Peanuts and Cracker Jack are still on the menu at the nation's baseball
stadiums, but as America's favorite pastime moves into an era of luxury-box
ballparks, the offerings at concession stands and clubhouse restaurants have
become more eclectic - and often decidedly upscale.
This year, ballpark contract feeders are updating century-old classics and
putting new dishes on the roster. The hot dog still reigns supreme, but
nachos have chased popcorn to the minors, pizzas are hot pinch hitters, and
signature sausages look like a home run in 1996. To keep their batting
averages high, ballpark foodservice managers from San Diego to Boston
are learning the new rules of the game.
Pitching a new lineup
Ballpark business has changed quite a bit since Patrick Redden started
working at Chicago's Comiskey Park in 1959. Now at his second ballpark
with the Chicago White Sox, Redden, the foodservice general manager for
Buffalo, New York-based Sportservice Corp., says he has seen a lot of
changes in the game - the foodservice game, that is.
Forget that hot dogs cost 25 cents and beer 35 cents during his first season.
The biggest change Redden has seen is in menu items. "We've gone from
selling hot dogs and beers. . . to selling chicken sandwiches and Caesar
salad," he says. "And we sell more items than I ever imagined possible.
Today, we sell bottled water. At one time, I wouldn't have thought you
could give away bottled water."
A big part of Comiskey's menu expansion can be traced to 1991, when the
new Comiskey Park replaced the aging 80-year-old stadium. "The old
Comiskey was 1910 vintage," says Charlie Henningsen, who closed
Sportservice's operations at the old stadium in Chicago and opened up the
new Comiskey Park. "In those [old] ballparks, you were restricted by the
amount of basic utilities - electricity and gas - available to support modern
foodservice concepts. Equipment has come a long way. Most of the old
ballparks can't support the necessary physical plant."
Henningsen, now foodservice general manager for Sportservice operations
at Cleveland's Jacobs Field, points to that facility as an example of what the
new parks can do. The old ballpark offered fewer than 30 items at the
concession stands. This year, Sportservice offers 87 items on Cleveland's
concession menu. "Today," says Henningsen, "we have a bakery that sells
cookies and brownies and cinnamon rolls. We have pizza stands that offer
fresh-dough pizza. We offer barbecued ribs and Caesar salad. Basically,
ballpark fare has changed from night to day."
Playing in a different league
Although new stadiums have had a big impact on the definition of ballpark
food, a new philosophy and more demanding fans are also helping to
rewrite the rules of the game. Years ago, ballpark food was seen more as
part of the sport than as part of the foodservice industry. But today, with
new amenity-laden facilities, more women and families in the stands, and
higher-priced tickets, ballpark feeders have found themselves playing in a
different league.
"The fan has really changed," says Kenneth Smith, concession manager for
ARAMARK operations at Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets.
"They're more educated about what kind of food they want. And they're
more brand conscious. When I started 24 years ago, they just wanted a
beer. Now they want a specific kind of beer."
"Guests have become more demanding about what they look for when they
eat out," says Henningsen. "And the addition of more women into the
audience has really changed things. You used to be able to hand a guy a hot
dog and he would be satisfied."
Michael Thompson, president of Sportservice, says, "The changes in the fan
have really impacted our business more than anything else. Today's fan is
clearly more demanding and clearly more critical than ever before. And the
new ballparks have brought more women and families to the games, which
has really affected our offerings."
Beyond attracting a more demanding fan to the ballparks, the new stadiums
attract businesses to the surrounding areas. Some of those businesses are
restaurants, and that creates competition that was never there before. "Ten
years ago," says Henningsen, "we didn't look at outside restaurants as
competition. Today, we do."
To compete at this level, contract feeders had to start looking at their
operations as critically as any independent restaurateur. And while the
volume and the movement of the product might be different in a ballpark
than in a 40-seat restaurant, there are many similarities.
"We deal with all the factors that any restaurant deals with," says Tim
Lawler, a regional vice president for ARAMARK based at Coors Field in
Denver. "This is still foodservice, and the name of the game is taking care of
the guest who comes to your place of business."
Henningsen concurs. "As far as menu selection and recipes, this is the same
as any foodservice business. We have a chef and kitchen staff that is
attuned to the local marketplace, and we work to develop a local menu.
We've also gotten away from the old mentality of having a captive audience.
We don't treat people as fans anymore. We treat them as guests."
Calling the plays
To take care of those "guests," new stadiums have culinary staffs -
something absent from the older stadiums. At Coors Field, an eight-person
culinary staff is responsible for menu development, recipe development and
operation of 36 permanent concession stands, five vending commissaries,
five club-level concession stands and two kitchens that service in-seat
waitservice dining. Their biggest challenge is keeping both the traditionalists
and the nontraditionalists happy. On opening day, in addition to serving up
35,000 hot dogs and sausages, ARAMARK also served up 500 orders of
Rocky Mountain Oysters (deep-fried bulls' testicles).
At The Ballpark in Arlington, two chefs head up a culinary team responsible
for foodservice at 52 concession stands, 20 to 36 portable concession
carts, 118 corporate suites, three picnic areas, Casey's Corner Pub and the
Diamond Club, a private restaurant for season-ticket holders.
Beyond the traditional fare, Rangers fans at The Ballpark can order
authentic Texas barbecue, chicken-fried steak sandwiches or chicken
fajitas. At the Diamond Club, lunch guests dine on "Spinach Salad With
Shiitake Mushrooms and Sweet Cider Vinaigrette" and "Cured Ham on
Walnut Bread." The dinner lineup features "Grilled Swordfish With Fennel
and Leek Compote" and an "Achiote-Basted Veal Chop."
All-American eats
Even with the addition of new menu items and new foodservice venues in
ballparks, some things will never change. Baseball is a game of tradition,
and that extends to the food.
At Jacobs Field, Henningsen says traditional fare still outsells nontraditional
items two-to-one. At Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, home to the Florida
Marlins, 80 percent of the sales are still from traditional food products. And
at Comiskey Park, after 37 years in the business, Patrick Redden can say
definitively that some food items will always be popular.
"We still sell one hot dog to every three people that come to the ballpark,"
Redden says. "Beer, you sell 1.1 to almost every person that comes here.
And it's almost always the same, every year. Peanuts in the shell are still
popular. And if you took them out of the shell, they wouldn't be as popular.
The reason people like nuts in the shell is because it's something to do while
you're watching the game - and that'll never change."
Major-League Menus
Foodservice at today's Major League Baseball stadiums is a hit with fans who can dine on a lineup that
includes such untraditional ballpark fare as sea scallops and fettucine Alfredo.
Restaurants USA, September 1996
By David Belman
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