Sabres concessions. New pricing schemes.

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One of the biggest concession ripoffs at KBC is the "LaNova" pizza at 6.75 a slice(or something around that price). Shame on LaNova for making a quick buck off the deal. The pizza tastes nothing like LaNova. It's typical overpriced arena pizza.

I don't know why they can't have several local restaurant businesses open up stands throughout the arena side by side with the Delaware North crap. If the contract prevents that, then the contract needs to be renegotiated.
 
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brian_griffin

"Eric Cartman?"
May 10, 2007
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Given how we were told the same thing by multiple concession vendors, I am guessing that is how things worked.

My understanding is the team sets the prices.

I heard rumors of a change to how pricing works for the season (and not related to what OP says), but haven't seen any announcements or anything official yet. Will be interested to see if it's true.

Not wanting to make a big deal of this, but I can't imagine a scenario where the seller (in this case the arena) would set pricing without knowledge of costs (in this case the vendor's terms, combined with some knowledge of expected revenue / consumption at various price points for certain items). I can similarly see a scenario where both parties have identified threshold pricing for maximum profit (quantity of units sold at varying unit cost levels). Thinking further, I'd be shocked if there aren't graduate school of economics studies on this topic of arena food/beverage sales.

Bottom line: In my mind there must be shared culpability between the two parties, if not outright cooperation / collusion.
 

Baccus

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Feb 18, 2014
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I've heard (from a friend working at the evil Jacobs company) there will be some sort of season ticket holder discount for food and stuff to help make remaining a season ticket holder mean something other then paying more for your seats than the dude that hit up stubhub 10 minutes ago.

Apparently you'll have to register or something, no idea on details, but I can just see how fun it'll be to charge somebody 10 bucks for a beer and then try to charge the next person in line 15 bucks. (random number exaggeration) Or if you have to carry a card around to get the discount/whatever.

I can understand the perk aspect, not sure I think this is a great way to add a perk. Who knows...
 

ZZamboni

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Sep 25, 2010
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One of the biggest concession ripoffs at KBC is the "LaNova" pizza at 6.75 a slice(or something around that price). Shame on LaNova for making a quick buck off the deal. The pizza tastes nothing like LaNova. It's typical overpriced arena pizza.

I don't know why they can't have several local restaurant businesses open up stands throughout the arena side by side with the Delaware North crap. If the contract prevents that, then the contract needs to be renegotiated.

Yea, that’s what I was getting at earlier in the thread. Imagine a mighty taco stand? Or other local loves? Yes please!

I've heard (from a friend working at the evil Jacobs company) there will be some sort of season ticket holder discount for food and stuff to help make remaining a season ticket holder mean something other then paying more for your seats than the dude that hit up stubhub 10 minutes ago.

Apparently you'll have to register or something, no idea on details, but I can just see how fun it'll be to charge somebody 10 bucks for a beer and then try to charge the next person in line 15 bucks. (random number exaggeration) Or if you have to carry a card around to get the discount/whatever.

I can understand the perk aspect, not sure I think this is a great way to add a perk. Who knows...

Yes, that is supposed to happen. As a STH, who has spent tens of thousands of dollars over the years as a Sabres fan, I’m looking forward to saving a few bucks with my Sabresbucks card.
 

beerme1

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Jun 27, 2011
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Yea, that’s what I was getting at earlier in the thread. Imagine a mighty taco stand? Or other local loves? Yes please!



Yes, that is supposed to happen. As a STH, who has spent tens of thousands of dollars over the years as a Sabres fan, I’m looking forward to saving a few bucks with my Sabresbucks card.

It's not the Sabresbucks card. It's the new season ticket holder card just for clarification. They are two separate cards. The one with the seat number on it is for discounts.
 

ZZamboni

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I don’t doubt you at all... Did you get info on that? Because I haven’t yet.

So I would give the concession person my STH card and get a discount that way?

I wonder if I can show them my STH card, and yet hand them my SabreBucks card to pay :biglaugh:
 

drew5580

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Jan 6, 2007
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You try and resell those with your money.
200 is more than 100 and returns less on stubhub.
I have seats in row 1 on 300 level at blue, that's essentially why I'm sticking it out.
These were prices on 300 level.
And Bologna is very good in a disgusting way. My vent was the forced chips. The beef on wick should be better but at least it's available.
My seasons are in the 200s. Food is no better and possibly worse there than in other parts of the arena. Ordering from the wait staff is a big mistake. Can take an entire period or longer to get your food and when it shows up it’s cold/stale/burned. The credit card machines are often broken.

We went to a game in Nashville this past season and it was awesome. The variety and quality of food was great.
 
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beerme1

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Jun 27, 2011
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I don’t doubt you at all... Did you get info on that? Because I haven’t yet.

So I would give the concession person my STH card and get a discount that way?

I wonder if I can show them my STH card, and yet hand them my SabreBucks card to pay :biglaugh:


Yes I did get this info in a box with some propaganda and my two season ticket cards. So it will work that you can get a discount that card and pay with your Sabrebucks card. But honestly, the Sabrebucks card gets exhausted pretty freakin quickly each year lol. I still don't know what exactly the discounts will be though. Throw me a bone and take a buck off a beer and I'll make good use out of it though!
 

ZZamboni

Puttin' on the Foil
Sep 25, 2010
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Yes I did get this info in a box with some propaganda and my two season ticket cards. So it will work that you can get a discount that card and pay with your Sabrebucks card. But honestly, the Sabrebucks card gets exhausted pretty freakin quickly each year lol. I still don't know what exactly the discounts will be though. Throw me a bone and take a buck off a beer and I'll make good use out of it though!

Ah ok, I got the same package you did then. I must have missed that part lol.

My SabreBucks card usually lasts all season. Although I only go to 11 out of 41 home games. So I try to spread it out over those games :biglaugh:
 

Jim Bob

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Not wanting to make a big deal of this, but I can't imagine a scenario where the seller (in this case the arena) would set pricing without knowledge of costs (in this case the vendor's terms, combined with some knowledge of expected revenue / consumption at various price points for certain items). I can similarly see a scenario where both parties have identified threshold pricing for maximum profit (quantity of units sold at varying unit cost levels). Thinking further, I'd be shocked if there aren't graduate school of economics studies on this topic of arena food/beverage sales.

Bottom line: In my mind there must be shared culpability between the two parties, if not outright cooperation / collusion.

I am pretty sure that there are negotiations between the parties to ensure each party gets the markup they desire and that is how pricing is set.

DN knows their cost and wants their amount of markup and the arena/team want their piece of markup.
 

Sabretooth

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May 14, 2013
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KBC is terrible for concessions and has been for a long time. My points of comparison are PPG Paints, Nationwide, and Quicken Loans. Even got to throw in Progressive Field which is baseball but they went through some major renovations the past few years and created an entire corner of the stadium dedicated to local restaurants. KBC is very spartan by comparison.
 
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La Cosa Nostra

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Jun 25, 2009
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In the age of billion dollar football stadiums and 300 million dollar arenas of course our arena is one of the leagues worst. It's over 22 years old. That's ancient in modern times.
 

vcv

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Mar 12, 2006
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Williamsville, NY
Not wanting to make a big deal of this, but I can't imagine a scenario where the seller (in this case the arena) would set pricing without knowledge of costs (in this case the vendor's terms, combined with some knowledge of expected revenue / consumption at various price points for certain items). I can similarly see a scenario where both parties have identified threshold pricing for maximum profit (quantity of units sold at varying unit cost levels). Thinking further, I'd be shocked if there aren't graduate school of economics studies on this topic of arena food/beverage sales.

Bottom line: In my mind there must be shared culpability between the two parties, if not outright cooperation / collusion.
Well of course it's contractual, but the point being that the team gets a cut, which is likely a fixed amount and not just a percentage of whatever price DN would set.

My seasons are in the 200s. Food is no better and possibly worse there than in other parts of the arena. Ordering from the wait staff is a big mistake. Can take an entire period or longer to get your food and when it shows up it’s cold/stale/burned. The credit card machines are often broken.

We went to a game in Nashville this past season and it was awesome. The variety and quality of food was great.

KBC is terrible for concessions and has been for a long time. My points of comparison are PPG Paints, Nationwide, and Quicken Loans. Even got to throw in Progressive Field which is baseball but they went through some major renovations the past few years and created an entire corner of the stadium dedicated to local restaurants. KBC is very spartan by comparison.
DN runs concessions for both Nashville and Progressive Field.

RWS is also run by them and has more a few more local brands (Dino, Pizza Logs, Duff's)
 

RogerCroziersGhost

Registered User
Sep 30, 2018
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Why must we eat everything in sight while watching hockey?

Oh honey, pick me up a bag of chips, 2 spices of pizza, 2 pretzels and if they have hotdogs I would love that. And this is just the first period !!

Crazy
 
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sabresfan3383

Registered User
Dec 3, 2004
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Tonawanda, NY
I personally stopped buying concessions a few years back. I do usually stop in the Tim Horton's at HarborCenter and bring a coffee in the game, mercifully they don't usually hassle me about it.
 

darcyRegier

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Mar 27, 2017
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The food quality is also very poor. I went to one of the last games of the season last year and bought a pretzel w cheese, pizza logs, and a drink for $20. The pretzel was dry and overcooked/overheated, the cheese dip (which cost extra) was disgusting, the pizza logs were meh (the marinara sauce on the side was gross), and the drink was mostly ice. It was such a brutal waste of my money.

Concessions are one of the worst parts about the experience at KBC, not to mention the garbage product on the ice. Pegula's are lucky that this town is so into hockey.
 

Sabretooth

Registered User
May 14, 2013
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DN runs concessions for both Nashville and Progressive Field.
Maybe the basic concessions. TBH I don't really use those ones. There's so much other variety. That's what KBC is missing. Anything other than the basic stands. Why doesn't 716 have a stand in the arena for example? Why isn't there a place to get wings in the arena in buffalo of all places. In quicken loans arena, there's a both a quaker steak restaurant and a stand. There's a B-spot (local burger restaurant). PPG Paints has a Burgatory. They also have some BBQ stands, my wife and I always get a BBQ pulled pork nachos as our dinner when we go to a game in pittsburgh. This is what progressive field put in, it sure ain't DN: Local Flavor
 

vcv

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Mar 12, 2006
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Williamsville, NY
Maybe the basic concessions. TBH I don't really use those ones. There's so much other variety. That's what KBC is missing. Anything other than the basic stands. Why doesn't 716 have a stand in the arena for example? Why isn't there a place to get wings in the arena in buffalo of all places. In quicken loans arena, there's a both a quaker steak restaurant and a stand. There's a B-spot (local burger restaurant). PPG Paints has a Burgatory. They also have some BBQ stands, my wife and I always get a BBQ pulled pork nachos as our dinner when we go to a game in pittsburgh. This is what progressive field put in, it sure ain't DN: Local Flavor
All of them.

KBC definitely needs some food improvements.

I swear 5+ years ago the 200-level had some fantastic pizza and now it's the same La Nova pizza that is meh.
 

TehDoak

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Honestly, my guess is fans will complain and they'll drop the cost. I'm curious if the calculation is that attendance will be higher now than in the doldrums of the season with the team out of playoff contention. Make a money grab on the first 10 home games, drop the price (and of course, with a Press release bragging about the "price drop" which will still be more expensive than last year), keep fans happy.
 

Buffaloed

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Feb 27, 2002
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I am pretty sure that there are negotiations between the parties to ensure each party gets the markup they desire and that is how pricing is set.

DN knows their cost and wants their amount of markup and the arena/team want their piece of markup.
Maybe it's like cable tv/internet. The price get sets but the vendor has ways to get around it. From the original post it sounds like they're doing bundling.
 

La Cosa Nostra

Caporegime
Jun 25, 2009
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How does that prevent it from having concessions that don't suck?

Because it's not as easy to add all these gastropub/burger joint type stands to a 22 year old arena that was built to be top of the line back in the mid 90s. Obviously a new arena or stadium will cost hundreds of millions and will be top of the line. Now, I'm sure they can do 100x better even with an aging arena. And honestly I hate all arena food anyway simply due to price. Why waste $30 on 3 chicken fingers,fries, a drink and candy when I can go out to eat before the game and spend a few more bucks for a little more. I know not everyone has time but its arena food. No stand in any arena is going to be as good as a brick and mortar location. And for all the praise Pittsburgh is getting, let's keep in mind they use RC cola. So when you need to pay $6 in Pittsburgh for pop you dont even get Pepsi or coke you get off brand dollar crap.

They always say they are going to make food better etc every year and every year by home game 10 its same old crap. Lazy workers making disgusting food for an absolute joke of a price. A large pop should cost $4 max. They still get there 1000% markup. A dinky school cafeteria hot dogs they sell should cost $3. Their stale box quality popcorn should be a few bucks...again 1000% markup even at a $3 dollar price range...but nah they want 2000%
 

Baccus

Garage League filled with Mickey Mouse teams
Feb 18, 2014
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None of the price and age of arena things you are mentioning have anything to do with them putting out better food quality and/or replacing the current crap with better local shop/vendors.

I remarked to my friend at the Laffs preseason game while getting a beer at the Southern Tier place, that they had the most generic bullshit vendors in that area, with "SAUSAGE", "MEXICAN" and whatever other crap they were trying to peddle. Bulldoze that shit out and put in some f***ing street/food truck vendors and the quality would go up 100% with almost zero cost or effort.
 

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