facebook.com/TowersStreet/posts/pfbid0kCxvyvWwfvDFqTL7i3DiKfshrcAVUmjDX7jDTZhUEQhjKcX6TsUNY9fB6BqWr9fUl


This does raise the question though. Do the park know you guys are Towers Street? If they do, does that influence the presentation. One would hope the answer is no. I guess you could very quickly work out if this was the case or not by seeing what other people are getting sent out.
 
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DistortAMG said:
You see, looking at your socials bow. The food looks good. On the pricy side, but certainly appetising and well put together.


This does raise the question though. Do the park know you guys are Towers Street? If they do, does that influence the presentation. One would hope the answer is no. I guess you could very quickly work out if this was the case or not by seeing what other people are getting sent out.
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There's no doubt that some staff may know some of us, but generally - no. To be honest, breakfast aside, the food does generally tend to be fine in Secret Garden. It's the service and the pricing that lets it down. It's all well and good having a perfectly nice meal taste wise, but when you're waiting an age to order/get your food/to pay what is extremely high prices then it quickly takes the shine off it.
 
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