East Coast catering changes

[DarloRich]

According to the ICEC prospectus, East Coast catering brings in about £10million pa of revenue. Their costs are about £18million pa (it's hard to be accurate because it's presented as a graph), but the costs incorporate all the complimentary food/drink included in the first class offer. So catering is a good revenue stream for the TOC.

So only a loss of £8m PA then! Well worth offering the service! Hardly a good, profitable, revenue stream!

I wonder how much of that £8m loss is staff cost (most I would assume) and how much is given away free. I wonder how much of the staff cost is buffet stewards/trolley stewards wages and how much is for chefs. It seems that whilst there is money to be made on catering there needs to be lots of work done on bringing the costs down. If they are giving away more in free food than they take back in revenue something has gone very wrong!

Start by taking away the free food. That would help redress the profit & loss account and avoid people being sacked! All the first class passengers do is act in an ungrateful manner anyway. Let them eat cake (which they have paid for! )

Id rather pay £40 extra for a decent meal!↲

Amen to that. Seems people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing!

Seriously? You want to pay them MORE for a train fare in return for a (usually) mediocre meal?

 

[Blindtraveler]

if we could go back to the situation where a restaurant service was available with FC Pax prioritised and standard allowed in once they had been fed it would to me be the best option. I am quite happy to go standard and pay seperately for a good breakfast, lunch or dinner as, lets be brutal here, the First wifi is no better and and the free food isnt always going to win me over.↲

 

[transmanche]

So only a loss of £8m PA then! Well worth offering the service! Hardly a good, profitable, revenue stream!

No it's not an £8m loss. You're ignoring the fact that the costs include the food, etc for the first class offer.

If you only include the costs (and disregard the benefits which show up elsewhere), then you'd conclude that maintenance was a loss-making department and cease all train maintenance forthwith.

I guess the information is presented to allow potential bidders to decide if how much of a premium they charge for first class, in order to recoup the costs.

 

[Deerfold]

lets be brutal here, the First wifi is no better and and the free food isnt always going to win me over.↲

The wifi is free in First even if it's no faster. I still usually use my phone as a hotspot. When I go EC First I balance the cost against the extra space and not much else (I may have a drink or two but that's not a huge cost).

 

[Butts]

Start by taking away the free food. That would help redress the profit & loss account and avoid people being sacked! All the first class passengers do is act in an ungrateful manner anyway. Let them eat cake (which they have paid for! )

Steady on Darlorich.........

Are you taking the pi** aka "let them eat cake" - getting it seems to be the problem at the moment

 

[Deerfold]

Start by taking away the free food. That would help redress the profit & loss account and avoid people being sacked!

If might if many of the people didn't then drift back to STD, paying less for their tickets. And you then need fewer people to distribute the food, so might they not be sacked?

 

[Butts]

If might if many of the people didn't then drift back to STD, paying less for their tickets. And you then need fewer people to distribute the food, so might they not be sacked?

So why not kill two birds with one stone and make most of it self service

 

[SickyNicky]

And would be more if extra hot food and restaurants remained as there is people, myself and Dave Newcastle being just 2 on here willing to pay for them! I never believed the restaurants make losses thing.

Yep, agreed. First Great Western still manage to operate a "Travelling Chef" who can knock up a decent cooked breakfast (paid for). The 6.42 from Hereford to Paddington would be considerably less desirable without it. Of course, there's no actual restaurant coach, so you're limited to having it served "at seat", but it must be worth their while.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

And would be more if extra hot food and restaurants remained as there is people, myself and Dave Newcastle being just 2 on here willing to pay for them!

Indeed!
And I know we're not alone.

I never believed the restaurants make losses thing.

The figures are opaque. When the Restaurant car was declared a lossmaker of extraordinary proportions, its costs included train access charges, station access charges, etc. as if the restaurant operator had to be charged tickets for each seat in the restaurant. In my opinion, its only slightly more transparent now - there are still massive charges incurred from station service provision, and is not clearly reflected against the revenue it generates.

Oh, and while I'm on, and before I go over to the E C First Class thread, I'm travelling home on the 18:30 as I write, and there's no fruit on board. Again.

 

[YorkshireRider]

Of course we must remember that when taking about restaurant cars through the Scottish highlands it was National Depressed that got rid of them, it was just a few peak time Kings X services that had them. It would only of got worse if they had managed to hold on to the franchise.

 

[Butts]

Of course we must remember that when taking about restaurant cars through the Scottish highlands it was National Depressed that got rid of them, it was just a few peak time Kings X services that had them. It would only of got worse if they had managed to hold on to the franchise.

What was "National Depressed" excuse for the withdrawal of Restaurant Cars in The Highlands - did they factor in the cost of construction of the Railway :roll:

 

[YorkshireRider]

It was part of big cut in costs on catering staff and restructure of the catering offer, all through voluntary redundancy if I remember correctly. They did replace it with 'at seat dining' on selected trains which offered a good breakfast for 10 or 12 quid but the evening dishes were a bit of a rip off for what they were, also around the 10 quid mark. They did offer these dishes to standard passengers in a plastic tray, but its not the same as sitting down in a first class carriage, especially if standard was busy. As a result a lot of the food went unsold and was wasted as the menu wasnt that popular with the first class passengers either. They much prefered the restaurant car.