Author: Richard Hammill

Welcome to the second blog from the team at Pontefract Racecourse.

Every fortnight, someone from the team will share their thoughts for your entertainment (or otherwise!):

• Managing Director, Norman Gundill with his trusty PA, Caroline who also looks after the hospitality,
• Accounts Manager, Nicola,
• Admin manager, Carol,
• Marketing exec, Alexia and,
• Chief Operating Officer, Richard, who is writing this blog.

Value on Racecourses – 22 December 2022

Much has been published about pricing at British Racecourses: from the cost of entry, to the cost of food and drink once you’re inside the course – indeed, the Racing Post published their Racecourse Prices Index with visits around the courses undertaken in 2022.

The ‘Cost of Living Crisis’ is an overused phrase but is a very real concept and it has been looming large on the horizon for a few months now. It’s something that we’re painfully aware of – from a business perspective, from a personal perspective and from the point of view of our customers.

So how do we address it? How do we keep racing as cost effective as possible, offering genuine value, while still managing the increasing tariffs that are being directed towards us? 

It’s a fine balance. We hope we’re on the right lines but, as 2023 dawns, we’ll need to keep an eye on how the year progresses.

We want everyone to feel they are getting value:

1. We recognise the different costs in staging race meetings.
   A midweek Tuesday afternoon does not cost as much to stage as, for example, a Friday evening or a Sunday when there are additional considerations and attractions.
   So we’ve introduced differential costs.
   This means that over 80% of the race meetings in 2023 will cost less, or the same, than in 2022.

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2. We put on great early bird offers.
I’ve not been to as many Two Circles workshops as I have without learning the mantra that the best price should be the first price – ‘The earlier you book, the cheaper it is!’

And it works! Start the sales curve early! The customer saves and we get income at a time of year when we would not normally have any, helping us to spread the annual costs.

3. We offer value packages.
We’ve teamed up with our catering partner to offer what we think are some great packages. We’ve got a new offering which I think gives exceptional value.
We also got the opportunity to make a fun video advert to sit alongside the promotion which is always an added bonus!
It’s really important to us to have a ‘Yorkshire’ voice in everything we do. Did someone say Flat Caps and Whippets? Of course…

4. Give back to the regulars
It sounds like a clichéd line, but we are incredibly grateful for those who choose to spend their hard earned cash at Ponte and so there’s a loyalty card, concessions for students and OAPs as well as free entry for different customer groups on a variety of days.  

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Racecourse caterers come in for a fair amount of stick and, to be honest, they are fighting a losing battle most of the time. Rising staff costs, staff shortages, brewery increases, rising food prices – who’d be a caterer?

We had the first of our pricing meetings for 2023 last week. They’re long, involved, difficult meetings and it can be a battle.

Customers often tell us they can get their pint at ‘their local’ much cheaper. And it’s true – they absolutely can. What is sometimes overlooked is that ‘their local’ doesn’t move the travelling catering circus in and out for just 16 times a year – they operate 365 days a year – and the costs of set up and clearing up are huge.

It’s not that I’m trying to defend them – some of the prices that are put forward at early meetings are over the top. We take quite a unique viewpoint in that we subsidise some items so that the entry level price to the customer is fair.  It’s important to try and wear the customer’s shoes and think about times when you’ve felt taken advantage of as a customer and avoid that at all costs.

Anyway, speaking of food and drink, it’s Christmas! So, to end, here’s our glorious Carol to set the Christmas mood.

Have a great Christmas and New Year and we’ll see you on the other side when Alexia will be writing her first blog!

 

Welcome to the first official blog from the team at Pontefract Racecourse.

Every fortnight, someone from the team will share their thoughts for your entertainment (or otherwise!). Firstly, let me introduce the Admin team:

• Managing Director, Norman Gundill with his trusty PA, Caroline who also looks after the hospitality,
• Accounts Manager, Nicola,
• Admin manager, Carol,
• Marketing exec, Alexia and,
• Chief Operating Officer, Richard, who is writing the first blog.

Ponte Pride – 9 December 2022

A long time ago, back in November 2019, in a world before Covid was even a thing, the team at Ponte were incredibly honoured to be crowned the Champion Racecourse at the Racecourse Association Showcase Awards hosted by the reigning champions, Hamilton.

For obvious reasons, we’ve not been able to host the event since until our chance finally came round on 10^th November this year.

With around 250 delegates due to be in attendance, we set to creating a Showcase Event that was truly befitting of Ponte, making sure that the gathered masses, many of whom had not been to Pontefract before, were truly welcomed into our racing world with our brand and Yorkshire heritage dominant in every aspect of the event.

For those that have not been to Ponte before, the logistics of organising an event for 250 people on the site are challenging to say the least. We do not have a conference or restaurant facility large enough to seat this size of party , and, with the majority of the site on a pronounced slope, options for a marquee were limited. The only way round the problems was to site a marquee on the track itself, just beyond the winning post. But with no services close by, we had to arrange gas, electric and water as well.

What seemed like a great idea in November ’19, suddenly seemed to be something of a mission impossible.

But we don’t like to be beaten and the team pulled together in the most incredible way. The marquee company, our catering team, our fantastic groundstaff, the office team and the wonderful marketing team from the RCA left no stone unturned.

Marquees were put up, walkways were covered, red carpet was laid, walls and woodwork were repainted, lawns were manicured, bathrooms were given a makeover and 250 Yorkshire goodie bags were packed. I cannot begin to tell you how immensely proud I was of the whole team of pulling off such an impressive and seamless event.

As is often the case, beneath the elegant exterior of the graceful swan, there was a whole lot going on under the surface to ensure that everything went smoothly. The delegates didn’t see that the generator failed straight after the seminar section of the afternoon meaning our electrician was poised by a replacement generator for 4 hours solid! They didn’t see the industrial heater breakdown meaning one of the team needed to re-set it every 4 or 5 minutes. They didn’t see the aftermath the morning after. But that is what makes an event great I guess – a brilliant team, pulling together to ensure that the customer has a great experience.

To win two awards on the night was absolutely the icing on the cake – the Marketing Award for our ‘Silver Surfers and OAP Free Day’ Campaign and the Food & Beverage Award for our amazing on site café, Huggamug.

The event gave us two weeks of apprehension and, at times, terror, but was one of the most brilliant nights we’ve had. All down to teamwork and hard graft.

All the best to the new Showcase Champions, Aintree. We can’t wait to celebrate with you in 2023!