Ssb - mount responds to spa criticism

[Neil Taperell]

Paul doesn't come on here so I hope you don't mind me replying on his behalf. The point you make about trying to make money off a better selection of food is very valid and is in fact something we have already tried. At a previous event (I forget which one) we offered meals such as chilli con carne, chicken curry, rice, salad etc and some other things that I can't remember. You would not believe the amount of waste we were left with. We were cautious with the number of portions we catered for and made informed decisions on costs/pricing/portion sizes/portion numbers etc but alas we sold very few meals and it was fair to say that sales were disappointing, despite those who bought meals being very happy with the quality.

The reality is that the majority (not all) of players at that time preferred to visit the local takeaways or restaurants to get food that they recognised and ate regularly as opposed to eat at SWSA. This is of course no problem and having made a loss on the catering at that event, we decided to offer a limited range of snack based items. We are however more than happy to listen to feedback and will possibly try a few more items on our menu for future events to access their popularity and feasibility for the long term. What we won't do however is create meals at a loss for the minority-it just isn't feasible both in terms of costs and staff.

I hope that goes a little way to answering the question.

I would like to also add that the support on this thread is very much appreciated. If anyone ever doubted that our involvement in snooker was out of genuine interest in the sport, I think having seen the figures mentioned over the past couple of days may reassure them that we are not in this for the money!

Many thanks,

Sarah

If the players' moan at paying for Tea's and Tables at £4 per hour .......no wonder the food idea didn't take off . Too expensive for them i assume ......rolleyes:

[grimreaper]

It seems to me that some of these palayers dont know a good deal when its there for the taking mabey they should try a real job and see how much they can whinge about before they are told to p...s of.

[Particle Physics]

It seems to me that some of these palayers dont know a good deal when its there for the taking mabey they should try a real job and see how much they can whinge about before they are told to p...s of.

To be fair to the players it is a struggle, many of the poorer ones will have jobs, or bank of mum and dad will be raided all the time. I know a few guys down here who tried being pros and there wasn't the money in it to pay for basics like food. Many of the players have jobs. I know a pro pool player who works as a labourer to make ends meet (god knows what that does to his hands). Some of them are giving it a go on a shoestring. But they have to recognise that if a venue doesn't cover costs, there won't be any venues.

This is actually about Del Boy, I mean Bazza Hearn, not forking out to cover the players costs. WSL is a business, designed to make profits. If WSL was a charity, they wouldn't charge 10k for hosting rights, and the venue could put on free refreshments and practice tables. Or, WSL could improve prize money, so that the players could cover their own costs more easily. But WSL isn't a charity, so what they have to do, for the good of the game that Del Boy professes to love (?), is reduce the hosting costs to SWSA by say a grand and a half, and then SWSA can get on with helping the players more.

[s.h442]

I believe The way hearn sees it is if you want to earn the big money you have to win.If youre down at the bottom you get basicly nothing. Although in golf i heard the player who dropped of the tour earned $500,000 in that year. For snooker to have massive prize funds youre going to need blue chip companies sponsoring the events.

[cazmac1]

I believe The way hearn sees it is if you want to earn the big money you have to win.If youre down at the bottom you get basicly nothing. Although in golf i heard the player who dropped of the tour earned $500,000 in that year. For snooker to have massive prize funds youre going to need blue chip companies sponsoring the events.

I agree........