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Ovations Out?

Casstevens will have a family member start a catering sevice and hire that service to replace Ovations.
 
deacsrus said:
Casstevens will have a family member start a catering sevice and hire that service to replace Ovations.
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More likely to cut the current contract in half, tell no one, and skim the rest.
 
It is what one.either calls "tone deaf" or arrogance. He is simply lousy at making good hires and . then cant admit glaring errors.
 
Is there some unique aspect of running concessions at Wake games that Ovations can't handle?
 
ChrisL68 said:
Is there some unique aspect of running concessions at Wake games that Ovations can't handle?
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This. "We didn't know what we were getting into"--really? There are literally 127 other FBS programs in the country. I'm not buying this for one second
 
DemonDEKEn said:
Ovations. He was clearly frustrated with the Athletic Depart staff and felt like they (Ovations) weren't told the whole truth about what they were getting into.
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A couple others have beaten me to this point, but how did Ovations not know what they were getting into and how was it not their fault if they didn't? That doesn't make sense on the surface. What was it that Wake surprised them with that causes them to make shitty cheeseburgers, not know how to run a register and run out of product in the first half of games? Was there infrastructure that Wake said they would have that isn't there? Are there some sort of limitations that Wake puts on Ovations that they don't deal with in other locations?
 
ChrisL68 said:
Is there some unique aspect of running concessions at Wake games that Ovations can't handle?
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I'd love to see the contract. I assume Ovations has service tiers so the other party can decide if they want Cadillac level food or Yugo level. If so, MSD obviously didn't go for even a Chevy level.

Beyond that, perhaps MSD is on the line for any spoilage and excess staff and therefore is responsible for giving Ovations an estimate or guarantee of how many fans to prepare for. Ovations brings food (and staff) based on that number plus maybe 10%. By underestimating the true number, MSD limits it's exposure. When more fans show up, you have long lines and food shortages. If our contract works this way and MSD is calling for cheap food and low attendance, everyone is unhappy. Anyone who has been in charge of making arrangements for a Christmas/holiday dinner probably knows how this works.

Another possibility is the contract makes Ovations responsible for staffing the concessions for next to nothing and Ovations has all of the risk/reward. MSD might have provided Ovations the same overinflated attendance figures that we've joked about and Ovations worked out a proposal based on those numbers. As Ovations realizes they were screwed on the contract and has no chance of a volume of sales that will produce a profit, they would try to cut their losses by lowering their labor and food costs in both quality and quantity.
 
Good post, 71. The second seems likely.
 
WFU71 said:
I'd love to see the contract. I assume Ovations has service tiers so the other party can decide if they want Cadillac level food or Yugo level. If so, MSD obviously didn't go for even a Chevy level.

Beyond that, perhaps MSD is on the line for any spoilage and excess staff and therefore is responsible for giving Ovations an estimate or guarantee of how many fans to prepare for. Ovations brings food (and staff) based on that number plus maybe 10%. By underestimating the true number, MSD limits it's exposure. When more fans show up, you have long lines and food shortages. If our contract works this way and MSD is calling for cheap food and low attendance, everyone is unhappy. Anyone who has been in charge of making arrangements for a Christmas/holiday dinner probably knows how this works.

Another possibility is the contract makes Ovations responsible for staffing the concessions for next to nothing and Ovations has all of the risk/reward. MSD might have provided Ovations the same overinflated attendance figures that we've joked about and Ovations worked out a proposal based on those numbers. As Ovations realizes they were screwed on the contract and has no chance of a volume of sales that will produce a profit, they would try to cut their losses by lowering their labor and food costs in both quality and quantity.
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Even if one or the other is true, that is no way for a big company to run a business. You still operate a business to provide competent service to customers and go back to Wake and say that this contract was made based on unrealistic estimates and needs to be reworked. And none of that explains not being able to operate a cash register or credit card machine or open a jar of jalapenos or many of the other examples of incompetent operations we have heard.

Did they not ask for the actual concessions sales figures from the prior concessioners?
 
Aren't most of the concessions around the stadium, with the exception of the tower, staffed by churches and little league parents?
 
ChrisL68 said:
Even if one or the other is true, that is no way for a big company to run a business. You still operate a business to provide competent service to customers and go back to Wake and say that this contract was made based on unrealistic estimates and needs to be reworked. And none of that explains not being able to operate a cash register or credit card machine or open a jar of jalapenos or many of the other examples of incompetent operations we have heard.

Did they not ask for the actual concessions sales figures from the prior concessioners?
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My understanding is that the bidders were given numbers by the Athletic Depart, and those numbers were highly skewed and very hard to figure out. As PhDeac posted earlier, the Athletic Depart probably gave them the over inflated attendance numbers, but I'd also surmise that Casstevens expertise and experience in cooking the books came into play, as well.
 
Who knew catering was such a big deal

Just hire tsy
 
DemonDEKEn said:
My understanding is that the bidders were given numbers by the Athletic Depart, and those numbers were highly skewed and very hard to figure out. As PhDeac posted earlier, the Athletic Depart probably gave them the over inflated attendance numbers, but I'd also surmise that Casstevens expertise and experience in cooking the books came into play, as well.
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Meh. I understand the need to blame Casstevens for the sun rising but Ovations handles vending for a variety of collegiate sporting venues and minor league parks where attendance fluctuates on a regular basis depending on yearly records, days of the week.

But he is to blame for making the decision to change vendors and having it turn into a fiasco.
 
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Seems like the fact Ovations isn't working at Wake even though it works elsewhere is a reason to blame Caastevens.
 
Tobacco Road said:
Are there some sort of limitations that Wake puts on Ovations that they don't deal with in other locations?
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Wake allows for only a few exceptions per year -- Ovations wanted more exceptions, and Hatch wouldn't give them. Impossible for Ovations to compete in FBS-level catering with these kinds of limitations.
 
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