By Ross Jeavons

Ross Jeavons speaks to the man behind the culinary deilghts of Adams Park.

The half-time pie has gone hand in hand with a trip to the football for as long as most can remember. However when tucking into the latest chicken and mushroom delicacy, most at Wycombe Wanderers won't realise the hunger shown by their club to make catering a tasty business for all concerned.

Just over a year ago John Farrington was the man put in charge of serving up a new and exciting catering system at Adams Park. He was appointed Food and Beverage manager, and since then has overseen a massive upturn in profits for the club.

Wanderers 'cuisine king' came to Adams Park with 15 years of relevant experience under his belt. Before joining the staff at Wycombe he obtained a degree in Hotel and Catering Management from Oxford Brookes University.

John has worked in similar roles in the education, restaurant and leisure industries but a chance to turn around the culinary scene at Wycombe Wanderers proved too hard to turn down.

In an emerging trend among the Wanderers backroom staff, Mr Farrington has also served time in the British Army.

Perhaps it's an explanation for the efficiency of Chairboys employees, with an armed forces education inspiring John's colleague Richard Stanford to success at Adams Park.

"I was in the Staffordshire Infantry Regiment as it was known then, and I went through the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst. I was lucky enough to serve in Germany during the late eighties, and was even there when the Berlin wall came down," he told wwfc.com.

"I enjoyed my time and have a lot of friends there, but I decided to come out of the army and do a vocational degree."

Although a Stoke City fan at heart, John does not see himself transferring to the Britannia Stadium anytime soon.

"Anyone who knows me knows of my major passion for the majority of sports. I wanted to be in an environment I enjoyed and that's what I have here. Wycombe pay my wages and I am happy here, the success of the team on the pitch has an impact on the way I work so I will always get behind the team!" he said.

Upon his arrival at Wycombe the catering departments have seen a huge increase in turnover compared to previous years.

"We were phenomenally successful last year, and made around £250,000 profit up on the previous season. It was a reward for all the hard work done by everyone in the department," John told us.

"It has been a team effort and the secret to success has been doing the simple things well, it's not rocket science. We just made lots of small changes."

Wanderers fans will have noticed a difference to the way food kiosks have been run on match days in the past year, compared to previous seasons.

"We changed tariff boards so they were correctly priced and easy to read, and we've tried to bring in a few different options; like sweets and chocolate for the kids. The queuing system has been improved, and we have taken lots of time to train our staff properly," said John.

It's not only on match days that Mr Farrington and his team have turned things around. Hard work has been put into improve the food and drinks system implemented in executive boxes and conference days, and the club are always looking at new and exciting dishes for the various functions that they hold.

John and his group wont be bathing in the glory of last season, and like Lambert's men on the pitch - they are looking to progress even more in the coming year.

Wycombe fans can look forward to improved service and, most importantly, some new and mouth watering pies.

"We will look to improve again, with better signage and speed of service," said John.

"We are also bringing in new and improved pies - they will be bigger and better quality. As I said before it is about keeping it simple, listening to the customers, and everything else will fall in to place."

It is destined to be another successful season for the catering team, and we at wwfc.com just hope the players on the pitch won't be too distracted by the appetizing smells wafting from the kiosks at kick-off!