Hot food (Post Office Club, Reading)

[milko]

The AEBBA Chairman (Phil Hawkins) has asked for this subject to be brought up on this forum to find out what people’s views are on having hot food at AEBBA events that are held at the Post Office Club in Reading.

The lady (sorry forgot name) has said she will continue doing hot meals as long as she gets enough people to order food, so that it makes it worthwhile for her to do it.

Phil has asked us how we would feel about the price of the meals going up by about 50p to about £4 for the top priced dinner.

My opinion is that we say no to having hot meals available, as we would be unable to guarantee the amount of orders she needs (about 30, I think) to make it worthwhile for her time spent doing it.

How about if we bought a microwave oven out of the AEBBA funds, so that people could bring their own food along, ie, pies, pasties, etc, or even bring cooked dinners, so they could be heated up in the microwave.

Another idea mentioned is to ask for a mobile burger van to come along to the venue to sell food, similar to the one that served the previous venue for the Sussex Open at the Inland Revenue Club.


Please can we have your views and ideas on this.



Keith

[Colemanator]

The van sounds the best idea to me.

[BB Warrior]

Jul 26, 2010 12:54:31 GMT milko said:

My opinion is that we say no to having hot meals available, as we would be unable to guarantee the amount of orders she needs (about 30, I think) to make it worthwhile for her time spent doing it.

I would agree that for most of the AEBBA Competitions held at the Post Office (County Championships, Mixed Doubles, Grand Prix etc) that there are probably not enough people there do be able to guarantee the number of orders that she needs to make it worthwhile..... the possible exception to that would be the Berks Open. :-/

But if rolls / sandwiches were available, people could either choose these, bring their own food or go to one of the local cafe's / takeaways that are within a reasonable distance if they wanted a hot meal. 8-)

[milhouse]

Jul 26, 2010 13:19:33 GMT BB Warrior said:

Jul 26, 2010 12:54:31 GMT milko said:

My opinion is that we say no to having hot meals available, as we would be unable to guarantee the amount of orders she needs (about 30, I think) to make it worthwhile for her time spent doing it.

I would agree that for most of the AEBBA Competitions held at the Post Office (County Championships, Mixed Doubles, Grand Prix etc) that there are probably not enough people there do be able to guarantee the number of orders that she needs to make it worthwhile..... the possible exception to that would be the Berks Open. :-/

But if rolls / sandwiches were available, people could either choose these, bring their own food or go to one of the local cafe's / takeaways that are within a reasonable distance if they wanted a hot meal. 8-)

Dave, they are on about the AEBBA comps, so the Berks Open wouldn't be included in this discussion and will have food as per any other open i presume ?

i'm quite happy to stick with the rolls :)

[Chris]

I would suggest that the following is also taken into account within this discussion.

The hot food at Reading in the past has always had a very short time frame within which you could order and eat, making it very limited for players to find a sensible time slot to do so. I also remember once a gap was built in for food at Reading, this though extended the day which for drivers or someone like Keith who has to get up early is not good.

This is not the case at other AEBBA events not located in Reading, where hot food has been available all day or at least from 12pm - 5pm.

Those who have traveled some distance, I know use the cafe at the end of the road for a cooked breakfast, I do myself sometimes, and therefore possibly won't want to eat within the usual Reading time frame for hot food as they are still full.

As Dave said you can use the local cafes, in fact there is a really good carvery just down the road. This though is dependent on getting a reasonable gap in between playing. Not something that always happens e.g. Mixed Pairs which is played in groups normally. ( Only usually happens when I end up in the plate at the Berks, so have given up playing Plate Games as they cause you to put on weight :o :o )

Personally I don't believe you will be able to guarantee the 'covers' that this lady would want, so AEBBA would end up being out of pocket on most events here.

I don't have an answer as I have no strong feelings here, just including other points that need to be considered ;D

[bigtj]

Sensibility says that the ladies need to be making enough to be worth while and although hot food is welcome it is not the be all and end all. We cannot in my opinion make a garauntee to sell sufficient numbers of meals, and the All England cannot afford to keep making up the deficit.
Looks then that we should accept rolls onle, and if hot wanted either slip out or perhaps the idea of microwave be followed up.

[milko]

This is not a very good response to this subject, so with only 5 replies of any note we must assume that people aren't interested in having hot food available or couldn't care less!!

I will let Phil know that it would be best to let the lady know that we don't want it anymore and carry on with rolls only.

Maybe the van or microwave (if allowed at the venue) could still be an option.


Keith