A council-owned civic centre is under fire after charging an astonishing £18* for a single bowl of nuts.
*£18 = $27.00 Au or $28.00 US
The centre in Trowbridge, Wilts., recently re-opened after a £5million refit and a private contractor was brought in to run the catering facilities. But several users have complained of sky-high prices, including a delegation from Wiltshire College who hired a function room for a celebration event. They forked out £240 for a selection of snacks - but arrived to find just handful of bowls filled with peanuts and crisps, working out at £18 per portion.
A letter of complaint from the college read: 'We ordered a selection of snacks with a budget of £200 including VAT £240. 'What was presented on the day was a bowl on each table with not a selection but filled up with either one type of crisps or peanuts. 'This worked out at over £18 per bowl! This we believe was totally unacceptable.'
Trowbridge Civic Centre, which is owned by Trowbridge Town Council, was reopened in December after receiving new kitchens, a cafeteria and bar areas. Crown Catering fended off strong competition to win the contract to provide food and run the bar, with 40 per cent of the profits going to the council. But the company could now lose the contract following a string of complaints.
In a report to the management committee, Karl Buckingham, facilities manager at the venue, said that he was very concerned that Crown Catering was not able to provide a simple service with out his intervention. He said: 'It concerns me greatly that Crown are not able to provide a simple service effectively and professionally without the need for myself to intervene and provide solutions, or for me to provide my own staff to assist with their poor planning. 'I strongly feel that we should look to terminate the contract and revert back to the way the service was provided before.'
He added that Crown seems to struggle with orders of more than 100 covers, and high prices and lack of sales meant the council was taking a 40 per cent cut of 'nothing'.
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Pay peanuts?
Pay peanuts?
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”