Doncaster 2019 - catering costs

[Pete the Elaner]

10 hours ago, Butler Henderson said:

On the bright side (deliberate pun there as you will see) the more money the racecourse makes from catering the more chance there is they might do something about the lights in the hall.

I think lighting is something which gets upgraded when it has lived out its useful life. Venues will obviously choose modern, efficient lighting. Fortunately for us, this also seems to be brighter & whiter.

[Emmo]

On 11 February 2019 at 22:53, Steamport Southport said:

 

Yep. Sometimes I wonder whether people live in the same world as me.....

 

Funny that the two main complainants mention being in golf and sailing clubs.  Now what is the membership fees of those clubs? Doubt it's cheap. even if the coffee is.

 

 

 

Jason

My golf club costs me a mere £135 to be a member for a year and do full meals for about £5 - £6.

[dagrizz]

2 hours ago, Dava said:

Come the Worker's Revolution, comrades Corbyn and McDonnell will be making the fish paste & coleslaw sandwiches on white factory bread, served with pre milked tea in a styrofoam cup, before you go round the Piko and BerlinerBahn layouts based on East German prototypes. Your Trabant is parked outside.

 

 

 

I thought Corbyn was a vegetarian, so it will be quorn paste sandwiches I'm afraid.

[Steamport Southport]

41 minutes ago, Emmo said:

My golf club costs me a mere £135 to be a member for a year and do full meals for about £5 - £6.

 

That's nearly £3 a week. Between how many members? 100 say. That's £13,500 in the kitty. In other words it's subsidised by members fees. That's why it's cheap.

 

Getting back to the catering. So the staff have to be there for 10 hours a day at £8 an hour "living wage" each. That's £80 per staff member a day before you even get on to other costs. Where does the wages come from? They aren't a charity. It's a business. People need paying.

 

I pay about £4 a pint down my local pub. I can buy a crate in Tesco for a tenner and drink it at home. But I don't want to be at home, I want to be in the pub so I pay more. It's called choice. You don't have to eat at exhibitions. Unless you are an exhibitor then surely people can go for a few hours without putting things in their mouths? Silly question, of course they can't.

 

None of this is aimed at individuals, just that people need to see the reality of other peoples working lives and business needs.

 

 

Jason

[Pete the Elaner]

18 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

That's nearly £3 a week. Between how many members? 100 say. That's £13,500 in the kitty. In other words it's subsidised by members fees. That's why it's cheap.

 

Getting back to the catering. So the staff have to be there for 10 hours a day at £8 an hour "living wage" each. That's £80 per staff member a day before you even get on to other costs. Where does the wages come from? They aren't a charity. It's a business. People need paying.

 

I pay about £4 a pint down my local pub. I can buy a crate in Tesco for a tenner and drink it at home. But I don't want to be at home, I want to be in the pub so I pay more. It's called choice. You don't have to eat at exhibitions. Unless you are an exhibitor then surely people can go for a few hours without putting things in their mouths? Silly question, of course they can't.

 

None of this is aimed at individuals, just that people need to see the reality of other peoples working lives and business needs.

 

 

Jason

You make some good points there. It is nice to be well paid, but by complaining about high charges, are we effectively saying we don't like anyone else to be well paid too?

 

I often meet friends at exhibitions I don't often see elsewhere. It is nice to go for a coffee with them & the premium price seems acceptable in this situation.

[Porcy Mane]

On 10/02/2019 at 20:00, Emmo said:

 My golf club only charge £1.10 for coffee in a proper mug, MacDonalds charge £1.45 who use fresh beans ground on the premises.

 

I think I've sussed you. You are Donald Trump. I never thought you would be a railway modeller.

 

Have you ever tried the catering at York Model railway exhibition? I'll keep an eye out for your AiG baseball cap in the queue.

 

P

[TheQ]

6 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

That's nearly £3 a week. Between how many members? 100 say. That's £13,500 in the kitty. In other words it's subsidised by members fees. That's why it's cheap.

 

 

Jason

I don't know about the golf club, but our sailing clubs tea bar has to be a "profit centre" in it's own right, as do all our events.

We have the considerable Island and car park lease to pay for (at market rates, the house next door on a smaller plot is worth in excess of £1000000)

We have the moorings on the far side of the river to pay for, (OK that's paid for out of the mooring fees)

We have the maintenance of the quay headings  and decks to pay for (currently being renewed)

There are 30+ sailing boats for the sailing school and 6 rescue boats to maintain and pay broads tax on (broads tax like road tax for car)

There is insurance for everything to pay for.

 

And finally our temporary club house put up in 1964 has been given (by the Broads Authority) no more than 5 years left to live and the Broads authority (our planning Authority) are insisting we can't have temporary buildings any more, a real building is required, so the club is desperately saving money for that..

[Chris M]

The material cost for a cup of tea or coffee is less than 10p. If you have volunteers manning the refreshments in a room that is part of your premises and use mugs that volunteers will wash then everything else is profit. If you have to pay staff, disposable cups, run a van to move your stand to venues and pay the venue for being there  your costs will be considerably higher. At the show I recently organised we sold tea at £1 and probably made more profit per cup than the people selling tea at the BRM show.

 

At the model railway club I am a member of tea and coffee is completely free, or if you like included in the price of membership.

[TheQ]

Actually my Model railway club costs more to be a member  than  the  Sailing club "to be seen at" up the road, that one has paid staff,  although they dont need a new building,  it does rent an entire Broad.

That is about £268 per year per member at the Posh sailing club or £300 per year per member at the MRC (we have to rent an industrial unit).

Tea /  coffee at the posh sailing club is £1:50, at the MRC 30p (including biscuits) but at the MRC we do our own washing up..

£1:50 with paid staff is still a lot less than Doncaster..

 

Our show the tea coffee cost the same as yours, but our tea bar is run by a group of ladies who raise money for charity by doing such things. Therefore the proffit from teh tea bar is shared..

Edited February 13, 2019 by TheQ

[Phil Parker]

So the solution to the cost of tea is for big shows to move to venues where volunteers can brew and serve the stuff?

 

Not going to happen. For a start, those venues simply don't exist, you can't fit a big show in a village hall! Second, there's a difference between serving up a couple of hundred teas and many thousands. You'd need a VERY dedicated team to man the tea stand at Warley for no money.

 

At least no-one is forcing you to buy the tea. Seats are provided at all these shows for people who want to bring their own food and drink. If you've never been to a non-railway modelling event, you might be surprised that this isn't that common practice (yes, I'm sure there are odd examples).

[Lancaster622]

On 11/02/2019 at 22:27, Phil Parker said:

And every layout will be a OO model of Coventry.

 

 

 

I can imagine Coventry to make quite an interesting model if done properly, in Pre-Grouping or LMS days in particular.

 

As someone fairly local to the city I will be the first to admit that it is not the jewel in England's crown but perhaps railway wise not so bad?  

 

As for catering prices yes £4.50 for a sausage roll is ott but I felt equally taken for a monkey at the Stafford show at the price of a small polystyrene cup of coffee but you know what? I had brought nothing with me and was thirsty so accepted that if I wanted to have a drink that was my option, no one forced me to buy it!

[Phil Parker]

Coventry station is a rare example of largely unaltered brutalist construction. Since modernisation is on the cards, I keep meaning to get over and take a comprehensive set of photos. 

[Emmo]

13 hours ago, Porcy Mane said:

 

I think I've sussed you. You are Donald Trump. I never thought you would be a railway modeller.

 

Have you ever tried the catering at York Model railway exhibition? I'll keep an eye out for your AiG baseball cap in the queue.

 

P

York is quite good actually, reasonable meals at reasonable prices with proper plates and cutlery. Table cloths too if I remember. And no, I'm not Donald Trump. You'd be surprised what my other hobby is, but fear of repercussions I will not disclose. See you at York then my friend, you can buy me a sausage roll as the rest of the week I have to visit food banks, hard times alas.

[Emmo]

RIGHT!! I'm getting bored with all this now and as I started it, I think I am entitled to finish it. I merely commented on my own thoughts about the catering prices at Doncaster, that's all. My opinion still holds fast, but alas not everyone agrees with me, so, that's it, I have said the final word - NO MORE. Some of you will get the chance to meet me soon, but you won't realise who I am, which might be a good thing! Now that's got you all thinking...

[Mallard60022]

Dear Lord, what a load of old . The poor bloke was only having a dig at the shite prices charged for crap food at Donny Racecourse and we have Brexshite, The Revoloution and piles of other mumbo jumbo about Coventry City's catering. No wonder he is heading off into the sunset, he must think we are all crackers as well as being willing to put up with poor products at inflated prices just because we did not come with our thermos, rucksack full of crisps and cardboard bread sarnies.

I'd go the York Show just to have a meal in their Restaurant and I might not even bother to look at any MR stuff.

There you go, 

P

[AY Mod]

Thanks for the further unnecessary dig Phil.

[griffgriff]

I’m always excited at the prospect of the catering at Doncaster.... but not at the racecourse. There’s an excellent seafood restaurant in the market. This year I visited the excellent ‘Whitby’s chippy that was next to the spot where my car was positioned just opposite the venue. 

 

There’s plenty of choice.

 

Griff

 

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

On 10/02/2019 at 19:49, Barry O said:

Better still come to Leeds. Excellent catering at sensible prices. Hot breakfasts available 2 course lunch and a hot drink was £3.50 last year. And the refec staff at the Grammar School are very friendly.

 

Baz

 

Ps 2 children free entry with every paying adult..we have done that for a number of years...

 

I shall have to try Leeds show again, I like children, but doubt I could eat a whole one.

 

Mike.