- Aug 8, 2005
- 27,700
We are now three league matches into our third season at the Amex - and the 1901 Club continues to evolve as we work to provide a range of offers to meet your expectations while being both operationally deliverable and financially viable for the club and our catering partner, Sodexo Prestige.
We've used this first international break of the season to review your early season feedback with the Sodexo team, who have now completed their first full month of operation at the Amex; and they too have provided some valuable input.
What's encouraging is that we have started to receive a lot more unsolicited positive feedback on the new tiered catering offer and across the stadium already more of you are dining with us on matchdays. At the Millwall match, over 40% of 1901 members in attendance at the match enjoyed food from our new tiered hospitality offer.
Room For Improvement
However, we still have plenty of room for improvement - both in terms of the number of people dining with us at whatever level and in the overall 1901 match day experience - but we know, as can be the case early in the season, not everything has been perfect so far. Sodexo are still adjusting to our stadium environment and many of our regular staff have only just become available for work with us again this month.
We also totally accept that some of the things we have trialled in the past have not worked out as well as we'd hoped and we apologise for any inconvenience you may have experienced. It makes us even more determined to get things right. Your patience during this process has been very much appreciated by everyone at the club.
So too has your feedback. Many of you will be aware that we've taken time to listen to as many of you as possible - both in recent weeks and over the summer, via focus groups, letter, e-mail, telephone and in person. Your views are important to us and have been extremely valuable, whether positive or negative, and will always be welcome. Our aim is to get things right and you're helping us to do just that.
Different Expectations
What has been clear to us is that any one 1901 member's expectations can be very different from the next. Views on food offers, the quantity provided, the price, and the service all vary enormously and, added to that, many members also wish to vary their options on a match-to-match basis and want us to remain flexible on food choices right up until the last minute.
Of course, we accept we are in a competitive world and all our members have choices of where to dine pre match, but unlike our competitors we can only open our lounges 25 times a year. Most restaurants have this many sittings in just over a week. In our case at each match, we must be prepared to serve anything up to 3000 members across 10 different lounges, with a variety of menu options from full VIP to casual buffet dining and snacks, and all served in a short period of time prior to, during, and after match. This makes us a very different business to other restaurants and very difficult to compare like to like.
We accept that members expect value for money, but we will never be the cheapest offer in town - our business model simply does not allow us to be. However, I hope that wherever possible our members will continue to support us in the way which suits them, their guests and their budget; particularly in a new era of Financial Fair Play, which makes all revenues critical to the club.
First-class Experience
Whatever your dining choice, we will continue to provide members and their guests with an excellent all-round matchday experience - be that as a VIP guest or as a more casual diner. Our aim is to provide a first-class hospitality experience. From the moment you park your car, we want to provide you with the very best: a warm welcome, stylish lounges, good service, luxury seats, brilliant views and all in a world-class venue - not to mention an exciting brand of football.
As I mentioned, we've used the international break to evaluate things and we have further evolved our 1901 dining offer, taking into account your valuable feedback, and tweaking our pricing structure wherever we can to provide even better value.
From our next home match against Bolton Wanderers, members will be able to select from these dining options, and packages are available for the season, month, or on a match-to-match basis:
- VIP package (price £79 plus VAT)
- Formal dining experience (price £59 inclusive of VAT)
- Informal buffet option 1 (price £14 inclusive of VAT)
- Casual buffet option 2 (price £12 inclusive of VAT)
- Bar service - includes award winning pies, hot dogs and gourmet burgers (prices range from £4 to £10)
I hope you will be pleased to see some adjustments to the pricing and that with the exception of the VIP package - which is tailored for business customers - all other prices are now inclusive of VAT. This is because we recognise that many members are not charging their meals through their companies, and unable to offset the cost or reclaim VAT, so we have worked with Sodexo to agree this reduction in price.
If you require any further information on these packages, or wish to book, please contact one of the 1901 Club membership team. You can call Jo Brooks or Marcus Khan to book on 01273 878282 or email 1901hospitality@bhafc.co.uk.
We are working very hard to make the matchday experience even better, and want to continue to enhance the 1901 Club package, with different ways to reward your loyalty to the Albion - both on matchday and with non-matchday events, exclusive special offers and VIP away match trips. With this in mind we would of course welcome feedback and suggestions.
Thank you once again for your support for the club and your patience. It is very much appreciated.
Kind regards, Paul
Paul Barber
Chief Executive
We've used this first international break of the season to review your early season feedback with the Sodexo team, who have now completed their first full month of operation at the Amex; and they too have provided some valuable input.
What's encouraging is that we have started to receive a lot more unsolicited positive feedback on the new tiered catering offer and across the stadium already more of you are dining with us on matchdays. At the Millwall match, over 40% of 1901 members in attendance at the match enjoyed food from our new tiered hospitality offer.
Room For Improvement
However, we still have plenty of room for improvement - both in terms of the number of people dining with us at whatever level and in the overall 1901 match day experience - but we know, as can be the case early in the season, not everything has been perfect so far. Sodexo are still adjusting to our stadium environment and many of our regular staff have only just become available for work with us again this month.
We also totally accept that some of the things we have trialled in the past have not worked out as well as we'd hoped and we apologise for any inconvenience you may have experienced. It makes us even more determined to get things right. Your patience during this process has been very much appreciated by everyone at the club.
So too has your feedback. Many of you will be aware that we've taken time to listen to as many of you as possible - both in recent weeks and over the summer, via focus groups, letter, e-mail, telephone and in person. Your views are important to us and have been extremely valuable, whether positive or negative, and will always be welcome. Our aim is to get things right and you're helping us to do just that.
Different Expectations
What has been clear to us is that any one 1901 member's expectations can be very different from the next. Views on food offers, the quantity provided, the price, and the service all vary enormously and, added to that, many members also wish to vary their options on a match-to-match basis and want us to remain flexible on food choices right up until the last minute.
Of course, we accept we are in a competitive world and all our members have choices of where to dine pre match, but unlike our competitors we can only open our lounges 25 times a year. Most restaurants have this many sittings in just over a week. In our case at each match, we must be prepared to serve anything up to 3000 members across 10 different lounges, with a variety of menu options from full VIP to casual buffet dining and snacks, and all served in a short period of time prior to, during, and after match. This makes us a very different business to other restaurants and very difficult to compare like to like.
We accept that members expect value for money, but we will never be the cheapest offer in town - our business model simply does not allow us to be. However, I hope that wherever possible our members will continue to support us in the way which suits them, their guests and their budget; particularly in a new era of Financial Fair Play, which makes all revenues critical to the club.
First-class Experience
Whatever your dining choice, we will continue to provide members and their guests with an excellent all-round matchday experience - be that as a VIP guest or as a more casual diner. Our aim is to provide a first-class hospitality experience. From the moment you park your car, we want to provide you with the very best: a warm welcome, stylish lounges, good service, luxury seats, brilliant views and all in a world-class venue - not to mention an exciting brand of football.
As I mentioned, we've used the international break to evaluate things and we have further evolved our 1901 dining offer, taking into account your valuable feedback, and tweaking our pricing structure wherever we can to provide even better value.
From our next home match against Bolton Wanderers, members will be able to select from these dining options, and packages are available for the season, month, or on a match-to-match basis:
- VIP package (price £79 plus VAT)
- Formal dining experience (price £59 inclusive of VAT)
- Informal buffet option 1 (price £14 inclusive of VAT)
- Casual buffet option 2 (price £12 inclusive of VAT)
- Bar service - includes award winning pies, hot dogs and gourmet burgers (prices range from £4 to £10)
I hope you will be pleased to see some adjustments to the pricing and that with the exception of the VIP package - which is tailored for business customers - all other prices are now inclusive of VAT. This is because we recognise that many members are not charging their meals through their companies, and unable to offset the cost or reclaim VAT, so we have worked with Sodexo to agree this reduction in price.
If you require any further information on these packages, or wish to book, please contact one of the 1901 Club membership team. You can call Jo Brooks or Marcus Khan to book on 01273 878282 or email 1901hospitality@bhafc.co.uk.
We are working very hard to make the matchday experience even better, and want to continue to enhance the 1901 Club package, with different ways to reward your loyalty to the Albion - both on matchday and with non-matchday events, exclusive special offers and VIP away match trips. With this in mind we would of course welcome feedback and suggestions.
Thank you once again for your support for the club and your patience. It is very much appreciated.
Kind regards, Paul
Paul Barber
Chief Executive
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