-
Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
Select Service Partner - Unfair Monopoly
- Thread starter markymark2000
- Start date
- Status
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
Just going to be pedantic because although the thrust of what you are saying is right, GateGourmet has its foundations in Swissair Catering - who for a good time owned RailGourmet - they were sister companies until 2001.
Bristol has a WH Smith that sells Marks and Spencer stuff.
Always found the station SSP Burger Kings a disappointment compared to any good high st ones.
Regardless of the name over the door, although I wonder how many people actually realise that on a station e.g. M&S is likely to be run by SSP not actually M&S, if pricing matched typical convenience stores then they may well gain the business of those living nearby, working nearby or just passing. Likewise for fast food outlets e.g. Burger King.
In London I have gone just outside Victoria or alighted at Baker Street rather than Marylebone to use a Burger King or MacDonalds. Also there is Tesco Express on Melcombe Street, another on Baker Street and a third on Lisson Grove.
In London I have gone just outside Victoria or alighted at Baker Street rather than Marylebone to use a Burger King or MacDonalds. Also there is Tesco Express on Melcombe Street, another on Baker Street and a third on Lisson Grove.
York Station has figured a lot in these discussions.
I see from the York Press that there is now going to be a Pret A Manger starting up there. As Pret are a franchise operation, is this really another SSP outlet?
www.yorkpress.co.uk
I see from the York Press that there is now going to be a Pret A Manger starting up there. As Pret are a franchise operation, is this really another SSP outlet?
Pret A Manger approved for York Station
YORK planners have approved a Pret A Manger at the railway station- the chain’s third branch in the city.
Such an agreement would be illegal so I'd be very surprised if that were the case. The brand can set a RRP and advertise it (thats why they say at participating restaurants) but cannot stop a franchisee setting their own prices or put any clauses relating to price in the franchise agreement.
Heathrow used to advertise (and enforce) High Street prices in many of the airside shops run by major chains. Boots - for example - were told that if their prices were higher on average than the prices in their outlet in Hounslow High Street, then their concession wouldn't be renewed at the end of it's term.
philosopher
Established Member
- Joined
- 23 Sep 2015
- Messages
- 1,351
I knew SSP owned a lot, for example Upper Crust and Pumpkins cafes, but I did not quite realise most Starbucks, Marks and Spencers, Burger Kings etc where owned by SSP.
The M&S and Starbucks I been to in stations still have typical M&S or Starbucks products and decor so even if the products in them are more expensive to the average customer they still feel very much like a M&S or Starbucks.
I used to partake of the occasional Upper Crust. But over the past year or so every time I've wandered over to the kiosk at Liverpool Street I've come away after deciding I'm not prepared to pay what they want and would rather arrive home hungry and eat there. Their prices are just ludicrous now.
That’s concessions / franchises for you. 90% of McDonalds in this country are not owned by McDonalds. Costa Coffe also has a lot of franchises.
The SSP customer feedback website can help identify their outlets. Type in the name of the station/airport/city/brand and it will drop down a list of their operations.
I don't know if it is completely up to date but it is a useful starting point.
I don't know if it is completely up to date but it is a useful starting point.
185143
Established Member
- Joined
- 3 Mar 2013
- Messages
- 4,518
Boots do seem to charge High Street prices in both stations and airports. Admittedly Boots isn't somewhere I'd go to on the High Street, but if the process are inflated, it cannot be by much. Last time I flew from Gatwick I got two bottles of water for around £2.
DorkingMain
Member
No real loss. Used to be nearly twice the price for a meal vs the McDonalds downstairs + the quality was often terrible.
Vespa
Established Member
That's interesting Liverpool Lime street has only 3 Starbucks, M&S simply food and Upper Crust.
Boots, Nero, WH Smith and Wetherspoon, Costa is not listed, they must be independents, in any case when passing through I would get a Costa from a machine outside the station unless I have a free cost reward on my app or use Wetherspoons, I very rarely buy anything else, never been in Upper Crust.
There used to be a Cornish Pasty stall which disappeared dont know if it is an SSP.
Do you have a source for that claim?
I just googled "can franchises set prices" and the top few UK results all agreed that franchises can't set fixed or minimum prices, but can set recommended and maximum prices.
Who controls the price of goods sold by the franchisee?
A franchisee controls the price of the goods it sells or the services it provides. Any attempt by a franchisor to set a minimum or fixed resale…
www.what-franchise.com
How franchisors can get a fix on price-fixing
Given price-fixing can result in fines in the millions and even prison sentences, it's important to make sure franchisors and franchisees understand their obligations
elitefranchisemagazine.co.uk
Resale price maintenance and franchising: latest updates - Stevens & Bolton LLP
Overview The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recently published an open letter to businesses warning of the risks in suppliers restricting their...
www.stevens-bolton.com
And certainly pratical experiance bears this out, with some brands tending to have relatively consistent prices even in high-cost locations like stations and airports and other brands having much higher prices in high cost locations than regular ones.
NoOnesFool
Member
- Joined
- 26 Aug 2018
- Messages
- 602
In what way are they "ripping off" passengers? They provide a decent service and a good range of quality products.
Gate Gourmet started out with the same parent company as Rail Gourmet, owned by Swissair.
Last edited:
Deafdoggie
Established Member
- Joined
- 29 Sep 2016
- Messages
- 3,088
Virtually all McDonald's are franchises and all charge the same prices. You can't run a McDonald's franchise and charge anything other than their prices. That's why more stations have a Burger King!
SSP are not a monopoly but do have a number of advantages:
The costs are almost certainly down to property costs as stations, especially large stations, are normally huge money earners due to footfall and rents reflect that - the most expensive drink at Starbucks only costs about 30p in product costs with the rest being people, property and overheads
- They are good at running franchises and brand owners want that
- They have scale which again is good for brand owners
- They have existing outlets which mean they don't have to factor in total fit out costs for a new brand and existing brand owners are unlikely to change
The costs are almost certainly down to property costs as stations, especially large stations, are normally huge money earners due to footfall and rents reflect that - the most expensive drink at Starbucks only costs about 30p in product costs with the rest being people, property and overheads
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
They do have a lot of their own brands - Ritazza, Pumpkin and Camden Food Company are three that immediately spring to mind.
185143
Established Member
- Joined
- 3 Mar 2013
- Messages
- 4,518
There is a slight regional variance with McDonald's. Some of the meals in Warrington are 10/20p cheaper than the same thing in Manchester, for example.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Interestingly Subway went the other way - originally prices were up to the franchisee and varied completely randomly from store to store, but now they appear to be 100% standardised, at least at High Street locations.
I'd not noticed variance in McD's, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did now allow variance, which would be why you now get them at motorway services when you never used to. (BK have always allowed variance).
D6130
Established Member
Since the (almost) completion of the Glasgow Queen Street rebuild, there are no fixed food outlets at all on the concourse....just a couple of portable barrow-type affairs. I wonder whether SSP will ever gain a foothold there again?
Whether or not it is unfair or not I would argue that it is somewhat deceptive, letting consumers believe there is meaningful competition operating, which is assumed to be in their interest as "consumer sovereigns".
In reality (as in so much of neoliberal life) this is all faux.
In reality (as in so much of neoliberal life) this is all faux.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
There are a couple of things I don't get about Queen Street's refurbishment. One of them is that almost nothing has been done to the platform areas, it's literally a new concourse, and it makes the platform areas look absolutely awful now. The other one is, as you say, that there is almost no retail included, which seems a bizarre missed opportunity for a station that has so many tourists using it. My fear would therefore be that because it's not been designed in from the start, we'll end up with Euston-style clutter instead.
Unsurprisingly Alex Hynes is in full bluster-mode about it, but having had a look myself it's nowhere near as good as it could have been. It still feels like a backwater - very similar to a nicer version of the rathole that is Manchester Victoria - with Central having very much the Hauptbahnhof feel despite actually having fewer long distance services.
The lack of retail is weird but perhaps more importantly unexpected and annoying.
swt_passenger
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 7 Apr 2010
- Messages
- 31,426
Upper Crust is another regular brand. But it’s just a blatant way of conning people into thinking there’s a selection of outlets, at a station such as Southampton with all 3 main brands they’re all supported by the same back of house prep areas, and the same staff appear in all three outlets. Surely the vast majority of passengers must already realise this?
61653 HTAFC
Veteran Member
Away from stations there's a lot of variation in offerings at Subway- the breakfasts offered at a Subway in Bradford (and the sole outlet in Dewsbury) are quite limited due to Islamic dietary restrictions. Whether this is at the behest of customers, staff, or franchise holders, I'm not sure.
The downside of Burger King allowing more variation is that if you haven't used that outlet before, you'll have no idea if it's any good or not. For all their faults, McDonald's is at least consistent (almost worryingly so).
D6130
Established Member
Maybe slightly OT, but the multiple-outlet franchising food & drink retailing system also applies to large stations in many other European countries too. In Italy, for example, the franchise for large and medium-sized stations is held by a company called Chef Express which, as well as operating the standard station buffets and sandwich bars, also operates the McDonalds and pizza outlets. However, as in this country, many smaller stations still have privately-owned buffet-bars which have entrances on both the rail side and town side of the station and are patronised by many locals....most of whom have no intention of ever catching a train. Despite its plethora of Chef Express outlets, Milano Centrale has an excellent 'Sourced Market' type shop/bar/restaurant opposite the high-numbered platforms, where you can buy or consume many high-quality local food & drink products from the Lombardia region. It's a great place to have a meal or a craft beer if you have time between changing trains.
- Status