Custom Bats Cricket Forum
General Cricket => Your Cricket => Cricket Teas => Topic started by: steiner on January 26, 2014, 11:40:35 PM
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Just wondering if anyone had any experience this? Played a couple of teams that obviously bought their teas in from outside caterers, not a club tea lady but as in purchase externally (if that makes sense!)
Anyone else do this or done so in the past and what sort of service/price was involved?
cheers
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Usually ridiculously expensive unless you strike lucky and find someone who will do it because they enjoy the afternoon at the cricket club and / or have a relative playing in the side. We are given a £30 budget to take it in turns making teas which is a bit of a stretch to put it mildly. The best quote we had last season for an outside caterer was £120 for one match, delivery only, no service.
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We split the teas up per player. Each player brings a different thing.
That way we get a good mix and the players match fee is discounted by £3.
Although it's a bit annoying as the skipper always gets 'crisps' and the 2s call up gets 'scones, cream and jam'.
Last year he told me I could bring strawberries and cream... Good luck with that on £3 for a minimum of 28! Livid!
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Ha yeah we are lucky to have a good bunch who all do their bit.
Was considering it from the other side actually - have a couple of catering gigs that are picking up and the other half owns a cafe. With my main job (assessing) possibly drying up later in the year was thinking of starting to expand into other avenues.
Possibly end of season bashes may be a better start? Anyone get any catering for those at all?
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We have a solid base of lady volunteer's for the kitchen, who do their jobs for free. So the players' fees (£4.00) can go on other things.
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I buy the makings and the usual 3 or 4 others help make it. All the others that always turn up late and don't help end up doing the washing up.
I find that when we've been playing away, the best teas are catered by the players and wives. Sometimes it can cost a little more then usual but that's fine as the teas are worth it.
What I really hate are the "professionally" catered teas. Sandwiches brought in or paid staff to supply and make. These are usually really expensive, bland and not very much to eat at all. Some clubs seem to think the charge for teas should be supplementing their matches, we don't. We have a good spread with an average spend of £35 and charge £40. No ones ever complained :D
So do it yourself ensures you keep costs down, get a good spread of what you like and no one goes hungry.
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So bland as some brought in ones may be, there is a market there for some clubs?
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The margins are a bit thin unless you can do more than 1 club on any given day. The most you can probably charge for 1 match (2 dozen or so people) would be 60 quid and the vast majority of teams would baulk at 50 quid. Even with a good supplier you are still looking at costs of over 20 quid minimum. Therefore your absolute max. Return would be 35 quid before fuel and other costs but more likely to be 25 pounds. It's going to be around 2 hours work if not more prepping the food, setting up and serving it and tidying up. So unless you can do more than 1 match then it becomes uneconomic.
This is done off guesswork but the only times I see outside caterers do amateur matches is when they have a chance to sell to the watching spectators.
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I would agree actually, although being based among a high concentration of clubs helps. Like you say the margins make it of little real value.
I'm thinking of looking towards end of season bashes though - bigger numbers and probably likely to lead to more gigs through wor of mouth if the spread is eye catching enough.
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There's a rather nice cafe/food place on the other side of the pub where customers can go through and order a meal whilst sipping a pint, so they tend to hustle us up our cricket teas for £2.50 each
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you lot are lucky ........... no teas for us from our team :o
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It is around £50 quid. I've done some out sourcing of teas before.
Or you just go to KFC and get a few bargin buckets ;)
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We have to outsource out teas. It is an on-going expensive nightmare.
just make them. get a rota and man up (or bribe the Mrs to help...)
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We make our teas and the team selector usually has to beg someone to volunteer, else he just has to force someone. Our budget is £35 and to be honest the quality varies wildly. When I'm up for tea I'll usually spend an extra tenner as I don't think you can get enough out of £35 for 22-25 people, however some people in the club think otherwise.
The Chairman's wife will spend upwards of £80 and puts on a magnificent spread. One of the guys will literally only bring jam sandwiches that aren't even cut in half and another one will pay £40 for a tray of sandwiches from Gregg's which won't feed everyone there, but he refuses to spend more or make it himself.
So basically it goes from the sublime to the downright embarrassing. We have had the odd occasion where the visiting team as down right refused to pay for the tea and in all honesty both times I have been in total agreement with them.
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Rota works fine for us. Some players keep the profit and some donate all proceeds to club. Quality does vary a bit but it is not too bad. The main problem we have in our league is that a lot of players don't buy anything. Hence it is very unwise to spend too much on arranging teas.
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Thankfully we have plenty of lady volunteers, so many infact, I think each Saturday team only has the same tea lady twice a year.
Teas are lovely too, no exception. All our tea lady's rock.
On special occasions we have ran bbqs for tea. (Mainly friendly and t20 tournaments)
And not he one occasion on a Sunday when we had no tea ladys(Sunday league is no teas but we do them if wanted)
We actually had our teas made by the local subway. No joke. An awesome tea.
http://www.subway.co.uk/menu/subway-platters.aspx (http://www.subway.co.uk/menu/subway-platters.aspx)
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Rota it and man up.
Doing a decent quantity of tea cost effectively is difficult. You can take shortcuts such as buying frozen sausage rolls, cheaps crisps and hand baking cakes but the fillings normally cost the most. If Melon is on special offer it helps to pad out the tea. Don't forget tea, sugar, squash. When I started playing we rarely had a drinks break unless it was very hot. Another issue is colts! They race to the tea room first,pay half a match fee and then stack their plates to the ceiling. Leaving little or nothing for the older guys. Putting the stuff plated out normally stops this :-)
In theory you could do a perfectly acceptable tea for £25 per match if you hand made most things and were volume ie. doing 3 or 4 clubs. That's the only way I could see it being worth somebody doing it as a business as it would still take several hours preparation.
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The margins are a bit thin unless you can do more than 1 club on any given day. The most you can probably charge for 1 match (2 dozen or so people) would be 60 quid and the vast majority of teams would baulk at 50 quid. Even with a good supplier you are still looking at costs of over 20 quid minimum. Therefore your absolute max. Return would be 35 quid before fuel and other costs but more likely to be 25 pounds. It's going to be around 2 hours work if not more prepping the food, setting up and serving it and tidying up. So unless you can do more than 1 match then it becomes uneconomic.
This is done off guesswork but the only times I see outside caterers do amateur matches is when they have a chance to sell to the watching spectators.
It could potentially work at a ground with two pitches being used. Bulk buying would improve the margins a little bit but it still wouldn't be a massive earner.
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Funny thinking about it, I made a proposal in one of my old clubs to actually change cricket teas to a smaller healthy option ie. bin cake and sandwiches and replace it with food to help players recover ie. fruit/pasta, but with some portion control going on. My argument was that it wasn't good for the players to consume large teas and eat stuff that most proper sportsman wouldn't touch. It would possibly be cheaper to make and encourage post match food sales, where the club could actually make some money.
Naturally my suggestion wasn't even considered for 5 seconds :D
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Our rota system involves one guy, me! Either I prepare tea and we have or I don't and we don't. Have tried several occasions to implement a rota but everyone always have an excuse. I usually end up making the teas as I feel embarrassed when the other team comes and there is none. Our tea compramises basically a couple of sandwiches, fruits and a drink. Works up to about $150, an equivalent of around 15 pounds..
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£35 for us. when i do it i always do some pasta as it tends to go a long way and can fill people up. range of sandwiches and some cakes, biscuits and fruit. its not always easy doing it for the budget and it usually costs a little more but if you have the right connections and could source the produce for a good price there may be a little in it. as others have said bulk buying or doing it for multiple teams would help. otherwise it may sound like a lot of effort for not alot of reward.
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I say scrap teas all together. Very old fashioned and as everyone has mentioned above its expensive.
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I'm the eldest in our team at 30 and have always been concerned about nutrition so tend to bring my own tea (Pasta etc).
8 of our first team are 18-22. We put out tiny plates because they eat TONNES! To the point I accused their mums of not feeding them!
All rake skinny too! As you rightly say, £35 is not enough if you have some Starvin' Marvin's in your team!
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We have £40 to do teas, and some cost a lot more, some people are out to make a profit.
6 uncut French sticks, a block if cheese, a pack of ham and some cheap crisps and shop bough cakes "I put loads of effort into that and it cost me £40, can I have it back please"
I like to do 4 loaves of sandwiches (ham, cheese & coronation chicken/chicken tikka).
Homemade cakes go down well.
A few frozen sausage rolls, pizzas and Indian nibbley bits are always good.
A cold pasta dish costs pence and looks a bit posh, and there has to be crisps!
Then if melons or bananas are on offer they pad things out a bit more too.
I almost always make a loss when I do teas but it's worth it to put a decent spread on for the oppo.
As far as buying them in we considered setting up a business making them but the margin would be virtually non existent if you wanted to put a decent spread out.
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I say scrap teas all together. Very old fashioned and as everyone has mentioned above its expensive.
But then the fatties like me lose interest in cricket!
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No tea? Nooooooooo
It was a proposal at our league Agm, 1 team proposed it, and when it was voted upon. Only that team voted for rest against. So teas stay woohoo.
Our league have a flat fee £42 for teas. So we get 84 to do 22players, 2 umps and 2 scorers.
They do a Buffet, sandwiches(varied) crisps, cakes, pizza, chips, fruit.
And there's always tea left over for supporters to took into after, and for us if we are hungry when the games finished.
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Our league want to scrap teas. They think it will lead to earlier finished which will be encouraging to youngsters who want to go out on the lash.
It's a truly horrifying proposal for me
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my team are in the process of going to the league for 2015 and this season hosting 15 - 20 weekend games. previously it has only been 2-3 a season. im trying to push that 5 players a game do a small part of the tea and dont pay any match fees. not sure if this will work but i would like to spread the work out even if its the same five players each week. we currently pay match fees of £5 but im not sure this will be a big enough budget if would like it to be £35-40 but will have to wait and see
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We have £40 to do teas, and some cost a lot more, some people are out to make a profit.
6 uncut French sticks, a block if cheese, a pack of ham and some cheap crisps and shop bough cakes "I put loads of effort into that and it cost me £40, can I have it back please"
I like to do 4 loaves of sandwiches (ham, cheese & coronation chicken/chicken tikka).
Homemade cakes go down well.
A few frozen sausage rolls, pizzas and Indian nibbley bits are always good.
A cold pasta dish costs pence and looks a bit posh, and there has to be crisps!
Then if melons or bananas are on offer they pad things out a bit more too.
I almost always make a loss when I do teas but it's worth it to put a decent spread on for the oppo.
As far as buying them in we considered setting up a business making them but the margin would be virtually non existent if you wanted to put a decent spread out.
Fish Fingers Cam! Honestly, A big Iceland bag will go down a treat for a £1!
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Fish Fingers Cam! Honestly, A big Iceland bag will go down a treat for a £1!
That's a quality suggestion! I'm also thinking their 56 chicken dippers for £3 would be a good shout too!
All this discussion of cricket teas is making me want the season to hurry up! :D
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A subject close to my heart... My Mrs does magnificent teas, genuinely considered some of the very best in the league - she puts in a good shift though, marinading the chicken for her specialty jerk chicken the night before, baking cakes early in the morning, etc. I assist with purchasing and transportation, but it takes a bit of effort, and of course, one has one eye on the weather. She's not in a position where she has to make it worth her while, if you will, but gets more pleasure from getting positive feedback and in knowing she's done a decent job and played her part. The club and I are very lucky if slightly overweight as a result! Her mum used to do teas when her old man and her uncles played and she can recall watching her dad when she was very young. So, with my youngest lad (14) now a regular in senior cricket, it's a family affair. There are always plenty of players willing to wash up as there is usually some strawberries left over from the scones, which she bakes herself...
The 2nd XI tend to have a rota and sell a standard sort of tea, better than some in the league, at £2.50 per head, and it does a job. The Sunday side (3rd XI) tend to do a bit of a Jacob's Join and players will be allocated something to bring. The teas are sold at £2.50 per head and the tasks shared.
Always in our league, scorers and umpires are free.
The standards have dropped over the years (2014 will be my 26th season in this league) so I have seen the good, the bad and the very ugly. It used to be very good generally, with teams having some pride in putting on a decent tea. Sadly, things have gone down hill, although there are still some very decent teas to be had and some with their own specialties: Great Eccleston CC do some lovely local new potatoes, Hoghton CC serve a home made cake / biscuit kind of thing called an Oatie, local rivals Thornton-Cleveleys CC were always famous for home made cakes (not as good as the wife's!) and South Shore CC are one of very few teams in the league to serve jockey's whips.
Our league have got prizes for everything, except for teas.... if there was a teas prize, at least that way, those that do make an effort would get some deserved recognition.
Hats off to all those making cricket teas of whatever standard... it's not easy.
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Teams are just plain lazy over teas now, clubs put as little effort and money into them as possible. Very sad as it's a nice part of the day usually. I think a post match tea would be better though
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The standard of teas are so poor in our league, that I'm actually happy when I see the bloke walking back with 22 £1.99 box meals from the local rancid fried chicken shop in some games. At least I know that we won't get ripped off on price. Some clubs present us with a bowl of crisps and one loaf worth of cheese sandwiches and then tell us it cost £38!!
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The standard of teas are so poor in our league, that I'm actually happy when I see the bloke walking back with 22 £1.99 box meals from the local rancid fried chicken shop in some games. At least I know that we won't get ripped off on price. Some clubs present us with a bowl of crisps and one loaf worth of cheese sandwiches and then tell us it cost £38!!
That's the issue for me. Clubs 'charge' 30-40 quid for tea then put on a spread of about that value. If both sides put in 30-40 quid then that's a hell of a spread ! It's just clubs being greedy
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in the league i play in the opposition dont pay towards the teas, its down to the home side and then they return the favour on the return fixture
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in the league i play in the opposition dont pay towards the teas, its down to the home side and then they return the favour on the return fixture
Northants did that but backward glos don't so clubs rip each other off
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in the league i play in the opposition dont pay towards the teas, its down to the home side and then they return the favour on the return fixture
That's been suggested in our league but there was a worry about it being unfair with cancellations. I guess it normally works out ok tho
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in the league i play in the opposition dont pay towards the teas, its down to the home side and then they return the favour on the return fixture
Same here. Think it's the same across the surrey championship
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Yup same in Hants. Best way of doing it in my opinion
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What happens In a very rainy season where a club plays 9home games but only 2 always games due to weather?
It could bankrupt a club. As I presume the away game match fee's are used to cover the teas when at home.
Sounds a bad idea.
If you have teas. League has a blanket fee the entire league charges the opposition. Umpires and opposition fill in tea report cards. If someone has continual bad teas. Then a league rep randomly arrives to check.
Warnings
Fines
Points deductions, can then be given if they don't improve after inspection and meeting to discuss.
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Meh for ourselves everyone brings something so probably pay £3-5 a head crisps/sandwiches what have you.
If you only had home games due to rain you wouldn't be paying £5 subs for away matches and so would still only be paying the same amount per match realistically.
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That's the issue for me. Clubs 'charge' 30-40 quid for tea then put on a spread of about that value. If both sides put in 30-40 quid then that's a hell of a spread ! It's just clubs being greedy
30-40 quid every week for tea plus 30 for umpires and the 20 for the professional scorer you want, that's 80-90 quid per game. How are clubs supposed to afford that? Won't be too many clubs left if they have to fork out that much every week!
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No umpires at our level as done by players. Same with scoring so pitch hire and tea would be the only cost - circa £ 8-9 per person. Zero cost to club in our case
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30-40 quid every week for tea plus 30 for umpires and the 20 for the professional scorer you want, that's 80-90 quid per game. How are clubs supposed to afford that? Won't be too many clubs left if they have to fork out that much every week!
Yeah we have all that bud but a wel run club will have youth, bars, 100 clubs etc etc. in all,seriousness it's not a lot to ask to lay on decent qualitŷ and volume of food. Sarnies, crisps, finger food is all pretty cheap.
As it happens I've said to save messing about and to show up the home teas I'll do the 3rds teas this season each home game. Still working out what to do exactly but I'll spend about 60 quid I reckon just to ensure its good. Everyone likes a good feed and it's part of the enjoyment of the day tbh.
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I did our tea for a lot of our games last year, had £40 to play with and generally covered two teams well and put in a lot of effort as one of my biggest loathes is when you go for a tea, are handed two egg sandwiches, a cup of juice and a pack of crisps then at the end of the game the oppo captain says "£50 tea money from your lads skip" (Croydon post office CC if anyone cares)
We have to be a bit careful in our league too as we have a lot of teams made up of lads with special dietry requirements, most will let you know in advance but got burnt a few times now so I end up making a lot of cheese/tomato, cheese salad, chicken mayo salad, then have a few traditional Ham & Mustard to go along. enough crisps for everyone, bananas/apples, a variety of cakes and biscuits, mini pasties/sausage rolls/chicken goujons etc depending on what's on offer, water, squash and tea. Anyone that doesn't put tea out at tea should be shot on sight.
Perhaps this is one for a separate thread but which clubs have had the best teas?
Indian Gymkanah put on two curries, some bhajis, rice and have Cobra on tap....it's the only Sunday game of the year when we have 20 odd lads put their name down.
Bank of England was lovely too, scones are always a winner...
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I still can't get to grips with this notion of league cricket where the away teams pay for the tea.
I've never come across it. I've only ever played at clubs or In Leagues where the home team provide and pay for the tea. The roles are then obviously reversed in the return fixture. Seems to work fine. Some clubs do a Better tea than others but it avoids the situation of a shoddy tea being presented alongside a request to the away team for an extortionate amount of money.
The home team even cover teas for most friendlies I play in.
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I still can't get to grips with this notion of league cricket where the away teams pay for the tea.
I've never come across it. I've only ever played at clubs or In Leagues where the home team provide and pay for the tea. The roles are then obviously reversed in the return fixture. Seems to work fine. Some clubs do a Better tea than others but it avoids the situation of a shoddy tea being presented alongside a request to the away team for an extortionate amount of money.
The home team even cover teas for most friendlies I play in.
Can tell you're a youngster ;) For a good 5-10 years when I first played (1996 I started) Cambs league cricket the opposition had to pay the home team £20 for teas and home team fronted £20, giving, obviously a budget of £40/tea!
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I still can't get to grips with this notion of league cricket where the away teams pay for the tea.
I've never come across it. I've only ever played at clubs or In Leagues where the home team provide and pay for the tea. The roles are then obviously reversed in the return fixture. Seems to work fine. Some clubs do a Better tea than others but it avoids the situation of a shoddy tea being presented alongside a request to the away team for an extortionate amount of money.
The home team even cover teas for most friendlies I play in.
most friendlies we play against are home and away for local sides, if there isnt a return fixture usually just touring sides, we charge £40 towards the teas seems to work pretty well from my experience
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In both the York and District Senior Cricket League and York Vale Cricket League, opposition pay an amount for teas. In the YDSCL, there is no cap, and some charge more than others. What you tend to find is the home team at the start of the season sets the prices and the away teams use that to recoup the first half's costs.
The YVCL is slightly different, where the opposition tea costs have a cap, so everyone just charges the maximum. The cap is around £27, however the costs are up to about £45 per team on the YDSCL, which is extortionate.
I believe teas are overrated and irrelevant in our leagues. They are just an outdated tradition that is costly and could be done away with.
I would much rather see post-match food provided. Pie and pies, chips, curries, chillies, barbecues and the like. It would make it more sociable and enjoyable. Although this would be beneficial to most, there are some clubs that do not have the provisions to provide the heated food service.
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In both the York and District Senior Cricket League and York Vale Cricket League, opposition pay an amount for teas. In the YDSCL, there is no cap, and some charge more than others. What you tend to find is the home team at the start of the season sets the prices and the away teams use that to recoup the first half's costs.
The YVCL is slightly different, where the opposition tea costs have a cap, so everyone just charges the maximum. The cap is around £27, however the costs are up to about £45 per team on the YDSCL, which is extortionate.
I believe teas are overrated and irrelevant in our leagues. They are just an outdated tradition that is costly and could be done away with.
I would much rather see post-match food provided. Pie and pies, chips, curries, chillies, barbecues and the like. It would make it more sociable and enjoyable. Although this would be beneficial to most, there are some clubs that do not have the provisions to provide the heated food service.
It's a struggle to get opposition teams to stop after games for a beer let alone to sit down so you can feed them a whole meal! Can't see that working well at all.
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It's a struggle to get opposition teams to stop after games for a beer let alone to sit down so you can feed them a whole meal! Can't see that working well at all.
Then you need to ask yourself why?
It is as much a tradition to stay for a post match drink as it is to have teas, so why is one part of the rules and one isn't.
The number of times you see two teams at the opposite ends of the bar, not innterracting in any way is the biggest reason.
If the league rules were that you had to buy 11 post-match meals, rather than teas, then teams and clubs would be a lot more sociable.
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Then you need to ask yourself why?
It is as much a tradition to stay for a post match drink as it is to have teas, so why is one part of the rules and one isn't.
The number of times you see two teams at the opposite ends of the bar, not innterracting in any way is the biggest reason.
If the league rules were that you had to buy 11 post-match meals, rather than teas, then teams and clubs would be a lot more sociable.
It has nothing to do with our end, we buy a jug of lager/bitter/cider for the opposition whether we win or lose and take great pride in being friendly with the oppo. I'm just saying some people are only interested in the cricket and that's it.
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It has nothing to do with our end, we buy a jug of lager/bitter/cider for the opposition whether we win or lose and take great pride in being friendly with the oppo. I'm just saying some people are only interested in the cricket and that's it.
That is the case now but it wasn't 30 years ago :(
It's a shame we have to force teams to socialise. I know when the Headingley lads joined league cricket we made a decision to be as social as possible, if nothing else to get the gossip on the other teams in our league who we didn't know. It's something that does need to be bred back into many teams and eating post match is one way of doing it.
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Two observations on post match socialization.
1. If the club has a bar, there is a lot more than if you have to move off to a pub.
2. In line with many other activities, time has become more precious, and many people list match are under pressure from families/other halves like never before. Misogyny made such a difference thirty years ago...
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I still can't get to grips with this notion of league cricket where the away teams pay for the tea.
I've never come across it. I've only ever played at clubs or In Leagues where the home team provide and pay for the tea. The roles are then obviously reversed in the return fixture. Seems to work fine. Some clubs do a Better tea than others but it avoids the situation of a shoddy tea being presented alongside a request to the away team for an extortionate amount of money.
The home team even cover teas for most friendlies I play in.
As div 4 has been screwed with us only playing 3 teams twice I've got money off every away team for teas so far on advice from league secretary.
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Worcester clubs league when you play away teas this season cost 35.00 standard of teas very guess it depends on how much money the home team gives the person doing the tea some clubs only pay 35.00.
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Not had one good tea yet this season tbh, all have been pretty dire and all have cost £35 to the away team. Even our home ones are poorer this year due to the bar owners scrimping.
I still think sacking it off would be best, reduce the time taken to play, reduce the cost of the day by about £3-4 each..
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Not had one good tea yet this season tbh, all have been pretty dire and all have cost £35 to the away team. Even our home ones are poorer this year due to the bar owners scrimping.
I still think sacking it off would be best, reduce the time taken to play, reduce the cost of the day by about £3-4 each..
I do as well pretty certain it will eventually happen more clubs each season are requesting dropping them at AGMs
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I'd quit if they stopped making teas. It's best part of the day.
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I'd quit if they stopped making teas. It's best part of the day.
Batting is the best part, the rest I do to get to bat
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The more I think about this, the more I'm behind a meal after the match. If we start at 11am, have an hours break between innings and finish at 5, people will be starving and wanting to eat at the ground. You'd also want a pint with your pie, so bar receipts would go up too. Added bonus is that if stuff is freezable, you can save it if you don't sell as many as you'd hoped because as much as we'd all love to stay on after the game sometimes people have got commitments.
Plus, even though I love the teas we get (Away's have been poor this year), more often than not I'd rather not be bounding around the outfield full of pork pie or sat still for 2.5 hours full of more pork pie.
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Not a bad idea but from what ive seen lots of players both home and away want to get off home ASAP after the match.