KI Food Service Ideas

[The Interpreter]

Also, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a Federal law, forbids discrimination on account of gender. It applies to every state, DC, US territories and possessions.

Not just California.

[selective]

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.

 

Oh...........

 

I just thought Cedar Fair was the best owners for the park, as they did so much to restore the park, and they have done so much.

 

Perhaps this isn't a park issue at all. It could be the economy, as we are tail spinning into the worst recession ever. Has anyone looked at guest attendance records for the last few years, to see if they see any patterns?

[The Interpreter]

Yes.

Cedar Point attendance is way up. Six Flags even more.

Kings Island is up a little.

See, for what it's worth:

http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php/topic/32047-2015-teaaecom-global-attractions-attendance-report/

Cedar Fair still owns Kings Island.

The Directors of Food Service have changed, both at Cedar Fair and Kings Island.

Policies have changed. Procedures have changed. Service levels have changed. Staffing levels and methods have changed. Methods of pricing have changed.

[selective]

Also, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a Federal law, forbids discrimination on account of gender. It applies to every state, DC, US territories and possessions.

Not just California.

 

Actually, that law only applies to hiring employees and sexual solicitation. I had actually attempted to sue many work places over the sexist stereotype discrimination that they enforce on their employees, and after talking with lawyers and other professionals offered by the government, they told me that all workplaces are allowed to be sexist with sexual stereotypes and to sexual discriminate with their employees all they want.

 

Kings Island even has a picture in their employee handbook, showing a male and a female, and pretty much says, this is what a male looks like, and this is what a female looks like. THAT IS SEXIST, A SEXUAL STEREOTYPE, AND IS SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION. My book might be a little old, but why don't you try turning to page 10.

[The Interpreter]

That discussion is beyond the bounds of here, but I can assure you the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is far, far broader than you are characterizing it.

Perhaps you should have consulted a lawyer who practices in that area who could represent you. The Government typically does not provide counsel for civil litigants.

[shark6495]

Deleted because it was mean. Selective I hope your hill is worth it

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatal

[LoraX]

I just witnessed a guest berating and screaming at a food service employee for something beyond the employee he was speaking with control. The guest was rude, he was screaming, using profanity. While I know it's frustrating, treating people in such a manner is not right.

I told the guest to go to guest services and file a complaint if he felt the need to scream at someone. He walked off.

I know some park employees in management read the forums, but complaining here or screaming at employees is not going to help. Go to guest services or ask to speak to a manager or supervisor.

Not all food service employees are lazy, some actually are trying. A little kindness goes a long way. The employee thanked me for speaking up because he truly is trying to do the best that he can. With all honesty, I have seen this individual several times. I have yet to see him not working. He doesn't ever come across as lazy or that he doesn't care.

Sent from my SM-G860P using Tapatalk

[The Interpreter]

Perhaps you should go to Guest Services and file a compliment about him.

[LoraX]

I am going once I finish my meal. No joke. I far prefer going for positive reasons than complaints.

Sent from my SM-G860P using Tapatalk

[shark6495]

I think I have made more compliments than negatives.

However, not condoning the guests behavior but hot days+stress+unexpected consequences or outcomes and you get that person yelling. Dehydration is a killer. I don't think I have ever complained at the eateries. If the person cares and was working their butt off and things are going bad they can't work harder to fix it. If they don't care they won't anyway.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[selective]

 

Opening day I grabbed like 10 cups of water since I dressed for the forecasted 67 degrees, not 83. I wasn't questioned. Isn't it a law to give out free water?

No. Not in Ohio.

Terp, who is not engaged in the private practice of law in Ohio, Maryland, the District of Columbia or any United State. There is no legal advice intended for a particular client herein. Consult a competent attorney in the relevant jurisdiction if you have, or think you may have, a legal problem. Water law is a specialty of practice, yet different than here. This is a disclaimer.

 

 

Back in the early 90's and all the way back to the 70's, Kings Island used to have water fountains everywhere, especially all the way up and down Coney Mall, in the center where the benches are. Paramount had them taken out, for what many believed was a reason to encourage drink sales, though there could have been other reasons.

 

If you have a cup, just get water refills at the water fountains that are still outside of every restroom in the park.

 

Ice melts quickly, and food places have limited ice because off all they sell. Sometimes, they will give you ice, and sometimes they will give you ice water, but being a business, they can't afford to give out cups, even if they are cheap cups.

 

On very hot humid days, when the news will put out heat stroke alerts, Kings Island is very good at making sure every employee constantly gives out free water to everyone, and on those days, they will usually have cups of ice water lined all the way up and down their food counters for people to just walk up and grab. I even recall them having supervisors walking around with coolers of ice water for employees and I think they had some food service employees walk around with coolers of ice water for guests.

 

Now the park does sell bottled water, and that has to always be sold, because it is bottled, which makes it like any other bottled drink in a vending machine, and those all cost money.

 

As for food establishments giving out faucet water? I didn't think any could sell faucet water, and one restaurant owner told me a long time ago that they couldn't charge for faucet water because doing so could cause legal problems if someone was dying and needed faucet water to live. In that situation, forcing someone to pay for faucet water, or just to have money on them, to save their life, that could seriously hurt a business.

 

Yet, I worked at one place before where everyone always wanted free water, and handing out all the free cups was hurting the business, so the manager started charging 15 cents for each cup, which didn't refuse the water, and also encouraged people to reuse cups.

 

Now, I have also seen establishments that were so bad, no one ever got anything from them, and those that did, only asked for water. So since those places were about to lose all of their employees and go out of business, they would charge about $1 to $4 for one small cup of ice water. So when you see that behavior happen in any food service environment, watch out, it means they are on shaky ground and can't maintain any good qualities that a business should have.

[The Interpreter]

Kinzel cups of water are available free, as they have been for years.

[darkrider68]

You mean "Kinzel Kups."

[MIcoasterguy]

From a guests perspective, one that only visited CP 3 to 4 times a season for the past 20 years and made a trip to KI every other year starting 2008, which I switched to yearly visits im 2010 since Diamondback is my #2,coaster after Maverick, honetly the food situation at CP has been much better than KI for years now...

[The Interpreter]

Except the CP "pizza."

Five years ago, Chuckwagon had great pizza....

[MIcoasterguy]

Until 2012 I always made the Taco Stand in FrontierTown my go to spot for cheap, good food, but that changed and I am back to leaving the park for good price appropriate food lol

[MIcoasterguy]

"Macho Nacho" I believe it was called... just northwest of skyhawk, great food, always fresh, and reasonable at $8 for a plate enough for two.

[The Interpreter]

And great frozen custard right beside it...

[disco2000]

 

 

 

Back in the early 90's and all the way back to the 70's, Kings Island used to have water fountains everywhere, especially all the way up and down Coney Mall, in the center where the benches are. Paramount had them taken out, for what many believed was a reason to encourage drink sales, though there could have been other reasons.

 

If you have a cup, just get water refills at the water fountains that are still outside of every restroom in the park.

 

Ice melts quickly, and food places have limited ice because off all they sell. Sometimes, they will give you ice, and sometimes they will give you ice water, but being a business, they can't afford to give out cups, even if they are cheap cups.

 

On very hot humid days, when the news will put out heat stroke alerts, Kings Island is very good at making sure every employee constantly gives out free water to everyone, and on those days, they will usually have cups of ice water lined all the way up and down their food counters for people to just walk up and grab. I even recall them having supervisors walking around with coolers of ice water for employees and I think they had some food service employees walk around with coolers of ice water for guests.

 

Now the park does sell bottled water, and that has to always be sold, because it is bottled, which makes it like any other bottled drink in a vending machine, and those all cost money.

 

As for food establishments giving out faucet water? I didn't think any could sell faucet water, and one restaurant owner told me a long time ago that they couldn't charge for faucet water because doing so could cause legal problems if someone was dying and needed faucet water to live. In that situation, forcing someone to pay for faucet water, or just to have money on them, to save their life, that could seriously hurt a business.

 

Yet, I worked at one place before where everyone always wanted free water, and handing out all the free cups was hurting the business, so the manager started charging 15 cents for each cup, which didn't refuse the water, and also encouraged people to reuse cups.

 

Now, I have also seen establishments that were so bad, no one ever got anything from them, and those that did, only asked for water. So since those places were about to lose all of their employees and go out of business, they would charge about $1 to $4 for one small cup of ice water. So when you see that behavior happen in any food service environment, watch out, it means they are on shaky ground and can't maintain any good qualities that a business should have.

 

 

And water fountains have been increased in recent years, many with a touchless water bottle refill to encourage you to bring an empty bottle to fill.

 

You have clearly identified that it has been 3 years since you have been at the park.  Your data point of reference is no longer valid and comments are not helpful to this topic.

 

I think you are simply trolling at this point...

[shark6495]

Stupid question do the bottle refill stations state how many bottles were saved? Don't know why but it makes me feel nice when I'm filling my bottle and going hey I helped!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[disco2000]

^yes they do show how many bottles have been saved! 

[selective]

 

 

 

 

Back in the early 90's and all the way back to the 70's, Kings Island used to have water fountains everywhere, especially all the way up and down Coney Mall, in the center where the benches are. Paramount had them taken out, for what many believed was a reason to encourage drink sales, though there could have been other reasons.

 

If you have a cup, just get water refills at the water fountains that are still outside of every restroom in the park.

 

Ice melts quickly, and food places have limited ice because off all they sell. Sometimes, they will give you ice, and sometimes they will give you ice water, but being a business, they can't afford to give out cups, even if they are cheap cups.

 

On very hot humid days, when the news will put out heat stroke alerts, Kings Island is very good at making sure every employee constantly gives out free water to everyone, and on those days, they will usually have cups of ice water lined all the way up and down their food counters for people to just walk up and grab. I even recall them having supervisors walking around with coolers of ice water for employees and I think they had some food service employees walk around with coolers of ice water for guests.

 

Now the park does sell bottled water, and that has to always be sold, because it is bottled, which makes it like any other bottled drink in a vending machine, and those all cost money.

 

As for food establishments giving out faucet water? I didn't think any could sell faucet water, and one restaurant owner told me a long time ago that they couldn't charge for faucet water because doing so could cause legal problems if someone was dying and needed faucet water to live. In that situation, forcing someone to pay for faucet water, or just to have money on them, to save their life, that could seriously hurt a business.

 

Yet, I worked at one place before where everyone always wanted free water, and handing out all the free cups was hurting the business, so the manager started charging 15 cents for each cup, which didn't refuse the water, and also encouraged people to reuse cups.

 

Now, I have also seen establishments that were so bad, no one ever got anything from them, and those that did, only asked for water. So since those places were about to lose all of their employees and go out of business, they would charge about $1 to $4 for one small cup of ice water. So when you see that behavior happen in any food service environment, watch out, it means they are on shaky ground and can't maintain any good qualities that a business should have.

 

 

And water fountains have been increased in recent years, many with a touchless water bottle refill to encourage you to bring an empty bottle to fill.

 

You have clearly identified that it has been 3 years since you have been at the park.  Your data point of reference is no longer valid and comments are not helpful to this topic.

 

I think you are simply trolling at this point...

 

 

Are you saying that my concern and interest is not valid, just because I have not recently been to the park in a few years?

 

I should remind you, that this thread is to add our suggestions on how KI food service could change to speed the queue lines faster. This is not a employees need more training, need better food, or a general food service bashing area. The idea is how can we make realistic and reasonable suggestions to improve food service from a park visitor perspective.

 

Since I attended Kings Island, probably longer than most others in this thread, and seeing how food service doesn't really ever change all that much, then I think I can give valuable and important feedback. After all, history usually repeats, and anyone can be a visionary with a great idea.

 

Actually, the simple fact I haven't been to Kings Island in a few years is a reflection of Kings Island losing valuable guests that used to attend more often and spend more money that is now no longer present. However, since attendance is up, I guess our recession hasn't affected Kings Island yet that bad.

 

Terp actually got me interested in this topic when they said everything has changed, but now they and everyone else is teasing me by not giving me all the details.

 

Also, I'm shocked that everyone skipped right over my first post on page 6 where I gave the best and most important suggestions for food service improvements. All I got from everyone was that things have changed, but no one said exactly what and my great ideas were completely skipped.

 

Also, I read every post.

[malem]

Kinzel cups of water are available free, as they have been for years.

 

I didn't have much luck with those at Coasterstock. The water levers on soda fountains have been removed at many locations, and the water bottle refill stations outside the Coney North & Rivertown restrooms weren't functional.

 

I ended up getting a Kinzel cup at IS LaRosa's and filling it at a Coke Freestyle machine at the Oktoberfest Coca-Cola Marketplace.

[The Interpreter]

And no one is trying to hide anything from Selective. Food Service has changed so utterly and so dramatically that the only way to fully experience it is to go see for yourself. Better yet, go work there and help improve it. Long expounding on how things are, when they aren't that way at all and haven't been for years, isn't very useful.

Terp, Kings Island patron since opening day, 1972, and Coney Island of Ohio before that.

[gforce1994]

I just witnessed a guest berating and screaming at a food service employee for something beyond the employee he was speaking with control. The guest was rude, he was screaming, using profanity. While I know it's frustrating, treating people in such a manner is not right.

I told the guest to go to guest services and file a complaint if he felt the need to scream at someone. He walked off.

I know some park employees in management read the forums, but complaining here or screaming at employees is not going to help. Go to guest services or ask to speak to a manager or supervisor.

Not all food service employees are lazy, some actually are trying. A little kindness goes a long way. The employee thanked me for speaking up because he truly is trying to do the best that he can. With all honesty, I have seen this individual several times. I have yet to see him not working. He doesn't ever come across as lazy or that he doesn't care.

Sent from my SM-G860P using Tapatalk

I always thank employees, since at the end of the day, they're the ones making the park such a great place to spend free time at. For any employees reading this forum, let me say thank you.

[disco2000]

And no one is trying to hide anything from Selective. Food Service has changed so utterly and so dramatically that the only way to fully experience it is to go see for yourself. Better yet, go work there and help improve it. Long expounding on how things are, when they aren't that way at all and haven't been for years, isn't very useful.

Terp, Kings Island patron since opening day, 1972, and Coney Island of Ohio before that.

 

True his questions have been responded to!

 

Selective posed a situation/question about food being placed on an app and it was answered/rebutted.

 

Selective posed another situation/question about dietary restrictions and claiming it was law too and it was answered/rebutted.

 

Selective posed another situation/question about pizza boxes and FestHaus being quick and efficient and food options that don't even exist anymore and it was answered/rebutted.

 

Selective posed another situation/question about discrimination and it was answered/rebutted.

 

Selective posed another situation/question about attendance going down and it was answered/rebutted.

 

Selective posed another situation about eliminating water fountains and it was answered/rebutted.

 

Selective then says posters are not answering him or taking him seriously.

 

Nobody is teasing you.  We answered your questions and ended each response with it has been 3 years since you have visited KI and things have changed and changed drastically.  I mentioned I thought you were trolling because you constantly were bringing up situations that were at least 3 years old and do not reflect current practice at KI.  When you mentioned the discrimination part, that is when I called you out for trolling because what does that have to do with Food Service Ideas.  It seemed to me you were not getting the invoking response you wanted, so you kept going.

 

Your concern and interest is valid and I would love to see them implement your suggestion on the App but as has been pointed out, they do not seem to care about food service.  It would be great if they had dietary and allergy information available on an app, along with menus, and which ones are open on the app.  But the app cannot even get your number of visits correct, have reliable ride times, and says that there were no Origins shows today (which there were).  They have a lot of other issues with the app that need to be fixed before I see them doing the food thing, even though that would be easy because the menus rarely change.

[Infinity]

The bad food service is why I eat at home before I go to the park. Although, some people have no choice otherwise. Let's hope they can fix this major problem that can ruin a person's perspective of the park.

[selective]

My point that I was making was all about the app.

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/online-fun/free-mobile-app

 

I didn't know there was one, but now that I do, I noticed not one single person has ever reviewed it.

 

So don't you all think that perhaps someone should get on camera and walk around the park filming themselves using it and make a video review of the app, to tell...

 

1. if it is possible to search food locations by all food items available in the park?

2. if it is possible to see allergy and dietary information with all foods listed?

3. if food locations show wait times?

 

How could you all love Kings Island so much, and not do a video review of their app? That's just a huge slap in the face to Kings Island. Someone needs to review their app while in the park and on video!!!

 

My guess, is that they probably made their app all about the rides and not about the food, but I think food should be its most important use, as the food options confuse the guests the most.

 

If someone makes a video reviewing their app, title it "Kings Island Mobile App Review".

[shark6495]

Sounds like you have a great project to do. Maybe that will give you a reason to come back to the park.

If it didn't exist it might not because 1: no one wants to 2: there may not be a great audience for it.

But go for it. Someone may watch it

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[chuck norris]

There are plenty of reviews in the app store. Just because someone didn't record it to video doesn't mean they aren't providing a valuable review. The app doesn't list specific menus, but lists locations and provides basic info (do they have at least 1 dining plan option, or at least 1 gluten free option). All of the food features in the app work the same whether you are in the park or at home... So you can download the app yourself and see. Food service has enough to do without updating wait times.. So I don't think that would be an effective add to the app. I have suggested to guest services multiple times that the app really needs to have daily restaurant operating hours (or indicate if a location is closed or not open yet like the rides do when they are down)... Since that suggestion they now at least put a sign on the restaurant window if they are closed to indicate if they will open or not that day... Which is good, but annoying when you walk there just to find that out. I also think most locations need to do a better job at clearly indicating which options are on the meal plan to guests that are waiting in line so that they can be ready to order when they get to the front. As for allergies, multiple people in my family have celiac disease. I think it's pretty amazing that Kings Island actually has a dedicated gluten free stand (coney mall potato works) and offers a gluten free pizza option. I've asked many times about which items contain gluten (like in the burrito bowl at hanks) and I think the park is apprehensive to say some items are gluten free of they know they are coming in contact with gluten through shared kitchens and utensils. While this limits the options for my family, I can respect the fact that they don't want people with allergies to get sick... Which is likely what would happen if they published a complete allergy list menu for all food items.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk