Nigel Travis interview

[Top of the JES]

I’m often in the ground by 2pm if I am I get a burger of variable quality and until recently a coffee which is bloody awful. All for a tad under a tenner. If I arrive earlier I go to the Portuguese place also. It’s more expensive but quality of the food and drink on offer is so much better.

[BiggsyMalone]

I’m often in the ground by 2pm if I am I get a burger of variable quality and until recently a coffee which is bloody awful. All for a tad under a tenner. If I arrive earlier I go to the Portuguese place also. It’s more expensive but quality of the food and drink on offer is so much better.

I go in there too. Super Bock is far superior to anything they serve in the ground

[Proposition Joe]

Oooooh, Palmeira fwends

[essexfootball]

Didn’t quite interpret it that way but can’t argue with your interpretation either. If you go to any USA sports event the beer and food is vastly inflated in price. $20 for a can of beer + tip! That model ain’t going to work here. Wouldn’t dream of drinking in the stadium before game. Leyton is a cool area now and quite attractive to arrive early and patronise the local offerings.

I think that is somewhere on the money, I think they've got it slightly wrong and expected people like American sports to get there early, then eat and drink etc whereas English tradition has always been pub or nearby the ground then wander in near kick off then back to the pub. Regardless if Leyton is a cool area or not but it currently is and has lots of options all far better tasting and value than the ground and that's what Orient need to compete with, it's a simple equation, outside options are vastly better than in the ground and like commercialism dictates people will go with the better option

[BiggsyMalone]

Oooooh, Palmeira fwends

There’s 2 Portuguese places, I go to the one by Coach and Horses

[Long slender neck]

If outside is better quality and cheaper, I dont see how Orient can compete.

[StillSpike]

If outside is better quality and cheaper, I dont see how Orient can compete.

There will be a certain level of brand loyalty from fans. If the differences between what you can get outside and what you can get in the ground were closer, then I'm sure many fans would choose the inside in order to feel they're helping the club. But at the moment, the offering in the ground appears to be suffering the full whammy of price, quality and comfort (and service, in some areas). That's quite a hill to expect "fan loyalty" to climb.

[aylesburyos]

I'm not about to start to criticise Nigel Travis he's pumped £millions into the club but I agree that food and drink offerings need looking at if they want to entice people in earlier before games. I'd be more inclined to criticise Mark Devlin who has not yet replaced our previous stadium sponsor who left at the end of the 2020/21 Season, it's one of the largest sponsorships for any club and he's even spent money on consultants and still no new sponsor. Not good enough. From what I can see his major achievement has been purchasing second hand perimeter boards.

Macklin sold off previous sponsorships at too low a level devalueling it. Of course he could get a sponsor but not any old one for buttons

That’s Devlins argument but now we have no money coming in for the naming rights instead and haven’t for 18 months. Better to have something rather than nothing.

Does not work like that. You can't sell off for buttons and then increase to the appropriate amount

[Rich Tea Wellin]

If outside is better quality and cheaper, I dont see how Orient can compete.

There will be a certain level of brand loyalty from fans. If the differences between what you can get outside and what you can get in the ground were closer, then I'm sure many fans would choose the inside in order to feel they're helping the club. But at the moment, the offering in the ground appears to be suffering the full whammy of price, quality and comfort (and service, in some areas). That's quite a hill to expect "fan loyalty" to climb.

There’s also an element of having a captive audience. Half time should be where they focus.

I often want something to eat at half time. You aren’t competing with the high st because people can’t go out and get something outside of the ground.

The question should then also be how do they create a captive audience before the game which will lead to more food and drink sales? And that’s all about making it an experience that is appealing.

[Max Fowler]

If outside is better quality and cheaper, I dont see how Orient can compete.

I'm not an expert in the hospitality or catering sectors but I don't know, maybe they could look at making what's on offer inside the ground better quality and cheaper?

[Max Fowler]

But anyway, I had always assumed that the catering was outsourced so that we receive a fixed fee from these companies?

If I now decide to buy a burger every home game this season, I thought that money just goes straight to the catering company, not Orient?

[Top of the JES]

Macklin sold off previous sponsorships at too low a level devalueling it. Of course he could get a sponsor but not any old one for buttons

That’s Devlins argument but now we have no money coming in for the naming rights instead and haven’t for 18 months. Better to have something rather than nothing.

Does not work like that. You can't sell off for buttons and then increase to the appropriate amount

Well it obviously does because we have had no income from stadium naming rights for 18 months not even “buttons” it’s easy to say we undersold previously but 18 months without one of your biggest sponsorships is really poor.

[Dunners]

But anyway, I had always assumed that the catering was outsourced so that we receive a fixed fee from these companies?

If I now decide to buy a burger every home game this season, I thought that money just goes straight to the catering company, not Orient?

That what I thought too. But I suppose the volume of sales could be a factor in a future valuation for when any concessions are up for renewal.

[LittleMate]

Millionaire owners of a football club whos community based history, they champion, want to alienate and take business away from struggling local industries and get ‘tough’ with the local council in regards to financial and planning help they demand going forward

Well thought out lads

Didn’t quite interpret it that way but can’t argue with your interpretation either. If you go to any USA sports event the beer and food is vastly inflated in price. $20 for a can of beer + tip! That model ain’t going to work here. Wouldn’t dream of drinking in the stadium before game. Leyton is a cool area now and quite attractive to arrive early and patronise the local offerings.

I agree with the "cool Leyton" thing. Nigel said they were meeting the council and hopefully the club can impress upon them what we bring to the table in making the High Road a more viable entity. The food and drink outlets would not be here in such numbers if it were not for the clubs support. I doubt it will influence the councillors enough to invest - but we should at the very least be making the point.

[Max Fowler]

But anyway, I had always assumed that the catering was outsourced so that we receive a fixed fee from these companies?

If I now decide to buy a burger every home game this season, I thought that money just goes straight to the catering company, not Orient?

That what I thought too. But I suppose the volume of sales could be a factor in a future valuation for when any concessions are up for renewal.

Yes of course future contract renewals, whenever that may be, will be impacted by my burger buying habits.

Would be good to get clarification over this - if I buy a sub-standard burger for £6 at Orient on Saturday, will that money go to Orient or the catering company?

[Max Fowler]

I agree with the "cool Leyton" thing. Nigel said they were meeting the council and hopefully the club can impress upon them what we bring to the table in making the High Road a more viable entity. The food and drink outlets would not be here in such numbers if it were not for the clubs support. I doubt it will influence the councillors enough to invest - but we should at the very least be making the point.

Agreed they should be making that point to the councillors to get them to give our Investors some money.

Just don't mention in that meeting that they're going to try and stop us spending our money on the high street.

[Dunners]

But anyway, I had always assumed that the catering was outsourced so that we receive a fixed fee from these companies?

If I now decide to buy a burger every home game this season, I thought that money just goes straight to the catering company, not Orient?

That what I thought too. But I suppose the volume of sales could be a factor in a future valuation for when any concessions are up for renewal.

Yes of course future contract renewals, whenever that may be, will be impacted by my burger buying habits.

Would be good to get clarification over this - if I buy a sub-standard burger for £6 at Orient on Saturday, will that money go to Orient or the catering company?

My current understanding if that the catering company gets your hard earned £6. But I'm no expert, so happy to be put right on any points I'm unsure of.

[Max Fowler]

Why the **** am I being dug out about not buying a burger then, when the money doesn't even go into the club?

[essexfootball]

My understanding would be the catering company gets x too and Orient gets a fee but maybe there isn't enough custom going through and thus both are being hit and neither is happy but if that is the case they need to listen to feedback and improve the offering and value, simple market economics

[Max Fowler]

Any contract renewal discussion should go along the lines of we can provide a catering company with 8,000 potential customers. That's the club's bit done.

It's then up to the catering firm to come up with ways to get those customers to actually purchase their product. ie providing a decent product at a fair price.

What a shitshow this has needlessly turned into.

[Dunners]

My understanding would be the catering company gets x too and Orient gets a fee but maybe there isn't enough custom going through and thus both are being hit and neither is happy but if that is the case they need to listen to feedback and improve the offering and value, simple market economics

It's possible that the catering company has a clause whereby, if sales volumes fall below a certain level through no fault of their own, then they are able to claim something back on their concession fee from the club. This could also be the club's way of mitigating the risk of supplier insolvency. However, this is all speculating, so we need someone who actually knows stuff to come along and tell us where conkles's £6 has gone.

[CEB]

All this could be solved if the club simply installed a few machines that could repair some broken biscuits for a small fee

[OyinbO]

Any contract renewal discussion should go along the lines of we can provide a catering company with 8,000 potential customers. That's the club's bit done.

It's then up to the catering firm to come up with ways to get those customers to actually purchase their product. ie providing a decent product at a fair price.

What a shitshow this has needlessly turned into.

IIRC there are serious limitations as to what can be delivered through the catering facilities in the ground because of the way they were designed and built 20 years ago. But the Club will want to be careful about slating Hearn's penny-pinching given they want to maintain good relations with the landlord - and it's unlikely they'll want to spend significant sums re-configuring these fairly new stands when both landlord and tenant have a shared interest in Orient moving out in the not-too-distant.

[CEB]

I don’t know if this is naive/stupid/missing something. But for arguments sake. Five minutes walk from the ground is a cafe called Deeneys that does bloody lovely toasties, has a limited range of them.
What would be the likeliest issue with getting a branch of Deeneys into the ground?

[Top of the JES]

That’s Devlins argument but now we have no money coming in for the naming rights instead and haven’t for 18 months. Better to have something rather than nothing.

Does not work like that. You can't sell off for buttons and then increase to the appropriate amount

Well it obviously does because we have had no income from stadium naming rights for 18 months not even “buttons” it’s easy to say we undersold previously but 18 months without one of your biggest sponsorships is really poor.Breyer groups sponsorship ended and Devlin said it’s been sold on the cheap and we need a big sponsor paying big bucks and even having employed a consultancy group to help find a big sponsor at more cost to us , 18 months later still nothing.