Why no going out to lunch at convention??

Pistoff

I asked the wife today, at the district, what the reasoning was for asking the rank and file to stay in for lunch, and not purchase the lunch elsewhere. She stated that the reason was that some venues want the witnesses to purchase lunch from their concessions. Anyone else heard this?? Are there any places in the US where NY lets the r and f buy their lunch from concession stands that belong to the stadiums??

Lady Lee

Usually when anyone rents an arena or stadium part of the cost includes that all the concession stands in the areana are open and staffed by their own employees.

Supposedly to cut costs the WTS now rents the sites at a reduced rate provided that NO STANDS ARE OPEN. They don't want to pay to have them open and staffed by non-JWs and incur the extra expense of their salaries and the possiblity of having the JW go buy food DURING the sessions when they are supposed to be dining on the spiritual "feast".

So they made the deals and told the r&f no concessions - bring your own.

Well it isn't so easy when you come from another town and have a couple of kids, to haul enough food for a day and stow it discretely under your seat. So... many dubs were going outside to restaurants and street vendors to buy food.

Well you can imaigine the people who have the concession stands would start to wonder - if the dubs can go out on the street to buy food then why can't we be open and they buy from us. So it would stir up a lot of problems for the WTS, the site management and the concession folks.

Next step for the WTS was to tell the r&f not to go out to the street vendors or to local restaurants.

Yup nothing like lightening the load for the r&f - and all for a few $$$$ that the WTS doesn't really need.

IT Support

Because once they've left the stadium, there's a good probability they'll get distracted / diverted and won't bother to return.

Which would be shame for WTS, 'cos then these dear sheep would miss the privilege of expressing their 'appreciation' as they walked past the contribution boxes...

Regards,

Ken

NeonMadman

Supposedly to cut costs the WTS now rents the sites at a reduced rate provided that NO STANDS ARE OPEN. They don't want to pay to have them open and staffed by non-JWs and incur the extra expense of their salaries

But isn't the point of the stadium wanting to keep the concession stands open that the stadium will make money from the sales of refreshments? It seems to me that if the Society wanted to keep the concession stands shut down during the convention, they would have to pay a premium, not get a discount. Sure, there are salaries that the stadium has to pay to keep the stands open, but they wouldn't be doing so if the whole operation didn't result in a net profit.

Lady Lee

But isn't the point of the stadium wanting to keep the concession stands open that the stadium will make money from the sales of refreshments? It seems to me that if the Society wanted to keep the concession stands shut down during the convention, they would have to pay a premium, not get a discount. Sure, there are salaries that the stadium has to pay to keep the stands open, but they wouldn't be doing so if the whole operation didn't result in a net profit.

Hmmm thinking about that

Nope

Empty stadium = no staff but also = no income at all

Rented stadium at reduce rate + no staff/salaries/expenses = income

I think the stadium would be willing to go for some $$$ vs no $$$

Big Tex

LL that reasoning makes as much sense as anything. The only thing I could add is that it is another means of control. The Society is very much into control, and where (and what) people eat is another in a long list of things they control.

Cowboy

I've got to differ with you there, LL. I'd be willing to bet that the WT pays a premium to get venues without concessions.

I've never rented a stadium or other venue of that size, but I have been involved in renting smaller arenas many times, and they all come with their own concessions, and specifically do not allow anyone else to serve food on their site. And we've tried renting them without concessions - most won't do it at all, because they have a contract with someone to provide concessions for ALL events. If the venue violates this contract with their concession providers, they have to pay, therefore the event has to pay.

CB

TresHappy

Aren't most venues staffed by private catering services? They are here. At where I work, our catering service has "exclusive" right to catering on our campus. That means if you have an event here and have food, you have to use our catering service. It's all legality crap!

Lady Lee

I could be wrong but have to agree with TresHappy. The catering services usually do have the exclusive contract. The only way to not pay the extra would be to insist that no food will be served.

I have a call in to the facilities here in Winnipeg. I will let you know what I find out

Elsewhere

The real reason is that they noticed that when people left the convention, they tended to no come back.

Why no going out to lunch at convention??

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