This will be for sure a hot take:
The topping matters much much more to me than the frozen Sysco fries.
Les Frites
- Thread starter Zachary
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The topping matters much much more to me than the frozen Sysco fries.
Yet another example of the customer's cost to obtain the product going up only to be given a smaller serving of lower quality product.
How anyone can really justify that as "eh, whatever" is beyond me.
How anyone can really justify that as "eh, whatever" is beyond me.
Oh not saying you or anyone specific I have seen on here are, but generally that is the perspective a business takes when so blatantly making anti-consumer decisions. They assume the average consumer just won't notice or care, when I think they have exhausted that possibility.
I think they care and notice, but, if they can increase the rate of sales and reduce labor to they can serve more people in the same period of time; any company would take that. It’s just capitalism. Reduce labor while increasing output to maximize profits.
EDIT: Just to be clear, this isn’t a justification that its ok. More why I’m not surprised.
So for Les Frites specifically, the fries being hand cut vs frozen makes a difference if you are having just fries (don’t get me started on the time that Trappers did steak fries instead and how badly they fucked that up). But they are topped with stuff. I rather have high quality toppings on there that are made well and they save time/money on the fries than the other way around.
My no insider take would be it seems as though the dining budget in cost per plate was dropped and they are trying to juj up the crap because they can‘t afford to make it the old way. I wonder if the newest chefs just don’t have the history of quality food in BGW/SEAS so they are just like “whatever this is what they want” (meaning corporate).
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I have moved this Les Frites conversation over from the Grogans Grill thread. If you want to continue debating the current state of the park, please do so in that thread, rather than derailing this one.
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The State of The Park
I think we all have different lines of what “mistreated” is too. I feel especially with the case @CoasterTalkBob has, I wouldn’t be driven away unless that happened 3-4 times in a row. Maybe part of that is just me being understanding. With what I've experienced with BGW in the past two years...
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Normally, a switch to frozen from fresh would be a stupid idea. Flat out, raw potatoes are (usually!!!) far cheaper than frozen fries and require very little labor to process. However, right now there is a massive potato shortage. If you didn't know, all potato crops are harvested over about a two month period, then stored for distribution over the year. Last year's crop was smaller than usual, so the stored crops are running extremely low. Combine that with weather this year causing a late start to the growing season, so this year's crops will be later than normal. Try to find Russets at the grocery store right now. Frozen fries may be cheaper than fresh now, or may even be all they can get. Many distributors are limiting the amount you can buy. Again, I'm not one to stand up for the crap they pull there, but this is actually understandable. I haven't been to KD in a few weeks (pulled a muscle I'm my back, unfortunately) so I don't know if Excavators is having the same problem, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Of course, this is Busch. They did manage to accidentally compare Finnegan's to The Troubles. Maybe they can use this as an advertising campaign for O'Tators.
Of course, this is Busch. They did manage to accidentally compare Finnegan's to The Troubles. Maybe they can use this as an advertising campaign for O'Tators.
There’s a few restaurants around here (Annapolis) that have made potatoes with your seafood bake an up charge.
Meanwhile, KD is switching from frozen premade fries to fresh cut fries (Excavator’s Taters).
I was never impressed with the fries themselves and thought they already were.
That MAYBE explains the poutine, horrible.
Okay, the poutine was nasty. But I liked the fries in general! So disappointing to hear that the restaurant is going downhill. Then again, I feel like Pretzels & Beer has been consistently good since they (sadly) raised their prices. I’d rather have very high prices and good food than high prices and not good food. I’m hoping the same change will happen to Les Frites.
I've been in food service most of my life, and these fries are far from being cooked properly (which is something not difficult to do right). And the chili is canned. Not worth the money in my humble opinion.
It’s still better than most of the other food offerings in the park though.
I find it to be the opposite. Usually this is the eatery in the park the husband and I go to the most. I really like the Irish Fries and he either gets the one with BBQ or gravy and poutine. I find the portion size to be good for BGW standards in regards to the price and most of the time the fries are fresh out of the fryer. Its a nice venue if you want a little more than a snack, but it isn't a big enough portion where it is a full meal.
Plus, it only takes 3-4 people to run. It surprises me the park doesn't open it during their special events like Mardi Gras, F&WF, and Halloscream. It would take some of the strain off the few restaurants that are open during these events. Plus it has a really good Jack and Coke slushie that I can't find elsewhere in the park.
Pretty brazen for them to have boxes of fresh potatoes, for the sign to say fresh cut fries, and then to be dropping bagged Sysco fries!
It's the little things like this that add up and is why we went with CF Platinum this year and kept our BGW passes just for that park. Dollywood gets our spring trip this year instead of BGT and Cedar Point gets the late-summer trip nod.
Le Frites was one of my must-stop spots in the park while my wife enjoyed Josephine's scoops. The former was rarely open for our (monthly) trips since COVID and the latter is apparently gone. I genuinely liked all of their fries (yes, even the poutine), but now I'm even more skeptical if the fries have changed, and the other dining options (we used to get the daily plan) are useless when the food lines are longer than the ride lines. Le Frites used to be an easy way to avoid some of the other locations since it's inclusion in the dining plan was only the base fries at one point in time IIRC. Combine this with the nosedive of the food in Festhaus, the nonexistence of Marco Polo's Marketplace, and Trappers food being markedly worse than before (I haven't seen them fire up the outside grills in years), and BGW culinary went from top of the charts to bottom..... quickly. Credit where due: F&W was still decent.
Let's not even get started on the other changes or lost value around the park....
Le Frites was one of my must-stop spots in the park while my wife enjoyed Josephine's scoops. The former was rarely open for our (monthly) trips since COVID and the latter is apparently gone. I genuinely liked all of their fries (yes, even the poutine), but now I'm even more skeptical if the fries have changed, and the other dining options (we used to get the daily plan) are useless when the food lines are longer than the ride lines. Le Frites used to be an easy way to avoid some of the other locations since it's inclusion in the dining plan was only the base fries at one point in time IIRC. Combine this with the nosedive of the food in Festhaus, the nonexistence of Marco Polo's Marketplace, and Trappers food being markedly worse than before (I haven't seen them fire up the outside grills in years), and BGW culinary went from top of the charts to bottom..... quickly. Credit where due: F&W was still decent.
Let's not even get started on the other changes or lost value around the park....
When we visited this past weekend we popped our head into the shop and it appeared that they moved back to the fresh cut fries. Please note, we did not order as we were heading to a show and the line was just a few people too deep. However, it appeared to be fresh cut fries again. Hoping we observed right.
Could the precut fries (if they did indeed switch back to fresh cut fries) been because they couldn’t get a supply of fresh potatoes to use?
Good chance. There’s a potato shortage this year:
Potato Shortage Anticipated for 2023 - ProAg
Potato growers may need to get creative in 2023 as the realities of a shortage hit the supply chain.
www.proag.com