We Hate Lines Even More Than You Do
Transparency on lines at SF Deltas games
Many things can go wrong at an event — no matter how long your planning phase, no matter how thorough your operations manual. For the most part, many of these issues remain hidden from fans — solved discretely by trained event professionals with a gentle hand.
There are, however, a number of issues that are unavoidably public. The most common example of this is long and slow-moving lines.
Nobody likes waiting in line and nobody wants to miss the action or content of the event they paid good money to attend. Unfortunately, problems with lines have been an issue at Kezar this season and have demanded the majority of our time to solve. In the spirit of our pillar of Transparency, we want to share what we’ve been doing.
At the beginning of the season we saw protracted wait times at the entrance gates, the food tents and the drink tents. By anyone’s account, the lines were long in each of these three locations. Our ultimate goal is always to provide the best fan experience possible. A breakdown in something as visible and important as wait times for crucial points of the operational flow detracts from this in a significant way. We have been working to address all of our operation failings, but the one that has presented itself as most unwilling to cooperate has been the lines for food.
March Problems
· Lines were very disorganized and wait times were long
March Solutions
· Added neon tape on the ground to structure lines and organize the flow of people going into the food and drink tents
April Problems
· Remaining confusion about which line was which
· Lines remained slow moving
April Solutions
· Produced signage to be placed at the beginning of each line indicating which line was for food and which was for drinks
· Placed ushers at the beginning of the lines with menus to assist patrons in making decisions prior to arriving at the front of the line
May Problems
· Lines remained slow
· Disorganization between people in line and people waiting for food
May Solutions
· Brought food truck into stadium to provide more points of sale
· Brought in airport-style stanchions to replace neon tape to better differentiate lines and indicate who is in line waiting to order and who has already ordered
· Reduced number of menu items for each vendor
· Ensured all food has a short turn-around time
Thank you for all the fan feedback and please keep it coming. We’re happy to report our June games have seen the same reduction in waiting time for food as we’ve seen at the gates and the lines for drinks.
We will continue to monitor and improve issues as the season progresses and will work endlessly to fine-tune the game day experience for every fan passing through our gates to ensure everyone is safe and enjoys the time they spend with us at Kezar Stadium.
To see the improvements we’ve been making at Kezar Stadium, join us for an upcoming home game!
