Prices of eating out

[The Voice of Reason]

3 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

I dunno. Have you seen the price of fish these days.

Vaguely related but I would advise against buying the Co Op own brand fish fingers. 
Normally Co op own brand products are can be rated good to very good but these are very bland.

Just a heads up. But yes, fish itself is very expensive these days.

[Passing Time]

3 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

Vaguely related but I would advise against buying the Co Op own brand fish fingers. 
Normally Co op own brand products are can be rated good to very good but these are very bland.

Just a heads up. But yes, fish itself is very expensive these days.

Didn’t know fish had fingers..

 

I’ll get my coat 

[Roger Mexico]

4 hours ago, Gladys said:

It does say under 'accessibility' that it is on the ground floor of the Homefield Road campus. 

Oh I get that, but if you're trying to sell yourself to people, you need everything upfront and explained as simply and in as un-offputting a way as possible: where you are and how to get there; when you open and how you operate from the customer's point of view.  People don't want to get to an unfamiliar venue and be embarrassed or confused - or even find it shut.

It's very common on the Island of course: "But everyone knows where we are" syndrome.  But UCM should know better, if only to act as an example to students who will hope of operating their own businesses.  It's not difficult to do, especially when you consider all the care and thought that is clearly going into menu creation, setting up themes and so on.  But the first rule of customer service is to put yourself into their mindset without any assumptions and work out what you can do to give them a good experience.

[The Bastard]

3 hours ago, Happier diner said:

I dunno. Have you seen the price of fish these days.

You're right, surprisingly expensive recently, it's even £5 a fillet in Tesco. Things are not cheap, premium meat and fish are back to being an occasional treat, expectations should be adjusted accordingly.

[Jarndyce]

1 minute ago, The Bastard said:

3 hours ago, Happier diner said:

I dunno. Have you seen the price of fish these days.

You're right, surprisingly expensive recently, it's even £5 a fillet in Tesco

It’s the piece of cod that passeth all understanding.

[John Wright]

5 hours ago, Roger Mexico said:

Oh I get that, but if you're trying to sell yourself to people, you need everything upfront and explained as simply and in as un-offputting a way as possible: where you are and how to get there; when you open and how you operate from the customer's point of view.  People don't want to get to an unfamiliar venue and be embarrassed or confused - or even find it shut.

It's very common on the Island of course: "But everyone knows where we are" syndrome.  But UCM should know better, if only to act as an example to students who will hope of operating their own businesses.  It's not difficult to do, especially when you consider all the care and thought that is clearly going into menu creation, setting up themes and so on.  But the first rule of customer service is to put yourself into their mindset without any assumptions and work out what you can do to give them a good experience.

1. They only accept bookings, no walk in.

2. There is almost always a waiting list to get a booking.

3. it’s mainly people in the know who book once a week or fortnight. That’s how it always has been. They get on the “list”, as they turn up for one meal they’ll book three months in advance on a rolling basis.

4. The students and teaching staff have other things to do after service, lessons, clearing up. It’s only one sitting, 5 days a week, term time only, excluding half terms, exam periods, etc, about 110 per year. They do a few evenings, which sell out fast, and some external events.

That being said a better customer facing web design would be good. But then everyone would complain that you couldn’t get a booking for love nor money.

[John Wright]

5 hours ago, Jarndyce said:

It’s the price of cod that passeth all understanding.

Corrected

[Gladys]

1 hour ago, John Wright said:

1. They only accept bookings, no walk in.

2. There is almost always a waiting list to get a booking.

3. it’s mainly people in the know who book once a week or fortnight. That’s how it always has been. They get on the “list”, as they turn up for one meal they’ll book three months in advance on a rolling basis.

4. The students and teaching staff have other things to do after service, lessons, clearing up. It’s only one sitting, 5 days a week, term time only, excluding half terms, exam periods, etc, about 110 per year. They do a few evenings, which sell out fast, and some external events.

That being said a better customer facing web design would be good. But then everyone would complain that you couldn’t get a booking for love nor money.

Same thing for the hairdressing appointments.

[Banker]

9 hours ago, Roger Mexico said:

Oh I get that, but if you're trying to sell yourself to people, you need everything upfront and explained as simply and in as un-offputting a way as possible: where you are and how to get there; when you open and how you operate from the customer's point of view.  People don't want to get to an unfamiliar venue and be embarrassed or confused - or even find it shut.

It's very common on the Island of course: "But everyone knows where we are" syndrome.  But UCM should know better, if only to act as an example to students who will hope of operating their own businesses.  It's not difficult to do, especially when you consider all the care and thought that is clearly going into menu creation, setting up themes and so on.  But the first rule of customer service is to put yourself into their mindset without any assumptions and work out what you can do to give them a good experience.

It’s very easy to find the opening hours etc as was fully explained in the link i posted but you chose to ignore!!

[Jarndyce]

2 hours ago, Gladys said:

Same thing for the hairdressing appointments.

Same thing for Tesco delivery slots.

[Jarndyce]

5 hours ago, John Wright said:

10 hours ago, Jarndyce said:

It’s the price of cod that passeth all understanding.

Corrected

NOT corrected - a pun ruined…

[John Wright]

14 minutes ago, Jarndyce said:

NOT corrected - a pun ruined…

Ah, but I’m parodying your pun on the biblical quotation.

[Jarndyce]

3 minutes ago, John Wright said:

Ah, but I’m parodying your pun on the biblical quotation.

Yes, I see that now - that’s awfully good.

[Roger Mexico]

8 hours ago, John Wright said:

1. They only accept bookings, no walk in.

2. There is almost always a waiting list to get a booking.

3. it’s mainly people in the know who book once a week or fortnight. That’s how it always has been. They get on the “list”, as they turn up for one meal they’ll book three months in advance on a rolling basis.

4. The students and teaching staff have other things to do after service, lessons, clearing up. It’s only one sitting, 5 days a week, term time only, excluding half terms, exam periods, etc, about 110 per year. They do a few evenings, which sell out fast, and some external events.

That being said a better customer facing web design would be good. But then everyone would complain that you couldn’t get a booking for love nor money.

That's all sort of what I expected (though it only seems to be three days a week max), but it would be better to make it clear.  You do wonder however just how useful it is as a training restaurant without the randomness of walk-ins.  There's probably a good 'nursery slope' argument for starting people off in a less stressed environment and the more important use may be for kitchen-related stuff.  But it does look rather like an effectively-subsidised facility for those "in the know" rather than realistic work experience for the students.  But I suppose they can get that in the actual marketplace, evenings and weekends.

[Roger Mexico]

5 hours ago, Banker said:

It’s very easy to find the opening hours etc as was fully explained in the link i posted but you chose to ignore!!

You do realise that that very link was in my original post in the subject?  So obviously I had read it.  It doesn't say what the opening times are (it does give the dates in the linked leaflet).  Obviously if it's booking-only that matters less, but it doesn't make clear it's booking-only either.

This isn't really just about UCM putting a lot of work and thought into a project (the schedule of meals offered seems designed to develop skills in a particular way through the year) and then failing to explain what they are doing.  That sort of lack of information is all too common on the Island and reacting by saying "Well I know all about it" just proves my point.  Most businesses need to be constantly attracting new customers to thrive and should make it easy to do so.