NO WATER for YOU

[cjr3888]

It is my understanding that SODEXO has the food and beverage contract for the entire university. Therefore, why not have an 18 wheeler worth of bottle water on hand before the first game? whatever is not used then can be used for the next game and then the next and so on. Order more as the season goes on if necessary. At the end of the season, if any is left over, it can simply be transferred to on campus locations and cafeterias and use it there. They sell a bottle of water for $4.00 which is probably at least $3.00 profit or more. It makes no sense not to have an overabundance of water available. A second idea is to have Coca Cola have a truck load of water on hand and on consignment. Use and pay for what is used and send the rest back. Why would Coca Cola not do that.

It seems to me this should be such an easy fix if SODEXO would take their head out of their a_s_s!!!! The University should mandate a fix or tear up the contract!

It's such a simple plan isn't it? That's exactly what I did when I would run tournaments. My vendors would buy back any cases of beer, water, soda, food, anything that wasn't opened.

[CajunVic]

The brain surgeon who only ordered 17000 bottles should be fired. Talk about a liability issue.

maybe the brain surgeon was in charge and was trying to create work . . .

[BananaHammock]

You are lucky. I saw 2 people carried out in our section. A ref about lost it on the field, game stopped and trainers came out, and my wife called an Uber and left after the first quarter. I couldn’t get water, so I got a beer from a tailgating tent on the way out.

Some of this goes back to my comment about being prepared. Most people don't hydrate themselves properly and/or regularly to tolerate heat.

[zeppelincajun]

Some of this goes back to my comment about being prepared. Most people don't hydrate themselves properly and/or regularly to tolerate heat.

We can’t control what people do before entering the stadium. We can:

1. Allow them to enter with a reserve of water.
2. Provide free hydration stations.
3. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD: prepare our concessions so that customers wanting to hand us money can do so in a reasonable time and be guaranteed the item they want is in stock when they reach the front of the line. People are even willing to pay you a premium for the privilege. “Oh you are feeling overheated? Come stand at this station and have a glass of water. On the way back to your seat, go buy 3 bottles of water for $12 for you and your kids.”

The way we run our concessions (not because of renovations; this has been for years) is costing us immeasurable amounts of money from:

1. The people who get in the lines who don’t purchase because we are out of what they want.
2. The people who see the lines and say, “forget that” and go back to their seats.
3. Most important of all: the people who see the clusterf*** and say, “I’ve got drinks in my fridge, and I’m not gonna have to miss half the game to go grab one. I’m not coming back.”

Even giving people a couple free ways to hydrate, most are gonna be willing to give you money for more. In a business we are in an easy situation to capitalize, and we somehow still turn it to a negative.

[Duggie35]

It's such a simple plan isn't it? That's exactly what I did when I would run tournaments. My vendors would buy back any cases of beer, water, soda, food, anything that wasn't opened.

It is an easy fix, if you really want to fix it. I realize the athletic department and university should exert more pressure on Sodexo to get it right, but I think Sodexo should bare the majority of the blame.

[JMV JustMyView]

We can’t control what people do before entering the stadium. We can:

1. Allow them to enter with a reserve of water.
2. Provide free hydration stations.
3. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD: prepare our concessions so that customers wanting to hand us money can do so in a reasonable time and be guaranteed the item they want is in stock when they reach the front of the line. People are even willing to pay you a premium for the privilege. “Oh you are feeling overheated? Come stand at this station and have a glass of water. On the way back to your seat, go buy 3 bottles of water for $12 for you and your kids.”

The way we run our concessions (not because of renovations; this has been for years) is costing us immeasurable amounts of money from:

1. The people who get in the lines who don’t purchase because we are out of what they want.
2. The people who see the lines and say, “forget that” and go back to their seats.
3. Most important of all: the people who see the clusterf*** and say, “I’ve got drinks in my fridge, and I’m not gonna have to miss half the game to go grab one. I’m not coming back.”

Even giving people a couple free ways to hydrate, most are gonna be willing to give you money for more. In a business we are in an easy situation to capitalize, and we somehow still turn it to a negative.

Great post.

[cjr3888]

It is an easy fix, if you really want to fix it. I realize the athletic department and university should exert more pressure on Sodexo to get it right, but I think Sodexo should bare the majority of the blame.

I agree, Sodexo is 100% to blame. They are in total charge of concessions.

[RaginCajun77]

I agree, Sodexo is 100% to blame. They are in total charge of concessions.

They're also in charge of on-campus dining. Wonder how much they screw that up?

[Bandwagon King]

I have some questions, but must point out the obvious first. It seems every single year the UL athletic department has a really big football game. Like the first real big game of the season on which the whole program will be judged the rest of the season on, they screw it up royally. SO my question is. Who does the department have supervising all of these game day operations? And, does this person ever appear at the tail gating & around the field before during & after the game to personally oversee the activities of ticketing, fan arrival, concession sales & just generally check on fans in the crowd to see how things are going & what improvements can be made both in real time & to continue to improve the game day atmosphere & services for the attendees? If there is, I've never met them. Why isn't there more accountability by the administration on these issues which always alienate the paying public usually at the worst possible time & always at the beginning of the season?

[CajunVic]

RCAF? Dude...Maggard will explain everything on a 6am interview by Jay, Dan, or Billy with plenty of softball questions and answers....

how about football, baseball and basketball . . .