I found myself in the Detroit airport at 8:00am today, having first boarded in Mosinee, WI at 5:00am. As anyone who has ever taken a flight in the morning can attest, there are only two types of people in the airport that early; those who need coffee and those who are lying about their need for coffee. I belong to the former.
After landing, I make a beeline for the nearest coffee place, which happened to be an Einstein Bros. There were eight of us in line and the line moved something like this.
One person was taking orders and there were two people taking payments. Person one steps up, gazes at the menu for a few moments, ordered a hot breakfast sandwich, with an extra slice of cheese on an everything bagel… then asks about the selection of tea.. thinks a bit, orders something.. steps to the right to pay. Next person orders coffee, black, large. Third person steps up, coffee, large, muffin… next person asked about the hot dog bagel things.. then asked if they could have lean bacon on the sandwich.. then asked about, etc, etc… Meanwhile, I just wanted a cup of coffee and a chair. To add to the frustration, the two people taking payments were idle most of the time.
Einstein Bros, if you are listening: Between 5:00 am and 10:00 am, set up a coffee-muffin only line and you will not lose the people who only want coffee, but don’t want to wait in line. Again, coffee-muffins only line.
Our advice: Take a look around your event, especially at registration and concessions. Are there long lines forming around opportunities to create express lines? People do not want to wait when they know exactly what they want and perceive it to be a dispense-themselves item, like soda and coffee.
Do you send your referees to the concessions line with a ticket for their lunch? Why? When they are there, waiting in line cuts into their decompress time as well as increases the line congestion for your guest teams. Why not consider doing a catering to the referee tent, i.e., having a volunteer take the orders and run them from the concession stand back to the ref tent. Or, better yet, get a ref tent sponsor from a local restaurant.
Quick turn is the secret to increased profitability with your concessions.
Gerard McLean, TourneyCentral