NEW YORK New York City restaurateur Danny Meyer has formed a new division of his Union Square Hospitality Group to clone his hometown restaurant concepts in stadiums and sports arenas across the country. The Hudson Yards Sports & Entertainment operation will use USHG’s Blue Smoke casual barbecue concept and Shake Shack retro quick-service brand as the anchor operations, but the facilities will sport other USHG concepts as well, including some that have yet to be developed, Meyer told Nation’s Restaurant News. The company’s other holdings include Gramercy Tavern, Tabla, Eleven Madison Park, The Modern and its namesake Union Square Cafe.
Meyer indicated that the restaurants would likely be developed and operated in partnership with contracting companies.
The rollout of the sports division began this week with the announcement of USHG’s deal to open restaurants in partnership with contract-services giant Aramark Corp. at Citi Field, the stadium being built for the New York Mets baseball team. In addition to a Blue Smoke and a Shake Shack, the stadium will include a yet-to-be-named taqueria and Pop Fries, a stand specializing in Belgian-style French fries and dipping sauces.
“We think Citi Field is a great opportunity in which to parlay our love of sports and launch a new division, to see if we can raise the bar by trying to walk down a different path,” Meyer said.
Hudson Yards also will provide some of the foodservices for luxury suites and club seating at Citi Field, but Meyer emphasized that Aramark would be running the bulk of the foodservice and concessions operations.
“We don’t have the experience or competence to take on an entire stadium right now, nor do we have an interest in doing that,” he said.
“Hopefully we’ll build on the experience we get at Citi Field and, where ownership says we can, tap into Union Square’s specialties,” he continued. “This is the first [contract] and we hope we’ll be able to knock this one out of the park and build on this with other opportunities whether they’re in New York or elsewhere.”
