The bigger the event, the harder the fall
If you ask anyone who has ever attended any live event what's the one thing they remember about it, nine times out of ten it will be the one thing that went wrong.
Take Twickenham Stadium for Six Nations fixtures. The match experience is superb and the atmosphere amazing and yet you often leave annoyed at how long you had to queue for the train to get home. As ever it's the one thing that is so difficult to control, caused by infrastructure that was never built to deal with 82,000 people on match day.
It's not always easy for event organisers, in fact some would say impossible, to think of every fine detail, every eventuality to make sure the customer has a great time. Things always go wrong, that is life and you can't control everything - but delivering good food and beverage and great customer service should always be the starting point. And yet it is truly staggering how many venues and events are prepared to turn a blind eye to what their outsourced catering and bar operations are doing in this respect. Huge guarantees seem, in some cases, to have purchased the right to cut corners when it comes to how the customer is treated all in the name of increased margin. In an age when the customer is more discerning than ever before, might this be the moment when rights holders forsake some money and actually ask their caterer to do a good job?
A wise man once told me that the more beer you can serve, the more beer you will sell. Undeniably true, but produce a first rate bar team who are able to communicate properly with the customer and you will sell even more. And what's more, whether you are selling 1,000 pints an hour or 100 burgers a minute, spectators and customers alike will remember the experience and are more likely to forget the little things that go wrong.
In the world of events the most commonly heard expression is "we want something different", although what "they" mean by this is not always clear. Events should always look for that edge that differentiates them from the competition. The customer has so much choice in the world of outdoor events, there can be no excuse to deliver an experience that belongs in the past, particularly when there are so many suppliers out there with unique products and services that can seriously augment any event.
UK & International Sales Director at Future Ticketing
8 年Very true David. As an aside, this does not mean forsaking volume to achieve quality. I installed a food court in a local Point-to-Point in the Spring, and the total revenue from the concessions increased fivefold when the customer was presented with a high quality food and beverage solution.
Event Project and Operations Management - Project Management | Operations | Events | Greenfield | International | Owner APW Event Services Ltd.
8 年Thanks David, and not a truer word was said!