London Midland Catering

Masboroughlad · 11 May 2011

Which company provides the catering trolleys on LM's Birmingham to Liverpool and Birmingham to London services? Or is it an in-house provision?

Any details of providers and contact details much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

RailUK Forums

class57basher · 11 May 2011

Masboroughlad said:
Which company provides the catering trolleys on LM's Birmingham to Liverpool and Birmingham to London services? Or is it an in-house provision?

Any details of providers and contact details much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

No doubt rail gourmet as they mostly do trolley services on everyother train e.g. fgw, swt.

First class · 11 May 2011

class57basher said:
No doubt rail gourmet as they mostly do trolley services on everyother train e.g. fgw, swt.

Indeed it is the famous Rail Gourmet. Hit and miss whether they actually turn up though! If a 350/2 appeared on a BHM-LIV service I doubt the trolley could get through.

Rail Gourmet
169 Euston Road
London
NW1 2AE

premier01 · 11 May 2011

First class said:
Indeed it is the famous Rail Gourmet. Hit and miss whether they actually turn up though! If a 350/2 appeared on a BHM-LIV service I doubt the trolley could get through.

Rail Gourmet
169 Euston Road
London
NW1 2AE

I have never seen catering service on LM-so is there a complimentary service for 1st class then-cause there's not much other benefit in there from what I have experienced except perhaps of a seat!

Urban Gateline · 11 May 2011

premier01 said:
I have never seen catering service on LM-so is there a complimentary service for 1st class then-cause there's not much other benefit in there from what I have experienced except perhaps of a seat!

Ditto with SWT, their first class only has slightly bigger seats, tables and power points, food all costs extra from Rail Gourmet!

Pumbaa · 11 May 2011

http://www.londonmidland.com/your-journey/onboard-catering/

Yes, some complimentary stuff in FC.

I don't think it is RG, the contract changed sometime last year. The 'new' prices were cheaper, and though the staff remained the same they seemed a little cheerier. The ID passes also changed; they were LM issued passes rather than RG issued passes.

The uniform is now black suit with gold necktie, which isn't RG uniform either.

asylumxl · 11 May 2011

Rail Gourmet is a strange one. The TOC can't do anything if the RG staff member does not turn up, and as far as I know RG doesn't do anything either.

Why RG would not want to make extra revenue I do not know.

First class · 11 May 2011

Pretty certain it is Rail Gourmet. I suppose perhaps London Midland could "subsidise" the trolley hence price differences...

Just because they don't wear the RG uniform doesn't mean they're not employed by them.

(G4S wear Northern Rail uniform)

WestCoast · 11 May 2011

First class said:
Just because they don't wear the RG uniform doesn't mean they're not employed by them.

Yes, I am pretty certain it's rail gourmet. On TPE, the catering staff where a "first" style uniform similar to the conductors but if you look at the uniform, it says Rail Gourmet on the waistcoat. The catering staff on LM wear a London Midland style uniform too..

I know that Virgin Trains and East Coast employ their own catering staff, do FGW (on the HSTs) and XC do the same?

First class said:
(G4S wear Northern Rail uniform)

They only started doing that last month though :lol:

. It was their own uniform for many years before...

DXC · 11 May 2011

XC have their own caterers, also run a few service centres @ RDG, BHM and other locations now

pemma · 11 May 2011

First class said:
If a 350/2 appeared on a BHM-LIV service I doubt the trolley could get through.

Someone reported on another thread a while back that when a trolley does appear on a 350/2 that they will only serve hot drinks to FC passengers for 'safety reasons.'

DarloRich · 11 May 2011

First class said:
Indeed it is the famous Rail Gourmet. Hit and miss whether they actually turn up though! If a 350/2 appeared on a BHM-LIV service I doubt the trolley could get through.

Rail Gourmet
169 Euston Road
London
NW1 2AE

had on once on a weekend - never at any other time! it came as a shock when i saw one! didnt know LM offered refreshments!

mike1990 · 11 May 2011

asylumxl said:
Rail Gourmet is a strange one. The TOC can't do anything if the RG staff member does not turn up, and as far as I know RG doesn't do anything either.

Why RG would not want to make extra revenue I do not know.

Not true (for the route I work on). They get fined by the TOC if a train that is supposed to go out with a trolley on is missed. The management at my depot do care about getting 100% coverage and many of the staff are willing to help to achieve this (and poor attendance without good reason is not tolerated). But unfortunately sometimes due to staff shortages/sickness or a combination of the two then 100% coverage is not always possible.

Mojo · 11 May 2011

It isn't Rail Gourmet.

The trolley services on London Midland (and on XCs 170 routes) are contracted to a company called The Facilities Partner, who also provide the staff.

http://www.thefacilitiespartner.co.uk/

TEW · 11 May 2011

WestCoast said:
I know that Virgin Trains and East Coast employ their own catering staff, do FGW (on the HSTs) and XC do the same?

FGW use their own catering staff on HSTs. They use Rail Gourmet on unit service in the Thames Valley and Bristol areas. They still wear FGW uniforms though.

lm321412 · 11 May 2011

DXC said:
XC have their own caterers, also run a few service centres @ RDG, BHM and other locations now

XC use rail gourmet for Turbostar services though.

With Voyager or HST services, they have their own in-house catering.

A company that has recently gone rail gourmet, is EMT on their London St Pancras services, was some nice little price cards at tables on the last HST I was last on!

transportphoto · 11 May 2011

lm321412 said:
XC use rail gourmet for Turbostar services though.

As Mojo had said in a Previous post to yours XC use The Facilities Partner on their Turbo (170) operated routes - I find the staff I have seen very nice and helpful.

As said (at time of posting) on this page http://www.thefacilitiespartner.co.uk/news.html they operate on LM as-well.
Images on their site show this too.

Mojo's post:

Mojo said:
It isn't Rail Gourmet.

The trolley services on London Midland (and on XCs 170 routes) are contracted to a company called The Facilities Partner, who also provide the staff.

http://www.thefacilitiespartner.co.uk/

Mr Spock · 11 May 2011

jcollins said:
Someone reported on another thread a while back that when a trolley does appear on a 350/2 that they will only serve hot drinks to FC passengers for 'safety reasons.'

It was true some time back as the server was supposed to put the drink down on a "table" and only first class on a 350/2 has a table or pull down flap but have noticed for some time that they will serve hot drinks to anyone now.

The service seems to have improved a great deal recently as nearly every Crewe-London sevice now has a trolley (used to be 2 in each direction) and even saw one for the first time last week on a service from Rugby-Brum.

London Midland Catering

Masboroughlad

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