KI Food Service Ideas

[homestar92]

Just out of curiosity, did you notice if anything was said to the two shirtless gentlemen in Chicken Shack? They aren't in the waterpark, and well, having shirtless people in a restaurant just doesn't seem completely sanitary. Maybe I'm just paranoid and it's actually fine, but most restaurants do have a "no shoes, no shirt, no service" policy...

[LoraX]

Honestly, I didn't hear. I went through the line, then went back to take a pic of the line, or lack thereof. The people on the right side are volunteers. Pretty sure they would not enforce policy.

I can say I have seen/heard the policy being enforced this season already on a couple of occasions.

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[Oldschool75]

Have more staffed registers. Or, during a busy time have 1 register with a clear sign that says "meal plans or credit card only"... Then you wouldn't need to have any cash in that drawer and you could get people through fast (without having to fumble with payment).

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That would work just as good as "Exit Only- Do Not Enter". People don't read.

Also maybe Lora's picture should be submitted to KI's FB page and asked why clothing policy was not enforced by the employees in the picture? Maybe said employees need to be reminded?

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[LoraX]

Do not use my pics on any social media especially if it's in the form of complaint.

While I understand some people are displeased with Kings Island, stop stirring up stuff. Seriously.

These people are in line. No one knows when the shirts were removed. No one knows if it was addressed. What if the gal in the photo was telling them to put their shirts on? Were you there? Did you hear?

These employees hear so many complaints. Adding to how you think it may have been handled vs how it was has no validity if you were not there. If they handled it correctly, they do not need to be talked to. If not, we can't prove it. Don't presume.

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[diamonbackandbeastlover]

I was in line at Larosas in the Festhaus and there was some guy complaining about his all season souvenir cup and I guess they charged him for a refill because the register did. And after about 15 minutes of 2 supervisors and the cashier trying to explain to him he finally paid and left. This was handled very unprofessionally and made the wait a very long time. Getting our food was instant. I was already made and ready when we got to the line. Just checking out took forever.

[The Interpreter]

...at which time said food was doubtless cold. And I bet no one offered to do anything about that.

[diamonbackandbeastlover]

We got the family deal off the app(large pizza, large salad, and 4 drinks for $29.99) and the pizza just came from the kitchen and they were slicing when we got it. After our wait in the line. It was probably a little warmer than room temperature.

[selective]

I'm going to go back and read every post in this topic, but I just wanted to post this real quick while it is fresh in my mind.

 

Kings Island has no food menu brochure for park guests, and THEY NEED ONE! AND EVERYONE HAS BEEN WANTING ONE FOREVER!!!!! Now when I asked management in the past about why they don't and never had one, I never got a straight answer. The replies were always guesses and assumptions, like it must be because not all of the food places are always available, or certain foods may run out from time to time, or they may add food options from time to time that are last minute decisions and may only last a few days.

 

This poses real problems for people with food allergies or health issues. However, the website and brochures have always told guests to simply go to Guest Services for a list of what to eat, but when I went to Guest Services, they had no list of food in the park, and they were unable to provide me with a list for any kind of foods at all. This is why I made my Vegetarian KI Food Menu which is not 100% accurate and may have some mistakes.

 

Now, it looks like any mention of special dietary needs or food allergy information for park guests, has all been completely removed. So, before, they all said "go to Guest Services", and now they don't say anything at all.

 

So, imagine for a moment, that every food place in KI was listed in a special KI Food Brochure and in a special KI Food App, and in those you could quickly identify what is safe for certain food allergies and for different kinds of special dietary needs.

 

The App should not let anyone make a food order in advance, because the food service people stay constantly busy and doing that would not make it any faster. The food is already made as fast as it can be made, and people are already grabbing it all as soon as it is made, so pre-ordering food would be a huge step backwards and would only cause more problems. The App would however be great for deciding what to eat and where, so everyone has their orders ready when they are asked what they want.

 

The App could also give a live time report of how busy certain food places are, so the food places with no wait times get more guests.

 

Kings Island Management could also have the App work for them, to allow guests to give food and dinning reviews after they make a food purchase or it could ask them if they have any suggestions to make about that specific location they got their food at, where they could have gotten what they wanted easier and/or quicker. This way if a certain food location needs to be improved to help more people to get their food faster, detailed feedback can be given to a specific location.

[The Interpreter]

You haven't been in the park for quite some time, have you?

Terp, asking an honest question...

[selective]

It's been 3 years.

[The Interpreter]

If you'd been, you'd see how interested the park is in food service and feedback.

[selective]

If you'd been, you'd see how interested the park is in food service and feedback.

 

So they have all of their food and drink options listed on their website and in a brochure and in an App, where all park guests can easily and quickly find what food options they want, where to get them at, and don't need to ask any employees about foods regarding food allergies or special dietary needs?

 

Please, show me, because I haven't seen any of that yet.

[The Interpreter]

That's not what I meant.

They now have meal plans. The restaurants close early, are understaffed, and service is often very slow.

If you went, you'd see how interested they are in food service and feedback.

[vortexfan]

Canada's Wonderland has a rather comprehensive list of food options available for those with dietary restrictions. Presumably it would not be impossible for Kings Island to do the same. 

[The Interpreter]

Canada's Wonderland is in Canada.

Regulatory requirements are different.

[selective]

Canada's Wonderland has a rather comprehensive list of food options available for those with dietary restrictions. Presumably it would not be impossible for Kings Island to do the same. 

 

That's what I've been waiting for Kings Island to do for what seems like forever. The most Kings Island ever came to doing something like that was just posting a few sentences telling park guests to go to Guest Services, and then they never had any food information, so they stopped telling people to go to Guest Services for food information.

 

It would be cool though if there was a Food App that allowed you to search by food item and then showed you all locations along with allergy and dietary information.

[vortexfan]

Canada's Wonderland is in Canada.

Regulatory requirements are different.

 

Sure, but other Cedar Fair parks, including Kings Dominion, Carowinds, and Cedar Point, have similar lists on their websites. My point still remains. 

[The Interpreter]

If the park provides allergy information, and it turns out to be inaccurate, it may be liable. If it does not and is not required to do so, the risk is on the eater....

[selective]

If the park provides allergy information, and it turns out to be inaccurate, it may be liable. If it does not and is not required to do so, the risk is on the eater....

 

By law, if a customer/guest asks for such information, then the place of business must provide all allergy information, or they can be sued. It's only after they provide all allergy information, that they would no longer be liable.

[The Interpreter]

I am unaware of that law. Can you please cite me to it?

And anyone can be sued for anything at any time for any reason or no reason...

[Oldschool75]

Do not use my pics on any social media especially if it's in the form of complaint.

While I understand some people are displeased with Kings Island, stop stirring up stuff. Seriously.

These people are in line. No one knows when the shirts were removed. No one knows if it was addressed. What if the gal in the photo was telling them to put their shirts on? Were you there? Did you hear?

These employees hear so many complaints. Adding to how you think it may have been handled vs how it was has no validity if you were not there. If they handled it correctly, they do not need to be talked to. If not, we can't prove it. Don't presume.

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I wouldn't do that. Just a suggestion.

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[disco2000]

 

If the park provides allergy information, and it turns out to be inaccurate, it may be liable. If it does not and is not required to do so, the risk is on the eater....

 

By law, if a customer/guest asks for such information, then the place of business must provide all allergy information, or they can be sued. It's only after they provide all allergy information, that they would no longer be liable.

 

 

But almost every place (not within KI but in general) that provides the information has a disclaimer that they cannot guarantee and are not responsible for cross contamination issues and the risk is on the eater.  Then eater can decide based on information provided and apparent knowledge or lack thereof whether to eat there.

 

KI on the other hand doesn't understand the issues of folks with allergies.  Go to guest services and they give you handouts of some stuff that is basically useless.  You ask a question and they tell you to ask a manager at the specific food place.  Try to find a manager lol at the food place and if you do they have no idea if the fries are in a dedicated fryer or what oil is used.  Ask about cross-contamination potential and you get a blank stare.  They cannot tell you the ingredients of a bun.  I could go on and on. 

 

Went into Reds Hall of Fame Grill and asked for manager.  Asked for ingredients and what was in the bun and how fries were made.  Was handed a menu.  Really!

 

Talked to the Executive Chef of park about allergies - he said PotatoWorks is their gluten free and allergy free location.  Asked what about people with peanut allergy and blank stare.  For those that don't know, PotatoWorks uses peanut oil.

 

I frequent parks with folks with food allergies.  Dollywood gets it.  Cedar Point gets it.  Wonderland gets it.  Carowinds gets it.  Disney gets it.   KI doesn't.  I use my meal plan and my friend goes to parking lot or a restaurant down the street that gets it.

 

As Terp says, they don't care.  They have your money.  They are understaffed.  They close early.  So they lose a few people to go outside the park because of allergies or the long lines.  They don't care.  They are still making money or they would care.

 

Email KI ahead of visit about food allergies and never get a response.  Email Cedar Point and a response is usually provided within a day.  Cedar Point asks you to check back day before visit and Cedar Point asks you to give them every opportunity to try to prepare a safe meal before deciding to leave.  That is a difference.  A big difference.  Same Owner.

[selective]

 

I think an idea would be that if someone does have to think about ordering something, they can step off to the side and look over the menu and figure it out on their own terms while the line keeps moving to those who DO figure out what they want to order. 

 

ON TOP OF THIS: If they figure out their order, they can get back into line once the associate is finished working with the people he currently was working with at the time.

 

This also. When I walk into a fast-food joint and don't know what I want, I won't step up to the register until I have determined my entire order. If there are other people behind me when it becomes my turn, I will wave the next party in front of me repeatedly until I'm ready to order, otherwise, I'll inform the cashier that I'm not ready and will need a few minutes, so that they can go do other things (assist with drive-through, etc.) while I think. And if there's a new promotional item on the menu that I might be interested in but I'm not sure about, I won't go up to place my order until I know what questions I have about it, which answers to those questions will lead to me ordering it, and what my backup choice is otherwise. Why can't other people do this?

 

To basically summarize this complaints in this thread as I see them, it seems like the poor food service is partly (some) customers' fault, partly the employees' fault, and partly management's fault. As there's little the park can do about speeding up the customers, and many of the issues with employees appear to stem from being poorly managed, management is the root of the problem here and is where the real fixes need to happen.

 

 

Speaking from all years before 2013, I would just like to add that I've always seen how effectively all of the pizza locations and especially The Festhaus have always juggled their lines to keep them moving quickly and efficiently. For example, if they were out of something, like cheese pizza, or even multiple food options, they would quickly break the line up and ask people in the line to skip ahead if they are not waiting for a food item that isn't currently available.

 

I think they had it easier when all they had was cheese or pepperoni pizza, by the slice or as a whole. Now they have a sausage option, bread sticks and cheese sticks, and even slices with or without sticks. I'm not sure how long the bread and cheese stick option has been around, but I don't recall it being around in the early 90's. So could it be that adding more food options possibly made ordering worse? Personally, I think they should go back to less food options. They can then make it faster, and move the lines faster.

 

Used to, every whole pizza would be given in a large cardboard pizza box, and those cardboard pizza boxes were a nightmare for the park, and that is what first got the park to consider recycling and doing away with the cardboard pizza boxes. So I do consider that a huge improvement for the food service department.

[The Interpreter]

There is no sausage option.

Hasn't been for several years.

And no sense of urgency.

Meal plans. Full Season Souvenir Bottles.

The food service you knew is long since gone.

[disco2000]

^and the cardboard pizza boxes are available.  Many families of 4 will use said meal plans at I-Street LaRosa's at close to take home a whole pizza and 8 breadsticks in said cardboard box.

 

FestHaus is now consistently the slowest line in the whole park.

 

Terp is trying nice to tell you that what you experienced 3 years ago since you last visited the park has got worse.  Much worse.

 

Visit park and see for yourself.

[selective]

I am unaware of that law. Can you please cite me to it?

And anyone can be sued for anything at any time for any reason or no reason...

 

It seems to be in certain locations, but not all locations yet.

http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/090114p18.shtml

 

Since it is just the right thing to do, appeals to the general public, shows the public that they would actually care about their customers/guests, and would be preventing deaths, then I don't see why any place would resist or try to fight it. So there should be laws in every city, and if a business does not comply, they should be humiliated on the news and get a good lecture about how to properly run a business.

 

You know, I forgot something though. Kings Island is still sexist, telling their male employees that they must cut their hair short. They are not the only ones though. I looked into many businesses in the area that practiced the same sexist behavior with their employees. Steak N Shake says that only women should be waiters and that they aren't good enough to work in their kitchens. Turns out, there is no law to prevent businesses from forcing sexist stereotypes onto their employees. Last time I checked, California was the only place that does not allow sexist stereotype discrimination to be forced upon employees.

[selective]

There is no sausage option.

Hasn't been for several years.

And no sense of urgency.

Meal plans. Full Season Souvenir Bottles.

The food service you knew is long since gone.

 

Wow, I just didn't think that much would have changed in such a short amount of time.

[The Interpreter]

Put another way, there is no Federal, State or local law requiring anything such as you suggested nor offering any lawsuit immunity for disclosing food contents applying to Kings Island.

Thank you.

[selective]

^and the cardboard pizza boxes are available.  Many families of 4 will use said meal plans at I-Street LaRosa's at close to take home a whole pizza and 8 breadsticks in said cardboard box.

 

FestHaus is now consistently the slowest line in the whole park.

 

Terp is trying nice to tell you that what you experienced 3 years ago since you last visited the park has got worse.  Much worse.

 

Visit park and see for yourself.

 

Well, when you got a whole pizza before, you always got it in a pizza box, but now it is only if you are taking it out of the park. So it is still much better than before. Before, every trash can would be stuffed with several pizza boxes, and then no one had anywhere to put trash.

[The Interpreter]

No, it isn't.

I was last at the park last month. I saw many families on International Street, eating whole pizzas. Straight from the cardboard boxes.

Again, you haven't been at the park for years.

Things have changed.