Food on Virgin Trains 1st class weekend

[Moonshot]

It makes we wonder if the on-train caterers aren't missing a trick. The sheer number of catering outlets at major stations, together with customers stocking up for the journey, certainly indicates that people want to eat/drink on long journeys. Maybe if the on-train buffets and shops offered better value, then many of the coffees and snacks I see being brought onto the train might instead be purchased onboard?

Maybe a Greggs franchise on board perhaps? With the same prices as the shops??

 

[Squaddie]

I was just looking at Virgins facebook page, fully expecting it to be plastered with comments reflecting your post.....and failed to find any !!

Why would you expect that? I'm describing my own thoughts and experiences, and am not pretending to speak for anyone else.

But why should something only be true if you see it on Facebook? There are many millions of people - skewed (I would imagine) heavily towards the older, more affluent and more influential members of our society - who have no interest in social networking. We have real friends and real experiences.

 

[Moonshot]

Why would you expect that? I'm describing my own thoughts and experiences, and am not pretending to speak for anyone else.

But why should something only be true if you see it on Facebook? There are many millions of people - skewed (I would imagine) heavily towards the older, more affluent and more influential members of our society - who have no interest in social networking. We have real friends and real experiences.

Not a big fan of social networking myself, but i do look at the rail pages on facebook. TPE seem to be getting a fair amount of stick just recently !!

Of course if Virgin did have issues on a regular basis like you describe, I m pretty sure it would be hitting the headlines a lot more bearing in mind just how high a profile Branson has, and also the pricey fares at the top end of their range !!

 

[SGS]

Maybe a Greggs franchise on board perhaps? With the same prices as the shops??

That wouldn't be a bad idea. There are few journies that wouldn't be improved by a Gregg's cheese pasty. In fact, there are few situations of any kind that they couldn't improve.

 

[island]

It makes we wonder if the on-train caterers aren't missing a trick. The sheer number of catering outlets at major stations, together with customers stocking up for the journey, certainly indicates that people want to eat/drink on long journeys. Maybe if the on-train buffets and shops offered better value, then many of the coffees and snacks I see being brought onto the train might instead be purchased onboard?

As important if not more so than the price is the reliability. If you get a baguette from Upper Crust at the station you have it in your hand and it will soon be in your mouth. If you think "I'll get something on board" and then the buffet is closed because of "staff shortages" or out of sandwiches or whatever, that's a pretty powerful once bitten twice shy moment and will probably put you off waiting to buy on board for some time.

 

[Muzer]

Why would you expect that? I'm describing my own thoughts and experiences, and am not pretending to speak for anyone else.

But why should something only be true if you see it on Facebook? There are many millions of people - skewed (I would imagine) heavily towards the older, more affluent and more influential members of our society - who have no interest in social networking. We have real friends and real experiences.

If it really bothers you, try Realtime Trains - the new version is often able to tell you which platform a train is coming into before even staff on the station know! Certainly before the boards tell you.

 

[Squaddie]

If it really bothers you, try Realtime Trains - the new version is often able to tell you which platform a train is coming into before even staff on the station know! Certainly before the boards tell you.

To be honest, I wouldn't have the necessary degree of trust in it. I'd probably find myself waiting alone on platform 7 not knowing that the train had already been and gone from platform 13.

 

[Hellfire]

To return to the OPs question, does that fact that Virgin offer such an abysmal catering service in 1st at weekends have anything to do with the fact that many people are sitting there with a £15 upgrade rather than the £300 tickets used during the week.

I've travelled VT 1st occasionally both during the week and at weekends. In my view the breakfast offering is pretty reasonable, although not a patch on FGW but other meals are pretty so so. Sometimes you can get a hot offering, at other times its just sandwiches.Doesn't seem to be any pattern to it.

I remember travelling on BR Western Region's Golden Hind in the 1970s when they had proper dining cars. This meant that anyone on the train could go along and have a meal as long as they paid for it and the food was pretty good. Can't do that under the current VT system as meals are only served 'at seat" in 1st.

 

[Muzer]

To be honest, I wouldn't have the necessary degree of trust in it. I'd probably find myself waiting alone on platform 7 not knowing that the train had already been and gone from platform 13.

In the past (before RTT2) I've made very good guesses from looking at the platforms of arrivals that look about the right sort of train and right time difference. These have usually been accurate - we tended to stand right near the gates until we heard the announcements.

I gave RTT2 a go at King's Cross the other day. It was very good, correctly showing the train's platform before it was even visible from the platform, and a good few minutes before the boards changed (admittedly not as infamous as the boards at Euston). I think it shows it when and only when the signaller assigns the new headcode, so unless they make a mistake it should be pretty good.

 

[MKB]

No, the £10 first class supplement is only valid between the West Midlands and Euston (&stations in between).

I believe there is a flat supplement of £15 for all other journeys & trains.

To be clear, £10 is for stations in the West Midlands postal district. Other stations in the West Midlands region -- Nuneaton, Tamworth and Lichfield TV -- despite being shorter journeys than Wolverhampton, rather unfairly have to pay £15.

 

[Aldaniti]

Maybe a Greggs franchise on board perhaps? With the same prices as the shops??

Please, no. It might keep the students happy (and I speak as one who also indulged in perhaps too much of that crap when I was younger) but I can't imagine the majority being impressed.

Now, a West Cornwall Pasty Company facility would be a different matter.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

SBB tried some MacDonalds cars to replace "diners" - turned out to be an absolute disaster. One does wonder how much use is really made of the 390 kitchens - bar a bit of grilling ofbacon and scrambled eggs.......

Maybe they ought to follow the Indian Railways tack of "franchising" out kitchen services on individual trains.....now there is a thought ..

 

[Muzer]

Maybe they ought to follow the Indian Railways tack of "franchising" out kitchen services on individual trains.....now there is a thought ..

Ever heard of RailGourmet?


(Admittedly trollies rather than kitchens, but still - it happens).

 

[Hellfire]

Ever heard of RailGourmet?

Now there's a contradiction in terms

 

[Mikey C]

Having travelled 1st class on Virgin at the weekend for a very cheap advance price, along with most other people on board, I would hardly expect much in the way of free refreshments.

Similarly, travelling in the evening on a midweek after they had finished serving hot food, again on a very reasonable advance ticket, the sandwich, crisps and fruit washed down with Old Speckled Hen was again pretty good value for what I paid.

 

[Moonshot]

This link appeared just recently , which gives a bit of weight to my thoughts on Greggs franchises on trains...

http://www.globalrailnews.com/2013/11/15/sbb-to-open-starbucks-carriage/

 

[jon0844]

The first class lounge at Euston was hardly any better, either, with spills and stains on the seats, black-and-yellow hazard tape on several sections of floor and barely anything to eat, drink or read. It was grim.

Britain's railways really are the pits.

My parents used Virgin last week (first class) and commented on the state of the lounge at Euston, and the hazard tape (mentioning it being all over the lift too?).

They still seem to think Virgin is great though!

 

[philjo]

My parents used Virgin last week (first class) and commented on the state of the lounge at Euston, and the hazard tape (mentioning it being all over the lift too?).

They still seem to think Virgin is great though!

The tape is still over the lift? It was there when I used the lounge when waiting for the Glasgow Sleeper in August. Fortunately I only had a small case with me that time so could carry it up the stairs.
The lounge could be better but it beat waiting 45 minutes on the concourse for the sleeper to start boarding. The staff in the lounge did tell us when boarding started so we had already walked over to platform 15 before the platform was shown on the departure boards.

 

[KaPOWitsCHRIS]

I didn't think the sandwich I had was too bad. The tea was ok too. The crisps however were horrid. Rock hard.

Edit:

I'm going first class soon for the first time toward London (only ever been London - Coventry), and I get on at Coventry, will I get at seat service? Just when I came from London I saw them once for a cup of tea and that was it for the rest of the journey.

 

[Squaddie]

The first class lounge at Coventry is nicer than the one at Euston, and the fact that it's actually on the platform, with a big window, means that you can stay there until the train pulls in. You will (should) also get at-seat service, although there's no guarantee what you'll get.

 

[moggie]

VT 1st class catering at weekends: a master class in nothing for something.

Must admit to liking those brioche buns though.

 

[Squaddie]

VT 1st class catering at weekends: a master class in nothing for something.

Not quite nothing, though. Last weekend I was the only one boarding First Class at Coventry, and one of only three passengers in the carriage, while the scrum on the platform at the other end of the train was three or four people deep. That's all I expect or want from First Class, really.

 

[Mikey C]

VT 1st class catering at weekends: a master class in nothing for something.

Must admit to liking those brioche buns though.

But then most people on board aren't paying much more than for Standard anyway, and the comfort is a decent step up, plus fewer seats without a window!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

But then most people on board aren't paying much more than for Standard anyway, and the comfort is a decent step up, plus fewer seats without a window!

Part from those returning perhaps on full fare 1st class tickets. Not all Sunday travellers are weekend / special Internet fares buyers.....

A "30p worth snackbox" comes a bit off course on what BR Inter City used to offer back in the day......even on a Sunday.

 

[orpine]

How do they do for "special" dietary requirements? Veggie, Vegan, Kosher, Halal etc?

 

[island]

I think everything in the box is veggie.

With that exception, they don't.

 

[Squaddie]

I think everything in the box is veggie.

Not necessarily. The packet of jelly beans (all half a dozen of them) I found in mine probably contained gelatine, and it's possible that the pastry wasn't entirely free of animal products either.

 

[orpine]

I think everything in the box is veggie.

With that exception, they don't.

Hmmm. Doesn't that kind of defeat the point of first-class when they're selling it as "enjoying complimentary food and drink". Catering to special diets isn't that hard.

 

[calc7]

Part from those returning perhaps on full fare 1st class tickets. Not all Sunday travellers are weekend / special Internet fares buyers.....

An Off-Peak Single/Return plus weekend upgrade should be sold/purchased on the weekend.
Alternatively, Virgin Trains accept Anytime tickets in First Class on weekends.