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Food & Beverage: The Aramark Era begins
- Thread starter AT86
- Start date
Plastic Person
TS Member
While I very much wish Aramark were not in charge of catering at the park, I can't say I'm particularly enthused about the idea of a Wetherspoons, a Greggs, a Nandos and so on doing the work instead. All brands I'll occasionally visit on the UK high street without prejudice, but not really my preference, and a break to the admittedly vague illusion of escapism that a day or two at Alton Towers should provide.
McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut worked for the 90s, but food culture and the franchise model has moved on in the UK since. A park of Alton's stature should just be able to manage to serve decent, profitable food of the sort that external vendors provide during Mardi Gras, Oktoberfest, etc.
McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut worked for the 90s, but food culture and the franchise model has moved on in the UK since. A park of Alton's stature should just be able to manage to serve decent, profitable food of the sort that external vendors provide during Mardi Gras, Oktoberfest, etc.
Wetherspoons wouldn't be interested in a location inside a gated attraction with daytime opening and seasonal closures. Even if they somehow got a site up near the hotels I doubt it'd work for them.
The point is that Wetherspoons food is not particularly spectacular but is decent; Alton Towers food is way lower quality (mostly) and way more expensive.
The point is that Wetherspoons food is not particularly spectacular but is decent; Alton Towers food is way lower quality (mostly) and way more expensive.
Plastic Person
TS Member
Yeah, I'm not against Wetherspoons (although their politics and petty point-scoring literature is not my bag), and I'd even rather stay in one of their hotels than anywhere at ATR right now. But I would not want to step into a franchised Wetherspoons in the park, it would just feel odd. As you say, it wouldn't be for them, either.
Saying that, they could likely do a tasteful job of renovating a whole wing of the Towers. Imagine, you could step right out of Hex and be supping a pint, silently watching Sky News within seconds.
Like the Old El Paso Mexican thing in Merrie England? Or the Kentucky Fried Chicken/Pizza Hut combo in Katanga Canyon?
Let's get walking with 'passable food at a price which isn't a total rip-off' before we try running with themed foodstuffs I reckon!
If they put a 'spoons in, I would never get my wife on the rides...ever.
Pissed and naughty all the way up the M6 after as well...just no!
jon81uk
TS Member
AT has never had food themed to the area it is in.
Craig
TS Administrator
I think we can probably leave the discussion about Spoons now, it's highly, highly unlikely to ever happen....
For me personally, a "theme" could be related to the menu items being offered, or to the restaurant itself. I'd rather not see fast food franchises back and see Towers do something decent themselves, but even when we had those franchises at least KFC, Pizza Hut and Maccies were generally themed to the areas they were in. They were out of the ordinary, something different from the norm. The massive car on Cred Street McDonalds or the fans on the walls in Katanga KFC. In house, we had Nemesis Nosh - not selling any food specifically themed - but served out of a dystopian double decker bus outside Nemesis. At present those themes have been watered down to either being non existent like the large Burger Kitchen, or a vague vinyl job with a few bits and bobs chucked in like Just Chicken.
More recently we've seen burgers themed to different rides in Rollercoaster Restaurant and we've seen themed menu items for Scarefest. They've done it in the past, so there's no reason they can't do it in future.
Bottom line for me is firstly I'd just like some variety that's of decent quality. I accept it's going to be more expensive than outside of the theme park, but for god's sake sell it to me with some half decent presentation and something that's actually unique.
Secondly, as I've mentioned before a theme park should have food as part of the experience. I want escapism at a theme park - I shouldn't walk into an outlet such as Burger Kitchen and feel like I could be wandering into any random burger place in a shopping centre. Give guests something out of the ordinary, or fantastical as the marketing bods are all too keen to say.
TL;DR - Put some effort and thought into it, it's not too much to ask.
For me personally, a "theme" could be related to the menu items being offered, or to the restaurant itself. I'd rather not see fast food franchises back and see Towers do something decent themselves, but even when we had those franchises at least KFC, Pizza Hut and Maccies were generally themed to the areas they were in. They were out of the ordinary, something different from the norm. The massive car on Cred Street McDonalds or the fans on the walls in Katanga KFC. In house, we had Nemesis Nosh - not selling any food specifically themed - but served out of a dystopian double decker bus outside Nemesis. At present those themes have been watered down to either being non existent like the large Burger Kitchen, or a vague vinyl job with a few bits and bobs chucked in like Just Chicken.
More recently we've seen burgers themed to different rides in Rollercoaster Restaurant and we've seen themed menu items for Scarefest. They've done it in the past, so there's no reason they can't do it in future.
Bottom line for me is firstly I'd just like some variety that's of decent quality. I accept it's going to be more expensive than outside of the theme park, but for god's sake sell it to me with some half decent presentation and something that's actually unique.
Secondly, as I've mentioned before a theme park should have food as part of the experience. I want escapism at a theme park - I shouldn't walk into an outlet such as Burger Kitchen and feel like I could be wandering into any random burger place in a shopping centre. Give guests something out of the ordinary, or fantastical as the marketing bods are all too keen to say.
TL;DR - Put some effort and thought into it, it's not too much to ask.
Totally agree with Craig - the Spoons business model does not fit in with any theme park, irrespective of seasonal / year-round opening. Spoons would decimate any parks restaurants - why pay double for food in RCR or Woodcutters when you could get it at half the price in Spoons? For this reason alone, no UK park would let them operate within the park itself.
I further agree with Craig that the food should be part of the park experience. You only have to look what the likes of Disney, Europa Park & Phantasialand do here. In EPCOT, the food is themed to the country in question in the world pavilions around the lake (then look at what they do for food & wine festival!) Both Europa and Phantasialand theme their food offer to the different themed areas to a decent extent.
Towers really should take note on just how much money there is to be made on themed food (won't happen for the duration of the Aramark contract). If the food is decent and a bit different to what the guest can get elsewhere day-in, day-out then people are willing to pay to an extent, even in the current climate. It's when they are charged double what they would pay day-in, day-out for absolute rubbish that the problems start - just read TripAdvisor. The boiler-plate replies from the "Guest Excellence Team" ignore any comments about the food & just give an email address to keep the comments off TripAdvisor.
As an aside, I would love to see the job description / necessary skills like for a Guest Excellence Team member. I think just about being able to read & spell, plus knowing what CTRL+C & CTRL-P does is about it.
I further agree with Craig that the food should be part of the park experience. You only have to look what the likes of Disney, Europa Park & Phantasialand do here. In EPCOT, the food is themed to the country in question in the world pavilions around the lake (then look at what they do for food & wine festival!) Both Europa and Phantasialand theme their food offer to the different themed areas to a decent extent.
Towers really should take note on just how much money there is to be made on themed food (won't happen for the duration of the Aramark contract). If the food is decent and a bit different to what the guest can get elsewhere day-in, day-out then people are willing to pay to an extent, even in the current climate. It's when they are charged double what they would pay day-in, day-out for absolute rubbish that the problems start - just read TripAdvisor. The boiler-plate replies from the "Guest Excellence Team" ignore any comments about the food & just give an email address to keep the comments off TripAdvisor.
As an aside, I would love to see the job description / necessary skills like for a Guest Excellence Team member. I think just about being able to read & spell, plus knowing what CTRL+C & CTRL-P does is about it.
djtruefitt
TS Team
I noticed yesterday the menu in burger kitchen on the wall has been updated since last week (no longer a bit of paper), the layout has also changed and it does suggest they will sell ice creams in there, which is currently not on the touch screens.
Far as I can tell prices are the same.
And here’s the menu last week:
Far as I can tell prices are the same.
And here’s the menu last week:
Thameslink Rail
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Smiler
Hang on, they have the heading "ICE CREAM SUNDAE" (singular) and the list below it includes an apple and an orange?
djtruefitt
TS Team
A month into the season and Burger kitchen are already on their third menu.
venny
TS Member
Someone asked how the Aramark contract works and whilst I truly don’t know, my guess would be that they’ve taken over the operation wholesale.
That would look something like TUPE’d existing staff/recruited new and are then free to set their own prices and menus, perhaps within a framework. For example, Woodcutters has to be a waiter service outlet, there must be a healthy and vegan option etc. There may then be some KPIs they need to hit for guest feedback, but otherwise they run the whole operation and take the profits/loss, whilst paying Merlin some sort of fee - either flat or based on revenue.
That’s my guess anyway and if it’s right there’s really no impetus for thematic integration of either the outlets or their food. Their focus will be on eeking out every last penny any way they can.
Does anyone have any better knowledge on the contractual arrangement than this?
That would look something like TUPE’d existing staff/recruited new and are then free to set their own prices and menus, perhaps within a framework. For example, Woodcutters has to be a waiter service outlet, there must be a healthy and vegan option etc. There may then be some KPIs they need to hit for guest feedback, but otherwise they run the whole operation and take the profits/loss, whilst paying Merlin some sort of fee - either flat or based on revenue.
That’s my guess anyway and if it’s right there’s really no impetus for thematic integration of either the outlets or their food. Their focus will be on eeking out every last penny any way they can.
Does anyone have any better knowledge on the contractual arrangement than this?
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
Whilst there has been a somewhat shambolic start, I do think it'll be next year before we can properly assess F&B development.
It's messy, inconsistent, lacking variety and questionable in quality at the moment.
But food hasn't suddenly plummeted under Aramark. Yes they've jacked prices up but food was pretty lousy before. It had been worsening for years.
Infact, the menu at Just Chicken *looks* better now. Prices aside, of course...
A lot of the issues in all areas of the resort - F&B included - this year seem to simply stem from the fact the they just weren't ready for the new season.
That's not really ok.
It's messy, inconsistent, lacking variety and questionable in quality at the moment.
But food hasn't suddenly plummeted under Aramark. Yes they've jacked prices up but food was pretty lousy before. It had been worsening for years.
Infact, the menu at Just Chicken *looks* better now. Prices aside, of course...
A lot of the issues in all areas of the resort - F&B included - this year seem to simply stem from the fact the they just weren't ready for the new season.
That's not really ok.
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Alsty
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Fury 325
Although now it's "... pure beef" and "we use ... chicken breast", so there's been a further drop in the quality of the raw ingredients.
As for how Aramark operates. I guess none of us really know but I wonder if they have different tiers when negotiating the contract, i.e a range of different price points with different levels of quality. In which case it would be partly down to Merlin for picking the cheaper ones to maximise their profits.
jon81uk
TS Member
On the pricing I've noticed that actual KFC has hit £10.49 for a tower box meal or £7.49 for just a burger meal and its probably only a year ago when the box meal was about £8.
So although the theme park prices are still quite significantly higher, prices in general seem to be increasing at a massive rate in the last few months.
So although the theme park prices are still quite significantly higher, prices in general seem to be increasing at a massive rate in the last few months.
Indeed, grocery inflation is at an all time high of 17.5%. Contrary to popular belief in general fast food operators don't operate on giant markups and KFC are on the lower side because of their reliance on fresh poultry.