Running the Clubhouse Fridge on Tournament Day

Tournament day is when the clubhouse takes more in six hours than in the rest of the month. It is also the day the fridge runs out, the queue reaches the door, and the volunteer on the kiosk misses their own child's final.

Most of that is avoidable with a bit of planning the week before.

Stock for twice what you think

A normal Saturday is a poor guide. Visiting teams bring parents, siblings and grandparents, and they all get thirsty at the same time. Look at what a normal weekend sold and plan for at least twice that, with extra water and sports drinks if the weather is warm.

Restock in two rounds rather than one. Fill the fridge in the morning, keep the rest in crates somewhere cool, and top up at lunchtime. A fridge packed to the door will not cool what goes in at nine in time for eleven.

Split the cold drinks from the kiosk

The kiosk on tournament day does things that need a person: coffee, toast, hot dogs, the cake a parent baked. The fridge does not. Let the fridge sell itself, with a QR code on the door, and keep the person behind the counter for the things that need hands.

The queue halves. The parent who only wanted a water does not stand behind the one ordering four toasties, and the volunteer is not making change while the toaster burns.

Put the code where people will see it

On a normal training night everyone knows how the fridge works. On tournament day half the people in the clubhouse have never been there before. Put the QR poster on the fridge door, a second one by the kiosk, and one at the entrance with a single line: "Cold drinks: scan the code on the fridge and pay with MobilePay".

Decide who restocks, and when

"Whoever notices" means nobody, because everyone is watching a match. Pick one name and two times, say twelve and two o'clock. When the fridge records its own sales, that person can check the stock on their phone from the touchline and only walk over when something is actually low.

Count it the day after

The day after, count what is left and compare it with what was sold. Tournament day is when the gap between taken and paid is likeliest to open, because the clubhouse is at its fullest and least watched. If the numbers match, you know the setup holds at its busiest. If they do not, you know where to look.

With Bippa the fridge records every sale as it is paid, so the overview after the tournament shows what went, and the count tells you whether it all went out paid. See how sports clubs use it, or create your club before the next tournament.