Food Outlets

[Zappomatic]

Sticky Sisters was open today - not sure if it was their first day, seemed to be a number of manager-types lingering about. I tried to queue up to ask if they did annual pass discount (presuming not as it's not a Merlin outlet) but the queue set up Bush BBQ had is gone and the two cashiers weren't attempting to serve people in order so I gave up.

 

Ended up with a lamb doner from Amity Kebab - huge portion which I struggled to finish despite a good proportion of it ending up on my face rather than in my mouth!

[Stuntman707]

After a couple of visits including Chessington, I’ve come to the conclusion that Merlin’s best own food brand are actually the chippy’s. I think they must have different fryers in them as the chips way better than the other outlets. They’re actually crisp. And the chicken there is better than the Chicken Co.

[Themeparkwizard]

Well, thorpe have now opened a small food outlet that is in the dock yard, the donut compound, it is basically next to the megastore and uses a kinda cool looking metallic logo with blood splatters in the background. I didnt take any photos but it is in the building next to the facade of amity boardwalk games

[RobF]

Is it the existing one rebranded? As there has always been 2 in recent years. The donut factory and the one almost at the rear of the mega store in on the perimeter of the arcade building.

[Alee298]

Its been rebranded, the one behind the games stalls near the megastore and KFC

[Mattgwise]

Nice to finally see big plates in Pizza Pasta. Guess thats the end of the "plates get smaller every year tradition"

 

Have to also say the pizza was extra delicious this evening! 

[Zappomatic]

On 8/4/2018 at 11:43 PM, Mattgwise said:

Nice to finally see big plates in Pizza Pasta. Guess thats the end of the "plates get smaller every year tradition"

 

Have to also say the pizza was extra delicious this evening! 

[Stuntman707]

Hahahaha! I have no words for this. What an absolute joke. 😂 Do it right or don't do it at all.

 

[MattyMoo]

Ahahaha that's incredible.

[Inferno]

According to Theme Park Guide, Merlin have outsourced the food and beverage operations (in all of their UK parks and hotels) to Aramark.

This is one of the companies who do the food for schools, hospitals and prisons.

 

There are some cheap jokes to be made here because of the industries they're in, but actually I've always had good experiences with hospital food, and the food at my school at least wasn't bad! (no idea if it was Aramark though)

 

It looks like F&B staff at the Merlin parks and hotels will be employed by Aramark from March, similar to how HB Leisure run the games etc on Merlin property.

 

I think this is potentially good news.

The food offerings at Merlin parks have been declining for a few years. Alton Towers' food options are beyond ridiculous, especially around Halloween/fireworks season, there simply aren't enough restaurants and the food they serve even in the 'higher-end' places is terrible.

Thorpe and Chessington's food isn't quite as bad, but I hear Legoland's is DIRE and extortionately expensive.

 

I think it's a bit of a shame that Merlin can't run their F&B like they used to.

The food in their hotels was quite good until not too long ago, and the likes of Woodcutters and PizzaPasta weren't bad for theme park outlets.

It's gone severely downhill since those days though.

 

I wonder what, if anything, will change?

And will Thorpe continue to run the KFC and Burger King franchises, as I assume they are Merlin employees working at the franchise brand?

Time will tell.

 

[Coaster]

I did some research into Aramark;

 

 

 

 

 

https://medium.com/hope-in-the-dark/aramark-the-not-so-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-9a603b9a05a4

https://mcquad.org/2020/09/01/the-contract-and-the-controversy-aramark-comes-to-campus-community-reacts/

 

They don't sound like a good company.

[JoshC.]

19 hours ago, Inferno said:

According to Theme Park Guide, Merlin have outsourced the food and beverage operations (in all of their UK parks and hotels) to Aramark.

This is one of the companies who do the food for schools, hospitals and prisons.

 

It looks like F&B staff at the Merlin parks and hotels will be employed by Aramark from March, similar to how HB Leisure run the games etc on Merlin property.

 

At first I didn't think this was the case. But, yeah it's in TPG's article which copies from the Merlin announcement, and staff will be moving over to be employed by Aramark:

 

Quote

Merlin Entertainments and Aramark will work closely to ensure that food and beverage employees are supported as they transition to employment with Aramark.

 

I think that's a huge deal, and will be interesting to see the effect that has.

 

To use HB Leisure as the example, the parks do not hire those staff. It's all through HBL. They have minimal involvement with the park's onboarding / training processes too - again, all through HBL. It was the same with Picsolve too (I don't know if that's changed with the move to Pomvom).

 

Will that mean, in the mid-to-long term, the same thing happens for Food and Beverage? If so, that creates some big changes:

-A workforce within one place with more diverse training, which may not be standardised.

-Different benefits (Merlin staff get free tickets to Merlin attractions, HBL and Picsolve staff do not) and rates of pay

 

Those are things which can have a big knock on effect to the type of people who want to work there / who is hired, and the quality of the staff.

 

And an interesting potential knock on effect would be Annual Pass discount. You don't get it on HBL games, and Annual Passes and Picsolve have been a weird mix since forever. Could the same happen with F&B? At the very least, discounts are still advertised now for F&B with current passes, so it won't happen immediately. But what about in 2-3 years time? 

As a passholder, I do hope that that's something that has been agreed to stick around with this change.

 

 

19 hours ago, Inferno said:

 

I think this is potentially good news.

The food offerings at Merlin parks have been declining for a few years. Alton Towers' food options are beyond ridiculous, especially around Halloween/fireworks season, there simply aren't enough restaurants and the food they serve even in the 'higher-end' places is terrible.

It's interesting to note that especially over the last couple of years, the park have been getting in external F&B companies for their special events. Thorpe and Chessington have used a company called Pineapple in particular. All of the stuff on the lawns at Towers has been external too. I wonder what affect this will have there.

 

I do also wonder if this will actually change the number of restaurants and food places at the parks. I imagine the agreement is more along the lines of "We have this many units, you staff them and get x amount of profit". So it will be hard to imagine a change there.  

 

19 hours ago, Inferno said:

I wonder what, if anything, will change?

 

I think in the short term, we won't see much of a change. Especially for this season, most things will already be pretty set and it will be a case of dealing with the transition. It probably will be a good couple of years before we have any real change, but even then, if any changes are slow and gradual, we may not fully notice them (for better or worse).

 

19 hours ago, Inferno said:

And will Thorpe continue to run the KFC and Burger King franchises, as I assume they are Merlin employees working at the franchise brand?

 

KFC and Burger King at Thorpe are run by KFC and Burger King. Like with HBL and Picsolve as above, the park are not involved in the hiring process. Similarly, Alton Towers have a few outlets run by Eastern Express, and that's an external operation.

 

Like with the event food stalls, it will be interesting what happens there. Presumably the agreement is "Here's these units, run them to get this profit". But if Aramark feel that these other companies are taking away their custom, maybe they could kick up enough of a fuss...

 

 

42 minutes ago, Coaster said:

I did some research into Aramark;

 

They don't sound like a good company.

 

I've seen a fair few bad reviews / unhappy responses to the news. Without experiencing their offerings/service directly, I won't make full judgement yet, but there's definitely some worrying red flags present as it stands.

[Glitch]

Merlin were always trying to outsource F&B, good to see that it has been successful. Its easier for them to profit with less effort by outsourcing F&B to another company. 

[Inferno]

I think it's quite interesting actually to think about this..

 

It's not something I've ever given much thought to, but F&B is actually quite an important part of the overall experience isn't it.

 

I think the days when people just wanted a hotdog out of a 'hole-in-the-wall' outlet are gone.. Now it seems that more and more people want a proper sit-down restaurant with a decent meal in a nice environment.

Also with the accommodation options growing, dinner and breakfast are also part of the experience, especially in the 'better' restaurants like Secret Garden, Crooked Spoon and Zafari.

 

I think now more than ever F&B needs to be of a good standard, it's a bigger part of the experience than it was years ago when really a hotdog stand and donut stall was enough.

 

Catering is a whole industry on its own, with its own challenges etc.. Perhaps outsourcing it will be a good thing?

This is a big contract for Aramark so I'd imagine they'd want to get this right.

[Project LC]

Id argue f&b has moved more to the grab and go concept lately. So theoretically hot dog stands should be doing well. However what the theme parks never attempted or even really acknowledge was the changing tastes.

 

Merlin continued to provide the same incredibly poor standard burgers and hot dogs across the parks. While generally tastes became more varied. 

 

Mexican grab and go should have been added years ago. The burger places should have started doing various things with chicken like the McDonald's wraps. Not to mention the vast move to healthy eating and vegi/vegan options. 

 

Meanwhile the sit down places should have been offering a higher quality product so that spending more there felt worth it. 

 

I don't see how contracting out the food operations is going to help the feeling of overpriced food and drinks in the parks but I guess we will have to wait and see.

 

 

[jom222]

I agree - I think grab and go is still what people want but they don’t just want a normal hot dog. People want gourmet hotdogs or topped chips rather than just the standard options. Think you can see this by the popularity of the food stalls that have been outsourcing or just any event that you go to where people want basically food that looks good in photos.

[MarkC]

Another new name for Fins/Infinity has been announced.

 

It’s now Vibes Bar and Kitchen!

 

Most pointless re theme ever?

 

Vibes Bar & Kitchen

Vibes Bar & Kitchen serves up a wide range of gastropub inspired favourites including 100% British beef burgers, hand battered cod and chips and succulent fresh salads.

[JoshC.]

A look from the horse's mouth (park app)...

 

They've changed the name of this place more times than I've had hot dinners from there.

 

Given this is usually a reflection of their brand and is their premium restaurant, I wish they'd keep it under the same name and brand for longer. It's almost meme worthy in itself now. Especially since Infinity lasted 2 years.

 

But hey, as long as the food is good (and it usually is tbf), it doesn't reallllllly matter.

[ML27]

Thorpe overusing the word vibes is very cringey.

[Matt 236]

The new name is about as strong as the O2’s roof.

 

Fins & Infinity we’re better IMO.

[Mark9]

On 3/4/2022 at 7:50 PM, Matt Creek said:

The new name is about as strong as the O2’s roof.

 

Fins & Infinity we’re better IMO.

 

It's okay, the name will change next year.

[MattyMoo]

Should've called it VBS BR ND KTCHN like all the cool kidz.

[Parm Pap]

it's chicken enchiladas for lunch today

[JohnnyRocket]

Presumably VIBES will get another new name and theme for next year, since they like to change it each time they rebrand. Any guesses?! 

[tactic]

To be honest, Vibes seems like it fits well with the ‘feel good thrills’ branding. I think the theme is quite good for the dome especially under the new TP brand idea so I assume it will stay as it is.