Serious Health Violations at the Doyt

[gmartin]

I wasn't sure where to post this link. Serious Health Violations at the Doyt and it's possible through concession stands could be closed. What an embarrassment.

http://www.sent-trib.com/news/front_pag ... 963f4.html" target="_blank

[MarkL]

Yeah, embarrassing, but look on the bright side. Our athletic department may go for a new food provider ... such as our own dining facility ... and hire our own students ... you know, easy basic stuff.

[Flipper]

Hardly a suprise...

[hammb]

The concessions at our sporting events have been a major issue for years. I remember years ago we all bitched about how awful they were and how they badly needed to hire somebody. They brought in Gladieux and the concessions got worse but prices instantly went up by 2-3x.

Then after years of bitching how bad Gladieux was they changed vendors and went with Sodexo. I can't say I've really seen a huge change...the quality is awful and the price is ridiculous. I don't buy at the Doyt often but at the stroh they are just awful (other than hortons coffee and the cookies).

I really don't know why the university has not reached out to local restaurants. Bg is a small college town with some very iconic restaurants. I know countless people that associate bg with Myles pizza, pollyeyes stuffed sticks, south side six gyros, and mr. Spots cheese steaks. I don't know why they don't at ,east try to reach out to these local icons to provide stadium food...why offer nothing but generic crap like stale popcorn, shitty frozen pretzels, and crappy hot dogs!?

[TG1996]

I really don't know why the university has not reached out to local restaurants. Bg is a small college town with some very iconic restaurants. I know countless people that associate bg with Myles pizza, pollyeyes stuffed sticks, south side six gyros, and mr. Spots cheese steaks. I don't know why they don't at ,east try to reach out to these local icons to provide stadium food...why offer nothing but generic crap like stale popcorn, shitty frozen pretzels, and crappy hot dogs!?

It may have to do with the logistics of staffing a crew at the stadium while keeping a weekend staff at the restaurant, but I'd hate to think this hasn't at least been discussed at some point. I wonder if the contracts with the concession companies has precluded the local places from stepping in. Myles/Pollyeyes has to realize the killing they'd bring in selling slices/breadsticks to alumni coming back for the games, much less the rest of the crowd.

[Flipper]

The Doyt lacks the prep facilities to make decent...maybe even edible... food. You'd be hard pressed to set up food trucks that can accommodate thousands of people. I kinda think they're screwed until they renovate the place

[Lord_Byron]

I think they're bringing in Sal Monella to run the operation.

Thanks, I'll be here all week. Remember to tip your waiters. . . .

[Suzy Dieter]

Just keep the beer on ice!

[hammb]

I think you're probably right TG that the local places would have a hard time staffing it properly, but man it'd be awesome to get grab a piece of Myle's pizza or a Firesteak from spots at the games. And I know Flip is correct that the facilities at the Doyt are horrible for concessions, but we deal with this same crap (albeit without the health code violations, AFAIK) at a state of the art facility at the Stroh.

It's not a huge part of my game day experience, but I know for a lot of families it is. It would be nice to get concessions that were worth eating and didn't cost a small fortune for that crap...and probably shouldn't be too much to ask that they meet health code standards either...

I'll volunteer to man a concession stand sometime if they'd like. I'll bring up my deep fryer, my smoker and some grill space and I'll at least put out some tasty food. No experience running a concession line so expect to wait a long ass time in my line until I work out the kinks in production, but at least the food will taste good when I get it out to ya.

[Pete Segaard]

I thought Salmon Ella's Seafood Shack was taking over consessions next year.

[Flipper]

[jpfalcon09]

I don't believe I've ever bought any food or drink at the Doyt. The concession areas themselves look unkempt and unsanitary. Hopefully this will be a nice kick in the butt to move ahead with some sort of renovation plans.

[mscarn]

Not to defend the vendor, but many of the citations seem like oversights in overly bureaucratized compliance measures (inadequate training & certifications for the workers) and/or stuff you'd see in nearly every stadium concession area. It doesn't excuse it and I don't want Mr. Monella or Mr. Ahye (first name E. Cole) infestations either, but I'm also not ready to get fitted for the new Nike Orange and Brown hazmat suit strictly based on such reports.

There's a hardware store in California that put out coffee and donuts for its customers for decades and was forced to stop because their sink wasn't big enough or some other such nonsense. There's people in Pennsylvania shutting down church bake sales and lemonade stands. Not the same thing obviously but extreme measures like those makes you wonder what the motivations are: genuine safety or compliance for compliance's sake alone.

[Flipper]

Not a big fan of government in general but...unlicensed vendors, improper or undocumented training on food handling, issues with holding temps on cooked and uncooked food and a vendor dispensing food without gloves or a wash sink are not minor issues. Good thing John Taffer or Gordon Ramsey weren't around...there'd have been hell to pay for sure

What the University should have done YEARS ago was take out the lttle kiosks on the east and west side and construct proper stands with the cooking surfaces and refrigeration needed to prepare hot dogs and other hot food items. Keep a few little stands for items like candy an popcorn and beverages...things that don't have such strict handling and prep guidelines.

Restaurants like Myle's would find it difficult to work in the current enviroment because they can't cook on site in a quantity to make it worth being there and it prepping offsite and then holding food there would diminish the quality which hurts their brand locally and you'd run the risk of being stuck with dead inventory if it rains and no one shows up.

[hammb]

You're probably right Flip, but obviously the major chains that they've always had are able to prepare pizza by the slice, and keep it hot (warm-ish anyhow), and they must be able to do it profitably. Certainly the quality suffers, and I could see local places not wanting to sacrifice quality. And certainly the mega chains we've gotten are more easily able to eat a major loss day than a Myle's or Pollyeye's could, but man I guess it is just a dream for me.

I do agree that the U needs (and has for awhile) to do something about the built in kiosks. EIther update them with grills/refrigeration/deep fryers, and turn them into REAL concession stands. Or just mothball them (they're really in horrible locations anyhow) and embrace a food truck scene. Food trucks have gotten huge, and I think they could line them up along the outside chain link fence (they're doing so now) in enough of a quantity to serve the crowds. Or turn the area by the scoreboard into a food truck "garden" so to speak as now it's just an empty grass space that kids play catch or whatever in...

There has to be a way to get some decent concessions going in the Doyt. Obviously the best solution is a renovation that creates new food stands altogether, but for the time being I find it hard to believe that what we've gotten is the best they can put out there. Seems to me more like a standard political debate: Identify problem, "Discuss potential solutions", wonder in 5 years why said problem still exists...