Concession Stands at Hilton
- Thread starter EnhancedFujita
- Start date
Walking Taco stands probably get all the veterans, because it is a standard that all other concession food is measured against.
Grab a couple B-Bops burgers on your way into town and shove them in your pants to sneak them in.
Many places (pro and college) use volunteer groups...it's good for public relations.
Maybe some venues do this, but it would seem wise to send out a training packet to the volunteers to help them get up to speed on what is going on. The volunteers should also meet to discuss the training material prior to heading out to the venue.
Also, if these groups are comprised of kids, there needs to be 1-2 on-the-ball adults per group of kids supervising the particular stand. I've run into stands where it is being staffed by all kids, and it has been brutal. It seemed clear that nobody bothered to give these kids any guidance regarding how to make the stand run smoothly.
It seems odd, that with all the supposed money that can be made on concessions, venues allow them to run in such a manner that runs off customers.
Maybe some venues do this, but it would seem wise to send out a training packet to the volunteers to help them get up to speed on what is going on. The volunteers should also meet to discuss the training material prior to heading out to the venue.
Also, if these groups are comprised of kids, there needs to be 1-2 on-the-ball adults per group of kids supervising the particular stand. I've run into stands where it is being staffed by all kids, and it has been brutal. It seemed clear that nobody bothered to give these kids any guidance regarding how to make the stand run smoothly.
It seems odd, that with all the supposed money that can be made on concessions, venues allow them to run in such a manner that runs off customers.
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So I know we could eat or grab a drink before the game, and in fact we've started to take a snack in so we don't have to deal with the halftime lines.
But here's the deal, I live in Des Moines metro, work south of Des Moines and have to pick up my 6 year old son from school, all before going to a game. Making it to a 7 PM game any earlier that 6:45 is a pretty big challenge and I just find it crazy that they can't get the concessions to work better so you can grab a drink in under 20 minutes.
But here's the deal, I live in Des Moines metro, work south of Des Moines and have to pick up my 6 year old son from school, all before going to a game. Making it to a 7 PM game any earlier that 6:45 is a pretty big challenge and I just find it crazy that they can't get the concessions to work better so you can grab a drink in under 20 minutes.
Also, imagine the amount of money said volunteers could make, if they were properly trained to take care of MORE customers?
Win win!
Win win!
Concessions stands at ISU in general (Hilton\JTS) all kind of suck. The food quality is rather lacking and the service is slooowwww.
The food offerings at Stage Door have gone downhill over the years as well. Used to be great when they offered an entree but you could always order wings or other things. Then they offered a buffet which was nice... but they keep skimping down on it.
The food offerings at Stage Door have gone downhill over the years as well. Used to be great when they offered an entree but you could always order wings or other things. Then they offered a buffet which was nice... but they keep skimping down on it.
I've worked as a student volunteer for both a main stand and a clone cone stand. Some of the issues that come up are due to how slow some students work, but much of it has nothing to do with having volunteer workers. For each stand, there is at least one trained employee for Levy Restaurants, and then a group of student volunteers. About 90 minutes before the doors open, the students arrive and are shown what to do. For main stands, each of us is assigned a certain task- 3-4 cashiers, popcorn, nachos, pretzels, drinks, and usually the employee runs the meat; to avoid any legal issues the hot dogs/brats HAVE to be cooked to a certain temperature before they can be served. If we switch between meats, popcorn, anything like that, we'd have to put on a different pair of gloves. It doesn't sound like much but that's another 15-30 seconds when your hands are sweaty dealing with latex gloves. We aren't able to skimp out on any sanitation or health concerns, as trivial as they may seem.
We do not set out extra buckets of popcorn waiting to be purchased- there isn't room in the back, and the popcorn is kept semi-warm inside the machine. We DO prepare extra dogs/brats, which are kept in heated drawers by the cashiers.
It's not quite as easy to feed 15k in hilton or 60k in jack trice as it is to staff a little league game. The amount of food eaten, and which variety, is NOT consistent week to week. Additionally, student volunteers do not make any calls about what to cook, and when. We are not trained, nor should we be trained, on how to fix any broken machinery.
Working the Clone Cone stand for the exhibition men's game, BOTH machines broke down during the game. In games years previous, there would be around 10 cookie cups sold throughout the whole game. We went through 14 before tip-off. These get baked the morning before the game. If we run out, we run out.
As for motivation, working concessions is pretty awful work, and if you do any kind of math, our organizations get payed LESS than minimum wage. The workers are NOT getting payed for their time. We don't get payed. Pretty much every customer intrinsically hates us because of the high prices of food. Food companies are not going to reduce their margins of profit off what they sell. If you want to have absolutely great service by folks payed a decent wage, your prices for concessions are going to go even higher than they currently are.
We do not set out extra buckets of popcorn waiting to be purchased- there isn't room in the back, and the popcorn is kept semi-warm inside the machine. We DO prepare extra dogs/brats, which are kept in heated drawers by the cashiers.
It's not quite as easy to feed 15k in hilton or 60k in jack trice as it is to staff a little league game. The amount of food eaten, and which variety, is NOT consistent week to week. Additionally, student volunteers do not make any calls about what to cook, and when. We are not trained, nor should we be trained, on how to fix any broken machinery.
Working the Clone Cone stand for the exhibition men's game, BOTH machines broke down during the game. In games years previous, there would be around 10 cookie cups sold throughout the whole game. We went through 14 before tip-off. These get baked the morning before the game. If we run out, we run out.
As for motivation, working concessions is pretty awful work, and if you do any kind of math, our organizations get payed LESS than minimum wage. The workers are NOT getting payed for their time. We don't get payed. Pretty much every customer intrinsically hates us because of the high prices of food. Food companies are not going to reduce their margins of profit off what they sell. If you want to have absolutely great service by folks payed a decent wage, your prices for concessions are going to go even higher than they currently are.
I sure hope the ISU Rugby team is good at Rugby because there won't be a single one of them becoming a professional concessionaire after last nights performance...
