Thanks Red Hatter, good to know all that background. I didn't doubt for one second the right messages weren't being passed on from your side.
If I can offer up the slightest defence... Hospitality and working with temporary (most likely zero hour) staff are notoriously tricky beasts. I'd assume most of the staff employed make £20-£40 if that for a match day. The amount of no-shows they must get will no doubt be very high e.g. someone with a hangover from the night before.
I would also assume that CGC prioritise the Corporate service, given the income to the club and protect that experience.
None of this is ideal, but my point is that us taking all of that in is a massive undertaking. Using a third party gets you over so many recruitment and employment law problems that you'd be inheriting if you were to go alone.
I'll take Fylde as the example (assuming their catering is in house), their offering/quality of catering was on another level to ours. However, exactly the same problem, they had limited staff and outlets and it took forever to get served. They would have been in no doubt of the numbers attending that game.