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Food & Beverage: The Aramark Era begins

s_g_k said:
That looks excellent! Perfectly cooked duck as well.

The stark contrast in price vs quality needs addressing urgently.

I think I’ve already posted this picture before, but I paid £13 for this abomination at fireworks last year from BK in Mutiny Bay. Probably £1.50 worth of ingredients at best, no doubt much less.
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I had a large XL bacon cheese burger meal today at Thorpe Burger King and that was only £11.99, compared to your burger above.

Johnny Rocket said:
It sounds like so far the places that Aramark have opened new from scratch have been decent, like the Gloomy Wood treats, FV chicken, turkey legs in World of Jumanji etc, but the places they’ve inherited are just garbage like Burger Kitchen, Just Chicken etc… would it be fair to say maybe they’re just working their way round incredibly slowly?

Not heard reviews for the new food places at Thorpe and Chessington for this year yet - the curry and bubble tea outlets, Fish and Chips etc but if they’re decent then maybe there’s some hope.
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I think the new places at Thorpe aren’t Aramark as they are all kiosk type places, think they are ran by that Pineapple company Thorpe use.

Having been to chessie and Thorpe this weekend, all the prices have risen, the chessie fried chicken place is identical to towers with same basic menu and same expensive prices. Same with Thorpe pizza pasta which is £21 for adults too.
 
A little late to the party with my thoughts, but I visited last Monday 18th March and took a punt on Rollercoaster Restaurant for lunch.

I ordered the Hunters chicken and chips and was really happy with what I received. The portion size was large, the quality was high, and it was hot.

Given my last experience in 2022, which was an abomination, I was happily surprised.

My concern is a potential lack of consistency - I visited on a very quiet day, with low expectations. I wouldn’t dare recommend it for fear of what a busy Saturday lunchtime experience could be!
 
I just don't understand how they can mess up pizza's, nuggets, burgers, and chips though? All have proven, well tested, efficient preparation processes. Buying frozen chips, pizza ingredients, processed beef and chicken is cheap. Making it is quick and cheap.

People don't walk into quick service restaurants, or up to burger van counters expecting Michelin style gourmet stuff. They just want something cheap, warm, and quick to fill a hole. It's a theme park staple for those in a hurry. They'll expect it to be processed crap full of saturated fat, and probably to pay around a tenner for some protein, chips and a soft drink in a theme park. We're not expecting Five Guys, Dominos, or even Burger King quality here, just in the ball park of McDonald's at an inflated price will do.

Even McDonald's manage to have 100% beef patties. Pictures won't do it justice, compare an acceptable fast food meal with the nonsense they are serving and they'll both look like junk, because that's exactly what they are. But it's set an extremely low bar if they can't get processed junk food right.
 
Matt.GC said:
I just don't understand how they can mess up pizza's, nuggets, burgers, and chips though? All have proven, well tested, efficient preparation processes. Buying frozen chips, pizza ingredients, processed beef and chicken is cheap. Making it is quick and cheap.

People don't walk into quick service restaurants, or up to burger van counters expecting Michelin style gourmet stuff. They just want something cheap, warm, and quick to fill a hole. It's a theme park staple for those in a hurry. They'll expect it to be processed crap full of saturated fat, and probably to pay around a tenner for some protein, chips and a soft drink in a theme park. We're not expecting Five Guys, Dominos, or even Burger King quality here, just in the ball park of McDonald's at an inflated price will do.

Even McDonald's manage to have 100% beef patties. Pictures won't do it justice, compare an acceptable fast food meal with the nonsense they are serving and they'll both look like junk, because that's exactly what they are. But it's set an extremely low bar if they can't get processed junk food right.
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From the photos others have put up recently it doesn't seem to be the ingredient sourcing that is the issue, they are buying cheaper quality than they used to and then not training staff well enough to assemble the meal right, or being cheap (like only one slice of gherkin). There seems to be a lot more issues with service than ingrediants.
 
I dont know about the food but had a hot choc from the kiosk as you approach the ruins and omg it was to die for was 1 of the best ive had on a day out.
 
The inconsistency is purely down to staff training, or lack of it.

Like a lot of people I've done a spell in fast food (well, Domino's) and we weren't allowed on the make-line until we were able to rattle off every pizza to franchise specifications. See also McD, the burgers look naff all like the pictures but if you have one in London and one in New York they are going to be effectively identical as they are following the spec.

I'm hesitant to say it but the quality does seem marginally better this year. The chips from Just Chicken this weekend were decent enough and a large portion was actually a large portion. The chicken tenders passed the child-test too and our freakshakes from Alton Manor area were their usual top-drawer standard.
 
I’ve had a response from the head of guest experience!

He said clarity over food labelling is something they’re working on, and thanked me for my feedback. So no concrete promises of change, but at least I got a response.

Still nothing from Aramark. Yet.
 
Ate at rollercoaster restaurant earlier and thought the food was fine and price wasn't too bad so for a cheeseburger meal + hunters chicken meal both adult sizes and a side of macaroni bites I paid £30 I think would have been £37 without map discount.

The portions were massive, my brother couldn't finish his and the food quality was just fine, comparing this to £33 I paid in beefeater the other day for a starter, burger meal, dessert and lemonade which was just for myself so the pricing I paid today in rcr isn't awful in this day and age.

I think the main thing what it comes down to is the quality of the food was good enough so even though I paid a theme park premium and for the gimmick of it coming on rollercoaster track I didn't leave with a bitter taste in my mouth, if the food was crap and I paid that premium of course it makes people leave quite dissatisfied.
 
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I’ve had another email from Towers guest services. Apologising again for lack of communications regarding dietary options, and another promise that they’re looking into it. They also asked how the day went so I’ve given them specific feedback of where things were good and not so good. It’s nice to feel listened to, but really would prefer to see some action.

Still nothing from Aramark though - so I’ve let guest services know Aramark don’t appear to reply to that email address.

I also spotted on the Thorpe app they clearly mark where vegan/veggie options are available - so if they can do it, why are Towers finding it so difficult?
 

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I've removed a number of off topic posts relating to the recent Lewes Prison incident. As we have established many (many) times before, Aramark have a HUGE number of contracts with businesses and organisations throughout the world. It's worth noting there is no mention of Aramark on the BBC article, and the circumstances of the incident are still being established.

Regardless of that, first and foremost this is an Alton Towers topic, and if we reported on every single incident that Aramark *possibly* had even a remote involvement in, discussion would quickly become bogged down - and at the end of the day much of it has very little to do with what goes on at a theme park. Please keep things related to what is happening at Alton Towers and the wider Merlin group. Obviously if there's something interesting that's worth discussing in the same sector (leisure/sports stadiums etc) then that's fine, but we don't need a running commentary from every single potential story in every single potential sector that the company operates in. Thanks.
 
GaryH said:
New video from Kip Hakes. Argh he doesn’t eat in the hotel in the evening he doesn’t hold back when it comes to what he thought of breakfast…

Fast forward to 26:50


From: https://youtu.be/drRutZh4RJw?si=HP0swFFWEQi3CJTf
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What’s most surprising is that the MAP Holiday Club seems totally unpoliced and open to anyone to take advantage?

I couldn’t see anywhere during the booking process that asks you to confirm your pass number etc, and now that the check in process is self-serve, who’s going to be checking that people without passes aren’t taking advantage?

I’ve just tried to make a booking and got all the way to making the payment. FYI, I am not a pass holder because I live in Devon, but I have no need to stay at the park because my parents only live 15 minutes away.
 
I used holiday club for 2 nights at the Alton towers hotel and never got asked for my code in the booking and never got asked for it whilst checking in even though I didn't check in online and checked in the old school way (I much prefer it that way) I'm not advising anyone to try and abuse it though just a bit odd as I swear they used to ask for your map code whilst booking.
 
Half the time there’s little benefit to booking through Holiday Club anyway. In any case I expect when you don’t have a pass the packages are probably more attractive pricewise in most cases anyway.
 
s_g_k said:
What’s most surprising is that the MAP Holiday Club seems totally unpoliced and open to anyone to take advantage?

I couldn’t see anywhere during the booking process that asks you to confirm your pass number etc, and now that the check in process is self-serve, who’s going to be checking that people without passes aren’t taking advantage?

I’ve just tried to make a booking and got all the way to making the payment. FYI, I am not a pass holder because I live in Devon, but I have no need to stay at the park because my parents only live 15 minutes away.
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Yes we also noticed this, as we do at times work out cheaper than going offsite ( particularly at AT) , none of our stays were checked last year as we used touch screen too, so unless they do check the bank card used is linked to a current passholder ...

Also same applies to self serve food kiosks and the discount.
 
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