£1 pizzas that the bossman at the local takeaway buys from the cash and carry would be an improvement
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Food & Beverage: The Aramark Era begins
Agreed , a burger in a pub around us is anything between £18-£20. However for that the burgers are usually home made, thick and meaty, with bacon, cheese, onion rings, chunky chips, and a side salad.
£20 burger in RCR looks like the ingredients have been thrown in by a kid, a doubly “May contain beef” patty as they are so thin to try and make it look thicker, then sat on, then left to cool for half hour before being served with cheaply curly fries sprinkled with a bit of seasoning to make them appear more expensive. You may get a salad leaf in there if you’re lucky.
I’d happily pay £20 in Alton if it was at least half decent!
£20 burger in RCR looks like the ingredients have been thrown in by a kid, a doubly “May contain beef” patty as they are so thin to try and make it look thicker, then sat on, then left to cool for half hour before being served with cheaply curly fries sprinkled with a bit of seasoning to make them appear more expensive. You may get a salad leaf in there if you’re lucky.
I’d happily pay £20 in Alton if it was at least half decent!
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They should either go back to having chains or they should look locally around the surrounding areas and restaurants that are already set up/well reviewed. Ask them if they’d like to take on a location within the park.
Some great Pizza/Italian/Indian/Burger places in Stoke and the surrounding areas.
The Slamwich Club and Little Dumpling King (located in Hanley) would be decent sit down/quick service restaurants. At least then as well they could say they’re working with the local community etc
This is a pizza van in Stoke and it’s all homemade, prices are reasonable even if he added another 5 quid on top.
Some great Pizza/Italian/Indian/Burger places in Stoke and the surrounding areas.
The Slamwich Club and Little Dumpling King (located in Hanley) would be decent sit down/quick service restaurants. At least then as well they could say they’re working with the local community etc
This is a pizza van in Stoke and it’s all homemade, prices are reasonable even if he added another 5 quid on top.
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If Merlin aren’t willing to amend their contract with Aramark to increase the quality of the base ingredients then I too would support a move back to the big chains. The only blocker I can see though is that since the chains left the park in the late 2000s, the whole fast food industry has changed a lot. Gone are the days where McDonalds only offered 4 burgers or chicken nuggets; you can now customise everything and their menu is expansive. This would require some serious thought in a theme park environment where the space and infrastructure probably isn’t built for what fast food constitutes in this day and age. You could perhaps look at reducing the menus, but this may cause upset to punters who would be expecting the full menu.
GooseOnTheLoose
TS Member
Merlin aren't paying Aramark to run services on their behalf. Aramark are paying Merlin to operate their own services. Merlin do not have a say on the quality of ingredients Aramark choose to use, within their outlets.
Aramark rent food and beverage units from Merlin and operate them independently. They do use the some of existing Merlin trademarks and "brands". They will collaborate on menu ideas for themed items.
Aramark train and hire their own staff. Aramark design their own menus. Aramark source and pay for their own ingredients. Aramark set their own pricing.
The Aramark outlets at Merlin's other UK operations also don't appear to have anywhere near the same quantity of quality and care issues, when compared to Alton Towers. They're also by no means perfect, but it's not as dire.
I’d be HUGELY surprised if Merlin moved away from the single supplier model.
Having a single relationship to manage removes a lot of work for Merlin, and is subsequently a lot cheaper operationally.
Supporting local farms and suppliers or food businesses is not feasible at all. Merlin would be exposing themselves to food production seasonality, logistical shortcomings, a volatile f&b industry amongst other things.
I don’t know Aramark’s KPIs, but they could be as basic as X number of hot meals on site per day and zero allergen/fulfilment issues.
Anything short of a regional/national scandal, and Aramark have probably fulfilled their deal with Merlin.
Having a single relationship to manage removes a lot of work for Merlin, and is subsequently a lot cheaper operationally.
Supporting local farms and suppliers or food businesses is not feasible at all. Merlin would be exposing themselves to food production seasonality, logistical shortcomings, a volatile f&b industry amongst other things.
I don’t know Aramark’s KPIs, but they could be as basic as X number of hot meals on site per day and zero allergen/fulfilment issues.
Anything short of a regional/national scandal, and Aramark have probably fulfilled their deal with Merlin.
Bowser
TS Member
They seem to manage at Thorpe Park and menus often have slight variations based on location (eg service stations). I don't see why space would be an issue at any of the parks.
This is insightful - thanks. So do Merlin not have any say in a base level of quality that they want at the park? From what you wrote it sounds as if Aramark have been given a free reign to do what they want, which at Alton Towers appears to be to source the lowest grade ingredients possible and then sell them at the highest possible price. Their food, especially at the quick service restaurants and kiosks, is a total rip off.
The markups must be astronomical.
Merlin will decide on what tier/price level and maybe some theming guidelines and then Aramark will do the rest how they see fit. So at the start of it, it will be Merlin deciding on the unit cost per item. I would imagine that the "newer" venues in Aton Manor and Nemesis area will have less of a profit margin at the expense of more theme/integration.
Aramark can do impressive things at fine dining level.. if you pay them for it. They can also provide prison food.
GooseOnTheLoose
TS Member
They've been given the same reign as any other food and beverage operator, or shop.
Source the ingredients you require, for the lowest possible price and sell it for the maximum that people will pay. This is how capitalism and every other business works. The only difference here is that Aramark have an an almost entirely captive market.
With that being said, as with all markets, consumers will only tolerate so much. You can't bring your quality down too far, if you're charging what is perceived to be a premium price, so there is a balance that needs to be struck. Within that balance is your operating profit.
Keep in mind that Aramark also has to factor in providing a 20% discount, on the sale of their items, to MAP holders. Aramark are not being compensated for this discount by Merlin, so need to adjust their prices accordingly. When you remove 20% off of the listed price for most items, all of a sudden it becomes far more reasonable.
Merlin do not decide on the unit cost per item. These are all decisions which are made by Aramark.
Merlin do not decide on the unit cost per item, at Thorpe Park, for Burger King or KFC. Merlin do not decide on the quality of source ingredients for Burger King or KFC. Merlin merely rent them the units to operate out of, that's all they do with Aramark.
Is that the place that used to be called Trireme? Lots of memories getting chips from there as a kid when I lived in Uttoxeter and eating them on the benches on the corner just up from the public loos. Happy times.I'm a man of simple tastes, if Fishy Business in Uttoxeter opened a branch in AT I'd be a customer (as long as the portions/price were the same)
Squiggs
TS Team
Unless, I've missed some new information that has been shared more recently, it is probably worth reiterating that none of us have any insight into the contract Alton Towers have with Aramark. So anything stated in this thread about how this contract works is supposition rather than fact.
From the outside, looking at how Aramark are operating, we can infer various things about the contract, but have no actual factual insight into the mechanisms behind this. We do not know if the contract is on an income-sharing model, or a rent based model, a combination of the two or any of the other various contractual models that could exist. Similarly, we also don't know much about Merlin's and Aramark's specific responsibilities within that contract, including how the pricing/level of quality are decided and then regulated.
Given how far into the contract we are now, I thought it was worth reiterating this, so it is clear that this thread regularly still includes supposition relating to questions that none of us really know the answer to. And tbh we never will unless some at Merlin or Aramark share more info about the working relationship between the two.
(And again, apologies if a source of this nature has been shared at some point, and I've missed it)
From the outside, looking at how Aramark are operating, we can infer various things about the contract, but have no actual factual insight into the mechanisms behind this. We do not know if the contract is on an income-sharing model, or a rent based model, a combination of the two or any of the other various contractual models that could exist. Similarly, we also don't know much about Merlin's and Aramark's specific responsibilities within that contract, including how the pricing/level of quality are decided and then regulated.
Given how far into the contract we are now, I thought it was worth reiterating this, so it is clear that this thread regularly still includes supposition relating to questions that none of us really know the answer to. And tbh we never will unless some at Merlin or Aramark share more info about the working relationship between the two.
(And again, apologies if a source of this nature has been shared at some point, and I've missed it)
From a Google search it looks like that is the same one. Didn't realise it used to be called something else, we aren't from the area and stumbled across it a few years back so it has always been Fishy Business to us. Decent prices and large portions
