Carrow Road, home to Norwich City FC more fondly known as The Canaries, has had a refresh of the catering outlets and facilities in the stadium, with both fans and operators reaping the rewards from the presence of Big Al’s.
Norwich City FC and Big Al’s first partnered to revamp one of the club’s largest kiosks at the start of last season in July 2017. After weeks of underperforming food sales, the catering team were keen to look into new options for the kiosk. The team at Norwich City were impressed by the visuals, branding ideas and menu items proposed by Big Al’s.
Sean Crisford, Stadium Bars and Kiosk Manager at Norwich City Football Club comments: “The designs sent for Big Al’s Diner really stood out to the team and I, and we could envisage the concept working well on-site and knew our customer base would enjoy the products Big Al’s had to offer. As a destination kiosk we needed to give fans a reason to walk there and by introducing the concept and products, such as Big Al’s Flame Cooked Beef Burgers, Mesquite Chicken Wings and BBQ Pork Rib Steak, we have seen a 50% increase in sales and a vast improvement in footfall to the kiosk.”
After such a successful introduction, the start of this season saw the launch of another two Big Al’s kiosks in the family stand of the stadium. With a maximum capacity of 27,244, fans were hungry for the taste of Big Al’s, which now occupies three out of the 28 eateries at Carrow Road.
Menu items in the two family diners include Big Al’s Flame Cooked Beef Burgers and the Pizza Twists replacing the more traditional pies that were previously served, Sean explains the decision; “it is logistically easier for us to cook Big Al’s products. For example, it takes a third of the time to serve a Big Al’s burger from frozen than it does to dish up a pie, meaning we can cook more in less time and from this we have seen our sales rise. We experiment with the products and have recently been trialling the Big Al’s Gourmet Hot Dog in a tomato curry sauce, which was a hit with the customers. We like to look at which products sell well and will make a call on what to serve next season or decide on introducing a new offering.”
Sean continues; “the fans have been delighted with the new menu items from Big Al’s and it’s fantastic to see people enjoying the products while having a great day out at the club. By providing fans with delicious food options we can add to their experience at the football, entice them to return and encourage them to spread the word to new customers.”
The team at Norwich FC also recently sampled the newly launched Big Al’s Sausage Pattie at a Sunday morning friendly against local team, Ipswich Town FC. The Sausage Pattie, which replaced the usual offering of a Cornish Pasty, was a sell out, leading Sean and the team to consider the pattie again for future early kick-offs.
With many more proposals in the pipeline, it is all go for revamping the food offer at Norwich City FC, and fans can rest assured the delicious taste of Big Al’s is going no where – watch this space for exciting new launches coming next season!
