Another Falling Out

[Elgrande]

Seems the caterers Centre Plate Catering have cancelled the contract with the club with immediate effect. I wonder what (or who) has upset them?

[Garawa]

This is all very odd though, it doesn't matter how much you fall out with someone you cant just walk out on a 10 year contract! Unless they can prove the club had breached the contract of course.......

Just when things look great yet again some negativity unveils itself! What this means for all those who paid for expensive packages on Saturday I don't know. A large loss of money and potentially a load of non-returning customers.

[gillsfan1066]

In most contracts there are clauses, if the Gills say there going to supply ovens to cook the pies in and there are no ovens then I am sure the catering party can break the contract.
Maybe there was a monthly revenue clause that said the Gills would guarantee X amount of business and it has not happened ?

[Garawa]

That would be the only reason I could think of but we would never have signed a contract like that because we could never guarantee attendances or what division we were in. They have been in place all season and are 4 years into the contract so any breach would surely have occured long before. Something has happened very recently it seems and as such you can't just walk away.

[Elgrande]

Oh I am sure there were promises made that have not been kept 1066. The catering side of things has been a problem for years. Compass, two in house companies and none of them with much idea. I am sure your second scenario is near the mark. I also seems almost impossible to get decent staff.
When the Medway stand and the facilities were built they were superb, trouble is no one thought about the location and how difficult it would be to create a sustainable business especially once we came out of the Championship.

[sotongill]

Reading their response on the BBC site , it sounds as if they picked up the contract through taking over a competitor , that they have not been making money out of it , and have been asking us to renegotiate the contract to make it worth their while for a year with us not getting involved .

Given the timing , I suspect it's posturing to force a response - pull the plug during the season to force us to the table .

It would be interesting to know where legal jurisdiction lies within the contract , here or the US , as a US Court would probably pay less consideration to the concept of honouring a contract than a British Court .

[Garawa]

Am I right in saying though that if you buy a contract you have to honour it in its entirety? Its a bit like one bank taking over your credit card from another, you can't simply change the interest rate straight away and you have to honour the terms originally set out. If so I don't think the courts would have much leeway.

It makes a lot of sense about renegotiating, we have seen that happen plenty of times! That said Scally isn't the sort to back down over anything so I guess its another court case then! However it will be interesting to see who blinks first, after all not making enough money or even running at a loss might still be preferable to paying large fines and potentially losing business elsewhere.

One thing I have never been able to work out though is that the Blues Bar is a great asset but always seems to be closed! Sometimes it is closed when I walk past at 5.30 after a game and evenings it is never open. Location doesn't help and licensing terms may be the main reason but there have been comedy evenings etc in the past. More of that kind of thing and it could be a fantastic money maker and place to visit for anyone from anywhere. I went to a gig at the Old Brewery Store at Shepherd Neame and it was fantastic. They have comedy nights coming up and I don't see why ours can't be similar, get a few real ales in and aim it at the non-football loving public on non-match days. Or is this too simple?

[Elgrande]

Problem is Gary you would need a proper landlord to make it work and that would cost too much money. The whole place needs a re-think as it is a bit too trendy in its design for a normal weekday use. Now I am not advocating the old social club concept, but it used to work better than the present format. The area around the ground is not conducive to a trendy bar set up and it is too far from other pubs to make it part of the circuit.
As for the catering side of things the boxes could be used more efficiently if they were offered as meeting rooms and small business reception units. The ballroom could be used for more exhibitions and functions not just high end evenings. The piano bar is also an area that could be used for lots of different types of events, but to do that you need good quality staff not temps on occasional call. I booked the ballroom on two occasions and the old players lounge on another in the early 2000's and the in house catering was pretty good, but at that time there was a full time in-house catering staff with a full time catering management team.

[Elgrande]

The other thing is if they were not happy with the contract when they took it over in 2011 why did they sign it?

[gillsfan1066]

Because at the time it seemed like a good idea, bit like Mike Ashley taking over Newcastle, or Darlington building a 30,000 seat stadium, when their average gate was 4,000 ,they all seemed great ideas at the time and thank goodness people do go for it or we would still be living in a cave somewhere and wearing bear skins.

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

The Burger van outside the ground will make some money this week.

[Rimshot]

I see Centreplate is claiming they couldn't get clarity and transparency from talks with the club...does that really sound like our Chairman ? Standby for another shedload of legal costs !!! Without all Scally's lost causes to pay for we could have bought Messi.

[lidbid46]

Well I'm selfishly happy that there will be no food available. I may actually be able to watch a game for once without missing vital moments as people trek backwards and forwards in front of me to stock up. Some of them seem to spend more time out the back of the RE than watching the game. I have never understood why they bother coming as they inevitably miss goals or other exciting passages of play. After 35 minutes they leave for the Blues Bar, not returning until about 55 minutes gone, then they have something urgent to do with about 5 minutes of the game left, regardless of the score so have to rush off! Perhaps if the enticing aroma of fatty burgers and overpriced chips is absent, they may stay in their seats for longer, meaning I don't have to strain my neck trying to peer around their massive bottoms to watch Marquis bag the winner!

[fan_of_mulligan]

It's the watch, wine and dine events and corporate hospitality where Gillingham will miss out as we would of made those bookings in advance and people will have paid good money for those as well.

I think Centerplate are more in the wrong then Gillingham, they signed a contract until 2021 and they have to honour the terms of that contract, obviously they will attempt to re-negotiate as Centreplate are losing a lot of money, which is why we're talking about this story now.

A 5,000 - 6,000 Attendance will not see Centreplate break even by a considerable distance, and also, how many supporters who turn up to Priestfield Stadium buy food and drink inside the stadium ??? - there are plenty of places to buy food and drink around the ground like Gillingham Fish Bar, The Burger Van, The Co-Op, The NewsAgents or McDonalds in the town centre for fans to go to if they want to buy something to eat and drink.

[Rimshot]

It takes two to honour a contract; how many of us, hand on heart, would expect that our Chairman is blameless in this latest soap opera episode? The list of the aggrieved is long and diverse, everyone from building contractors to the FA, local press to players, co-directors to managers, other clubs to caterers, the police to utility companies.

Scally is to GFC what Albert Pierrepoint was to the necktie business.