Geelong’s The Hill Winery’s first ever A Day On The Green has been tainted by terrible service, including a two-hour wait for drinks in Saturday’s 30-degree heat, reports the Geelong Advertiser.
Close to 7,000 punters had paid between $90 and $150 to see Hoodoo Gurus, The Angels, Ross Wilson, Dragon, and Boom Crash Opera as part of the iconic concert series’ 12th season. However, many spent entire sets waiting in monstrously long queues for overpriced warm beer and wine.
A Day On The Green’s Facebook page has been flooded with angry messages from dissatisfied customers who had their day ruined by poor management and lousy customer care. The complaints sparked an apology from ADOTG organisers on Sunday, although they failed to accept any real responsibility for how the day panned out.
“The Hill Winery and Peter Rowland catering were solely responsible for the operation of the bars at yesterday’s event. Please direct your complaint directly to The Hill Winery [email protected] . You will be responded to and your complaint heard,” their Facebook post read.
Promoter Michael Newton had allegedly raised concerns with Peter Rowland Catering and The Hill about the number of bars and staff prior to the event, but “they assured us that the bar service would be adequate, despite us requesting to have consultation and input.” At other venues such as Rochford Wines in the Yarra Valley and All Saints Estate in Rutherglen, A Day On The Green normally organise their own catering, but this time Peter Rowland Catering and The Hill were in charge.
“The Hill Winery and Peter Rowland catering were solely responsible for the operation of the bars at yesterday’s event.”Newton has also expressed worry that Saturday’s events will tarnish the reputation of the festival as a whole. “We’re shattered … they (Peter Rowland Catering and The Hill Winery) were caught out and not prepared,” he said.
General manager of The Hill Winery, Matthew Browne, has openly acknowledged that the venue was at fault, admitting yesterday “There is no hiding from this. We’re all terribly hurt by what happened and have to be accountable.”
An otherwise respected event, organisers and patrons alike are hoping for a much more successful day on March 16th when Neil Young with Crazy Horse perform at The Hill, in their first headline tour since 2003. Crowds are expected to reach 10,000.
In light of the recent events, Peter Rowland Catering chief executive Brett Walker has stated they they will have double the amount of outlets at the Neil Young-headlined event.
It’s a black mark against the company’s name, who run catering at large scale events like the Melbourne Cup and venues such as the National Gallery of Victoria, ACMI, The Melbourne Museum, and the recently acquired Sidney Myer Music Bowl. They issued a formal apology on their Facebook page yesterday, stating “we can’t undo what happened on Saturday, but we are already reviewing the resources required to provide a vastly improved service at subsequent concerts.”
This isn’t the first time that the combination of unpreparedness and heat have been disastrous for music festivals. The inaugural Harvest Festival in 2011 was plagued by enormous queues for drinks, food and crucially, toilets. Promoter AJ Maddah stepped up for round two last year, delivering a high-quality day of music as well as amenities. Here’s hoping that A Day On The Green can take a leaf out of Harvest’s book to repair some of the damage done.
