Catering at the National

Can I please ask for the next National can we please have a catering village with more food stalls having stood in a food queue for over 30 minutes to be told the coffee machine was broken it spoiled a good day. Most people I spoke to all said there wasnt enough catering on site AGAIN. I know a lot of organising goes into this and appreciate all what goes in for a great weekend BUT every National I’ve been to does not have enough catering and entails queueing for a very long period to eat.

Apart from that very well organised and a cracking day best National so far. ???

Hear, hear.

Got to agree with the comments on catering especialy in the show car area it could have been better

Great show

Sandwiches and a flask of coffee meant I could eat and drink where and when I wanted. Worked for me but not everyone I guess?

 

Yes, noticed long queues at all the catering outlets yet again, this was a complaint of ours at Wentworth Woodhouse in the spring… In our case however we paid the £5 each and went into the circuit to watch some of the racing. Went into the pit stop cafe while there and had a light lunch, plenty of seats, good variety of food, no queues to speak of and very reasonable prices.

Other than that, one of the best rallies for a few years. The Lifestyle village certainly kept the other half happy for a while  

 

 

 

I agree there did seem to be a delay in buying food with long waiting times at all hot food stations, we had already eaten breakfast on our run up so only had an Ice Cream, at that moment there was no queue but he had run out of drinks.

The queues were no different to some other public events we have visited so I think the diversity and number of outlets was reasonable considering the variables at club events. If we had been on the circuit there would have been much more available but overall the organisers did an excellent job and even arranged for perfect weather 

The layout and amount of traders was commendable, lots to see and buy as well as lots of action to watch, not enough time to visit the race track or the museum before a nice drive home, another thumbs up to all who worked so hard to make the event a success 

 

I,ll second that. We don’t need a restaurant, just efficient drink and food vendors. Even at Gaydon (last time) there were long queues and long waits, and then trying to find a seat at a table very difficult, if you wanted to eat comfortably.The prices inside equalled those outside, and they operated more efficiently (DIY bar)


Toilet facilities also in demand, long queues in the ‘Reception?’ area. Obviously for people who came on long drives this was their first point of call, but that continued through most of the day. I didn’t notice anyone suffering with discomfort (hopping around) but we shouldn’t need to queue for so long for a minutes relief?

I thought about taking a flask, and a bite to eat but weighing up the pro’s and con’s I decoded not to, I dislike carrying a bag round all day. While I didn’t go intending to buy anything, you never know what might take your fancy, so that was part of the Con’s as well.

 

I spoke to the caterers when I ordered food, as they were running out. They said they didn’t bring bigger units, or more food as they didn’t believe the attendance numbers they were given! So the caterers fault for the service provoded

No problem in the paddock area plenty of caters & for that matter toilets, showers plus the racing all for £5.00!

Of course not all our Rallies have paddock areas.

It will be interesting to see if the problem is solved for the Bristol Spring 2017 Rally.

Well done to all who organised the Donnington Rally.

Yes, catering was a nightmare. Most was in the competition area and not where the programme stated. Not enough variety either. Did spoil a good day

One of the better rallies in my opinion, well done to everyone

 

Agree though about the catering, wanted a cuppa, detest queuing, went without.

I have to agree with the above. It would have been useful to have had at least one more catering outlet on the main site.

I was really in need of something to eat on arrival. I’d missed breakfast on Sunday due to a badly disrupted sleep pattern after helping run the Motor Cycling Club’s Edinburgh Trial, which was an all-nighter, from 23:00 on Friday through to Saturday evening.

I queued twice, once for food, gave up on that and went elsewhere. The queues at the other stands were even longer. I tried to buy just a coffee to keep me going. Due to the long queue not moving there (I stood again for ten minutes and no-one seemed to get served) I decided to go home after just three hours at the Rally.

I also attended the Wentworth Rally and after we’d queued at lunchtime for twenty minutes on a very cold day the sole caterer at the event suddenly announced there were no more hot drinks or food.

Kelmarsh catering was fine - bbqs all over, and a cafe/ tea room already there.

Wentworth was terrible - we ended up leaving early and going into Sheffield.

Sandringham had a massive cafe so it didnt matter.

Chatsworth I can’t remember!

I think most people remember Wentworths woeful catering and the fact the their tea room got overwhelmed as a result, but there us a certain advantage in having the rally somewhere where there is a cafe already in place I guess.

 

 

 

The one area of the rally that we had zero control of was… catering.

Donington hold the catering contract and they insist that they provide all catering services. We were unable, under the terms of our contact with the venue, to invite any of our own catering vendors. We were provided with catering by the venue and had no control over quantity, price, type, etc.

Personally I felt that the catering provided by the venue was… below expectations.

 

I had the same response when I questioned them about ‘We’ve run out of coffee’ in the afternoon.

It seems that the venue didn’t want to believe what they were told about the attendance numbers

I spoke to someone who told me Donny charged for every stand and insisted on it, so my comment would be - forget Donny in future. If you wanted to sell anything - you had to pay at least £12. (hence the charge for anyone selling stuff from a car.)

 

Cost you that at least to do a car boot sale

In many ways Donington is an ideal venue - all hardstanding (if we had been on grass Saturday’s deluge would have made Sunday very interesting), lots of space, easy access etc etc

Unfortunately, like many other people (incuding Gaydon a couple of years ago and previous caterers) Donington didn’t actually believe that a Single Model Car Club could achieve an attendance of between 1500 and 2000 cars.

I am sure they will believe us next time