on a match day just interested in peoples views ahead of a meeting. Cheers

I don't but I've never bought food in a ground.

If people feel that strongly about friggin chips then supply them and charge them £5 a cone for the pleasure of clogging their arteries.

Can't believe the fuss over it tbh. Not directed at you btw appleyarder.

People will find any reason to bang their gums and this is just the latest one. They will soon forget about them in a few weeks.

I agree tree but its out of interest to take some feedback to a meeting

No they don't.

They just need to get enough stuff in for each match and to knock it out quickly to maximise revenue and reduce queues. If they are pissing about frying smart price chips while they could be serving people then it's a definate no.

A choice of three pies, Burgers and Hot Dogs would do. Even buy in those pre bagged Burgers and Hot Dogs most clubs have to speed things up further. People don't come to football expecting great quality food, it's way down the list for the vast majority of people. It's about serving people quickly.

Decent choice of pies/pasty, decent burgers ( not them Westler things) and hot dogs and its sorted. Chips take too long.

not many grounds serve chips so on that id say no. like been said too long to cook and builds waiting times.

Well said, it's a sensible move.

Were the Chips really that great....

The pie warming units are not big enough for a start, a pie menu should include meat & potato, minced beef or steak, sausage roll and cheese and onion pasty for the veggies, meat eaters also like these, if it was my business also a pasty.

If they had a bain marie, they could keep burgers hot in, takes 30 seconds to put a burger and cheese slice in a bun, also fresh burgers cook quicker and are not full of crap, profit margin still good.

Apple, ask them why they don`t have anybody who know about catering running the catering, it is bloody awful.

PS why can`t one of the grounds staff turn on the fridges in the morning so your bottles of drink are cold and not body temp?

Don't you just need something to soak up the ale?

I'm not a chip fan anyway, but surely its easy to par cook them before the ground opens, then put back in the fryer for a minute or 2 to warm/crisp them up. It's not hard surely. I'm sure Monkeybutt will know more, but there must be a good mark up on cheap frozen chips? If there's a demand and profit then why not?

Seem to go down well with the kids at HP.

I don`t see a problem either Bish, it comes down to planning, staff training and common sense, the right kit helps, the kids do like chips and there isn`t really an alternative, somebody in their wisdom thinks it`s a good idea so hey ho.

Par frying is the way to go and profit margin is massive, 5lb bag of decent chips is 1.49 and sell them at £2, daylight robbery.

I know it's a revenue stream but if you can't go without food for less than 2 hours then there's something wrong with you.

The same goes for people who eat at the cinema too.

Last season, many of the chips just seemed to end up on the floor at the end of a match and provide a food fest for the feckin seagulls.

The gulls need keeping away bloody intimidating health hazard that they are.

I know what you're saying Mr yloop, but for some, a pre match/half time snack is part of the matchday experience. It's a service clubs provide and is a revenue stream.

My thoughts entirely, and no way should the club be spending money on 'new kit' to heat pies etc. Far bigger priorities right now.

So if you want pie and chips or burger and chips you queue twice?

This could add to the match day experience especially for those pay on the day punters who have already queued twice to get in

For the last 3 seasons I've questioned the match day catering. It's not that difficult to get right.
Firstly the equipment you can get the pie warmers from the larger pie manufacturers on loan for free, the same with the equipment for the hot dogs.
With regards to the chips, they were using the wrong chips as they were too big and so take longer to cook, the deep electric fryers you would need aren't that expensive, they don't need to be new, you can get them in really good condition for a couple of hundred quid.
The serving of the tea and coffee is too slow, especially under the mill house stand, they have to go round the corner to get it. How many grounds do you go to these days where the hot water taps on the counter, Macclesfield had it.

They have a match day catering manager, what experience does he have in this area, he may be great at doing the food for the boxes but that's not really where the money is.
They could out source the food for fans, and then get a 10-15% back, easy money going back in the club with no spend.

The kids like there chips, so yes, keep them, but by all means make them better quality and healthier. Chips are the only thing a lot of kids can afford , it is part of going the matchday experience for many kids. They are unhealthy , but in a perfect world they should only be eaten on a Saturday afternoon.

We should sell what people will buy as long as it turns a decent profit for the club.
If chips are in great demand and they turn a profit and keep people happy then we have got to consider them.
Unless we have the stats for each of the products we provide it is very difficult deciding what to include and what to leave out.
+

Cant disagree with any of this Mr Butt

I haven't bought food at the vic in years. Do we still have those award winning pies from the local bakery?

Parkers supply pies.

I'd sell parmo burgers if I was in charge. Something unique to the area and most people enjoy a parmo.

Id imagine thats exactly the sort of stuff they want to get away from.

This

How do you plan on making chips healthier Horden? Oven chips (deep fried before being frozen anyway) may be healthier (?) but would take even longer than deep fried chips anyway.

Its like the bottle top debate all over again, at least we have the fans forum to sort out these huge issues.

I don't know and I don't care, I don't eat the chips. I was just suggesting they could make them healthier as a lot of posters appeared used the unhealthy aspect of chips as a reason to discontinue them. For arguments sake we could have Sweet Potato Chips.

The bottom line here is that Pools haven't done away with chips as a matter of principle, such as they want their young supporters to live beyond the age of 40 , but because the club are such a clusterfook , they cant get the staff , haven't invested in catering facilities , have outsourced catering facilities because they can't be arsed etc etc.

Bring back the foot-long and introduce an 18-incher to attract romantic couples who want to nibble their way towards each other.

You can debate the food preferences all day, all they have to do is supply the customer with what they want at the right time and price, simples!

A smile would be good, polite and no chipped nail varnish a bonus!

Should offer your services again monkeybutt, and bring an Artisan bread kiosk

Is that flower edible? all the rage these days apparently.

How do you post pics like that on here ? I need to know !

Right click on a photo, save as, then when wanting to put on here, browse, choose pic, add to file.

Horden, shall we offer our services to pools, we can call our hot food stall " Chips are down but not out", I`ll fry em you serve em.

Great idea ! I can cook , gizza job ! Form an orderly queue , if not , you'll get some tomato sauce squirted straight in your mush Seriously I reckon we could do a better job.

All your customers would walk away with suicidal tendancies - from Monkeybutts bad jokes and Hordens negative outlook on life.

Really, this thread should have been called

Let them eat chips

Though if Pam is going to be cast as Hartlepool's answer to Marie Antoinette

Let them eat pie

would have been more appropriate.

Fook ! posted a pic of our lass and her mate by mistake

I fail to see the relevance of a pair of extra large jugs to this debate.

Continental weights and measures too, from the looks of them.

That's OK, these days Pools fans usually walk away from the Vic with suicidal tendancies anyway.

How about " chips on the shoulder"

The thought of not serving chips is just daft. On top of the fact that done right they can turn a big profit for the club they are also eaten predominately by kids who any football club should be trying to get hooked into the regular match day experience in order to plant the seed for lifelong attendance. The way that Pools have cooked six chips at a time in previous seasons is nothing short of farcical and probably part of the reason that they're thinking of stopping doing them. Do them properly in volume to keep the queues moving and at the right price and it's a complete no brainier that they should be on the menu. Kerching + happy customers = win.

And all of your healthy eating bollox can get to fuck, there's nowt the matter with the odd portion of chips now and again in a healthy balanced diet. Plus they keep the kids quiet while I get my half time beers drank.

Negative outlook !

If you were a decent parent you would take them a lunch box made up of salad and some fish with some sort of Greek dip.

Shame on you

If you were a decent supporter you would know that a lunch box can be construed as a weapon in a football ground, and fish tastes horrible, and I'm allergic to some salady stuff, but I do like Hummus and tzatsiki and Taramasalata (with Artisan Bread). Anyway Mr Colonel that makes you a naughty parent and a naughty supporter in my eyes!!!!!!

This is the where the Major gets his view from;