Matchday service changes
The Football Club has responded to supporter feedback and introduced some changes to food & drink service starting on Saturday.
Queues and long waits for service are a reality at any busy venue, be it a theatre, Portman Road or The AGL Arena. The Club is constantly trying to improve service times to make for a better customer experience, as our Facilities Manager Chris Daynes explains below.
"In a lot of ways we are a victim of our own success and a large amount of people wanting to order in a relatively short period of time will inevitably lead to queues and a longer wait than both the customer and ourselves would like. The reality is, if 100 people from an attendance of 400+ all want to order food in a short time window, even if we served somebody (take order, payment and serve up food) every 30 seconds it still means 50 minutes to serve everybody... with more people joining the queue all the time!"
"There are times when we are over capacity, in terms of staff, space and cooking equipment, but major investment is not viable because in simple terms, there are probably only 15-20 occasions each year when kitchen capacity is stretched beyond the limit. What we can do, is make small adjustments to the way we work, identifying problem areas where we can improve things, within our people and financial resources."
"Starting this Saturday we have reconfigured the kitchen and service hatch, creating more space inside and also separating the windows for ordering and collection, making the queues more defined. We're also focusing our efforts on ensuring the club shop is open during each first team fixture. This means we can offer hot drinks from this location, easing queues at the kitchen service window for those just wanting a drink. We have also installed a hot food cabinet in the club shop for the sale of pies and sausage rolls, increasing the options for supporters."
"We are also attempting to ensure an outside bottle bar is available for all first team fixtures with the aim of reducing queuing times at the main bar, but again, with limited people resources this may not always be possible."
Chris continued "Mid-to long term, we'd love to have another refreshment point on the other side of the stadium, but getting a food safety compliant structure with power, lighting and water supply... not to mention staff or volunteers to run the additional kiosk, is not a quick fix. Bringing in a outside catering van is also not an option unless a 4 figure crowd is expected, simply because the football club would lose money by doing so."
"I want to take this opportunity to thank the small team of staff and volunteers we do have. Busy match days are a real challenge and everyone works their socks off, but it's a challenge we all relish and long may it continue!"
Any supporters wishing to provide feedback can contact the Facilities Manager at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.