Rubbish? Or just "not free" ?
IMHO I preferred the GNER way of doing things. If you wanted a meal, you had to pay for it. But what you got was excellent / restaurant quality and far better than the freebies / airline style food you get today. How many people eating on evening trains out of London really want the meal rather than just having it "because it's there"
First class isn't just about "how much "free stuff" can you get. It's also about, usually, a more pleasant ambience for one thing and more space to work etc if you need to.
I knew people's perceptions of first class would change once EC introduced complimentary catering in 2011 now, like on a plane (or on some airlines in economy) in business class, you'd be shocked having to buy anything in first class on an east coast train.
I personally would go the GNER route (I enjoy dining on trains), although for a complimentary offering East Coast got it mostly right, VTEC improved on it in some ways and now with crewing cutbacks has made it worse. It's now seemingly the case that some choose first class primarily to get food.
What East Coast got right:
- Evening meal services where there's still a decent quality chef prepared option
- Serving everything on a plate on a weekday (even sandwiches), west coast serve a lot of things in packaging which doesn't feel first class.
- Menu rotations (was 4, now 2 since James Martin) adding a bit of variety
What East Coast got wrong (and VTEC fixed):
- They had cut down menus such as mid-morning and afternoon tea, VTEC changed it so you (in theory) could get hot food from the first to the last train.
- They made the breakfast identical regardless of whether there was a chef on board or it was a reheated by crew breakfast (no fried egg), VTEC reintroduced the fried egg on services with a chef on board)
What VTEC got wrong:
- Handing out sandwiches on boxes on all services (feels less premium, raises concerns they're going VTWC route)
- Staff cutbacks making catering provision unreliable. If you can't depend on food being available on a long trip you have to consider bringing your own.
I think weekend first style service should be abolished. Most of the menu can be delivered without a chef, so the only difference between weekday and weekend should be the lack of the chef prepared options (the evening meal menu and the fried egg variant of the breakfast).
Just thinking about VTEC services without a trolley VTWC rarely have trolleys !
Let's not sink to the levels of the west coast! GNER believed that it was important to offer both. Some people (me!) prefer to be able to just get up when they want and choose from a decent selection. Some prefer to wait and be served at-seat. Others (e.g. disabled) may not be able to physically get to the buffet and some lone travellers worry about leaving their possessions unattended to go the the buffet.
There's advantages of both forms of catering and until the ability to order in-app is up and running AND reliable then trolleys should stay. Although even when the app is there some member of the team should take orders to ensure those without access to the app don't miss out.
