Posted on 07/29/2010 11:31:38 AM PDT by Slyscribe
Henry Abbott of ESPN’s excellent True Hoop blog has a great post today about why stadium food is so lousy:
If you open a mom-and-pop restaurant out there in the real world, and you treat your customers so shoddily, you’ll lose money and eventually go out of business. It’s almost guaranteed. With that idea simmering around the clock, day in and day out, as the owner you’d hire very carefully, obsess about things like hand washing procedures and pitch a fit if you found employees blending insects into the frozen drinks
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These people should get around more. A couple of days ago I had a pretty good brat with kraut, nice and hot. Service was prompt. The game was lousy, but the food was OK.
You had a good experience therefore others are inexperienced? How does that make any sense?
Back in my college days I worked in the financial aid dept. at a Louisiana state college. One of the worst jobs I ever had. Rampant socialistic attitudes, incompetence, and having to deal with students who were fed up with the student loan system. Not unlike working in the welfare office. No one ever got a raise, no matter how hard they worked. And when summer hit, you were out of a job. Much better to work at some warehouse like Wal-Mart or McDees.
As long as the beer is cold, I don’t think the Stadiums have too much to fear. Stadium food is almost as good a Circus food, and that ain’t saying much. Whoever thought that a basket of chips covered in nasty chilli with liquid cheese was going to be good? C’mon folks, liquid cheese???
My experience at Coors Field is the service is good and they serve good ballpark food. I’m saying basing generalities on the ballparks in the big liberal cities where workers can have an attitude may not hold elsewhere.
A few years ago a friend told me that he was at a football game and he was in line to get some coffee. He watched as a female employee was, how shall I describe it, picking her nose. He ordered the coffee, and she picked up a cup, putting her fingers inside the cup. He bitched about it immediately, she argued with him. The manager sauntered over to see what the problem was. The female was a minority, and the manager basically backed her. Ugh!
For what you pay for it, go to s nice steak house instead, heh.
For what you pay for it, go to a nice steak house instead, heh.
In my experience, I’ve found the service at any sports venue to be the worst of any food service I’ve ever patronized. The employees are consistently and appallingly incompetent and seem to lack basic human skills. I suspect they work at these venues because they’re the cheapest labor available, and unqualified to work anywhere else. Well, God bless ‘em, at least they’re working.
Yankee Stadium food concession stands screen for the most rudest,dirtiest,arrogant,obnoxious and loudest people they can find......and then hires them.
I’ve worked food service at OSU Schottenstein Center for a couple of dozen events, as a volunteer. Our organization was responsible for staffing one booth, all season. All our workers were volunteers. Some of the other food booths were staffed by min wage Sodexho employees. I was just a worker bee, so i don’t know the contract details. I was impressed with the inspections and attention to food safety.
Our group always managed to have fun, but overall...what a PITA.
Couldn’t eat anything for free until the final count was done by Sodexho. After they counted and complained about any unsold product, I could stuff myself on the leftover hot dogs, brats, and popcorn. Couldn’t use one of their cups, they would charge us for the shortage.
After being a bus boy while in high school, i swore i would never work food service again... So I volunteered. Brilliant! After fulfilling my commitment to the group, I decided I wouldn’t do that again.
For some reason, I excelled at pouring beer and cooking popcorn.
Without competition, you have the combination foodcourt/rest area found on eastern US toll highways, with overpriced, yuckky food. The McDonalds has higher prices at the toll rest areas than outside, and they don't take coupons.
Years ago, DFW had a single food service provider for the entire airport. There was overpriced, yuckky food, with no name brands and NO COKE. (Just Pepsi). After they got a bunch of different providers, I was able to get Popeyes and bring it onboard for lunch. With a coke.
Without competition, you have the combination foodcourt/rest area found on eastern US toll highways, with overpriced, yuckky food. The McDonalds has higher prices at the toll rest areas than outside, and they don't take coupons.
Years ago, DFW had a single food service provider for the entire airport. There was overpriced, yuckky food, with no name brands and NO COKE. (Just Pepsi). After they got a bunch of different providers, I was able to get Popeyes and bring it onboard for lunch. With a coke.
It's like the old advice to public speakers, beware of analogies. Don't use one unless you've thoroughly analyzed it and you're sure it works.
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