Most non league football clubs get a large stream of income from their catering. At the recent AGM a local journalist, David Arscott, wrote on the fan’s forum the Board of the club were at a loss of how to make the catering work for us.
Any other non-league club would die for our gates of about 600 for the men’s home games and from our new excellent women’s team. Wow, forty games a season….24,000 customers. Any normal club would make £50,000 out of that at £2 a head per game. At Lewes though, home of the famous Harvey’s brewery, the Board are clueless where to start and instead make a fraction of that.
Where do you start? Well one of my traditional long dissections here are some basics on how we do it at Lewes and how we should be doing it.
The current set up is a dictionary definition of gross incompetency and stupidity indeed verging on comedic. In Lewes, a town defined by having the largest bonfire display in the United Kingdom we have 6 bonfire societies. The Board at Lewes, since the inception of the community club, have had just one of those societies run the bar. Southover Bonfire Society get well-intentioned middle-class volunteers without a clue to run the bar. It is deadly slow and tiresome and clueless poor service. Fans go to the pubs before and after the games and I can vouch as a drinker that I rarely drink from the club bar as the product is badly served and is sometimes undrinkable. Previously the terraces were awash with drinkers and now why bother? However, this is what pains me. I have seen two other bonfire societies set up at work. They are shit hot fast and if they were doing it the output could treble. But the Board have never approached the other societies. The incompetency does not stop there. I know our Chairman recognises this, but the others on the Board don’t seem to. The bonfire societies in Lewes are highly competitive and the fact one of them has the free run of the local football club, even though they are shit (the society!) has turned a lot of hardcore bonfire Lewes people away from the club. You couldn’t write it.
My dear departed friend Keith Austen, who spent his last Christmas day alive in my house, was known as Mr Bonfire. He has been the most pivotal person in bonfire for the last 30 years. When he passed away the town ground to a standstill as his body was carted through the town and his death filled out the cover of the local paper two weeks running. No other view on the current set up would is more pertinent. Over beers he would just laugh ‘unbelievable’ Keith was a member of the society in question as well and always said ‘I’m not complaining, we need the money’ Keith repeated a lot so these quotes are bang on. But he recognised that firstly their performance was piss poor and secondly and maybe more importantly, how it hacked off the other 5 societies members and how it had created a resentment towards the club. Even more amazing as we are supposed to be a community club and represent the community.
The current set up have been hindered also by a lack of investment in the bar machinery. This should have been a priority, however the Board have instead frittered money away needlessly elsewhere.
We have been outsourcing the food. So we create an enormous customer base and other people come in and take their money ! The caterers do this because they make good money doing this. Can’t believe there luck at the feast of full wallets. Seemingly, we are beyond this simple routine.
Under our constitution we are allowed to co-opt members onto the Board who have specialist knowledge. But the Board feel they have the varied skill set to run the club. I would suggest that is absolute rubbish.
But someone came along and offered to sort it out. Yes true, what luck. Someone with a track record of success at sorting out a similar catering enterprise prone to peaks and spikes in delivery. Amazingly that person offered to do it for free with a 6 page plan to expand the catering. To not only cover the club’s operating loss but add substantial income to the finances. This incompetency can’t be spun out with an excuse by the club because it was me. Semi-retired at the time I offered to help sort it out. Listen to this…..they were not interested. Saidnthey were but did not even look at the plan. Probably because I write the fanzine. Incapable to differentiate between a critic and a gift horse the Board, doubtless with other future idea fails up their sleeves knew best.
It is difficult to think up a more desperate, pathetic scenario for a clueless approach. Of course, I recognise in other fields the Board are exemplary and very clever.
But catering is such an important lifeline for non-league clubs and the Board at Lewes FC, if they have any hope of creating a self-sustained club need to overhaul the set up dramatically. Beginning with addressing their piss poor inertia, attitude, and priority to it.
The Rights of Fans. 