Hospitality enjoy a successful Christmas Party Season
James Motley has been Hospitality Manager at the club for just over a year having joined at the beginning of December 2015.After joining in December James went straight into a busy Christmas period.
James told ShrewsWeb: “When I started in 2015 I walked straight into a Christmas party lunch for 200, and then there was a quick turnaround for around 220 for the evening meal.
“I just had to get stuck in and do the bookings we had in place, and in truth we had a great Christmas last year.
“This year I’m pleased to say we’ve done even better. Christmas parties we’ve changed around massively because I’ve been able to look at the feedback we got last year and see how we can change things around.”
One finding the feedback provided with James and his team was that the clients wanted live music, which he was able to introduce.
Another finding was that younger groups of people preferred a party atmosphere, rather than an extended sit down meal.
James said: “We’ve still done the sit down meal but we’ve tweaked it. So we’ve reduced things like the tea and coffee after the meal – because younger people would rather get on with the party.
“We’ve taken on board what people have asked for and we’ve had a brilliant season.”
James revealed that Christmas party nights in 2016 had 750 more covers than the events in the previous year.
“We’ve got a great department which deals with our bookings for hospitality, they’re really focussed and Terry [Rollins] has a great relationship with our clients.
“It’s great for me to know Terry has that side of the business taken care of well, and we can then try and perform well on the day and make sure the clients event goes well.”
The hospitality team at Shrewsbury Town offer a range of Christmas events including: lunches, dinners and parties.
“The great thing about us here is we’re in-house, we’re not governed by a contract caterer, so we have a huge amount of flexibility.
“We can tailor-make what the customer wants.”