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Aramark debuts localized menu items for NFL seasonAramark debuts localized menu items for NFL season

The on-site foodservice company is featuring local variations on classics at 11 professional football stadiums

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

September 6, 2012

4 Min Read
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Bret Thorn

Aramark is working with local flavors and hometown chefs this fall at the nine professional football stadiums where it provides foodservice to offer new items that will resonate with customers in each market.

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Aramark rolls out locally inspired stadium eats

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Many of the company's new items are localized variations of ballpark classics, ranging from hot dogs to nachos and sandwiches.

“Our chefs spent the last off-season working really hard trying what they can to enhance fans’ game experience,” said Chris Culver, vice president of culinary at Philadelphia-based Aramark.

At Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, Aramark is offering Italian nachos with sausage Bolognese, mozzarella cheese sauce, house-made ricotta and jalapeños. At M&T Bank Stadium, the Baltimore Ravens’ home field, the nachos are topped with crab dip, jack cheese, tomatoes and scallions.

Other nacho variations include:

Triple meat nachos with chili, pulled chicken, chopped brisket, nacho cheese sauce, pico de gallo, sour cream and guacamole at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Barbecue pork nachos with pulled pork, cheesy corn, pit-smoked beans, pickles, red onions and Heinz Field signature barbecue sauce at the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Chicken Florentine nachos with chicken artichoke Florentine sauce and Parmesan cheese at Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Buffalo chicken nachos with buffalo chicken, cheese sauce, blue cheese crumbles, celery and blue cheese dressing at Reliant Stadium, home of the Houston Texans.

Aramark has also created localized versions of sandwiches:

The Allegheny Burger at Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, is topped with shaved kielbasa, Cheddar, ketchup, caramelized onions, sauerkraut aïoli and a fried pierogi.
Pass Interference, a play on a local roast pork sandwich traditionally made with sharp provolone and broccoli raab, will be served at Lincoln Financial Field. Aramark’s version is made with arugula, fontina cheese and garlic jus on a seeded Italian roll.
Chicken flatbread, made with sundried tomato pesto, marinated tomatoes, apples, bacon and butter lettuce, is debuting at M&T Bank Stadium.
The Who Dey Melt, which is a grilled cheese sandwich with the option of adding bacon, macaroni and cheese, or both, will be available at Paul Brown Stadium.

Aramark has given the classic hot dog a makeover and is offering it in the following formats:

The Long Bomb Bratwurst at O.co Coliseum, home of the Oakland Raiders, is a one-pound, 20-inch seasoned pork sausage with onion-bacon jam and brown-mustard mayonnaise sauce, served on a grilled sourdough baguette.
The Arrowhead Dog at Arrowhead stadium is topped with bacon, diced red onion and blue cheese crumbles.
The Silver Star Local artisan Cheddar & jalapeño bratwurst at Heinz Field has caramelized onions and peppers with stadium mustard.
Local favorites in Minnesota, Sheboygan bratwurst and hot dogs, will be offered at Mall of America Field, home of the Vikings.
The Slider hot dog trio at Reliant Stadium includes three mini hot dogs with a choice of 20 different topping options, including crispy Spam hash.

“It’s not something we’d do in every market, but it’s a big hit in Houston,” Culver said of the Spam hash.

Additionally, in Cleveland, Aramark has teamed up with the Browns to launch the Cleveland Browns Hospitality Group, offering special menus for club and luxury suite levels at the stadium, including menu items from local celebrity chefs Michael Symon, Rocco Whalen and Jonathon Sawyer. Among the items are Sawyer’s Devils on Horseback — bacon-wrapped dates with roasted Fresno peppers, bittersweet chocolate and almonds — which are available for $120 for a party of 12. Symon’s brisket chili, with peppers, tomatoes, aged Cheddar and sour cream, is $150 for a party of 12, the same price as Rocco’s Meatball Bar, featuring his signature Mamma Rosie’s meatball’s, Rocco’s mozzarella meatballs, and chicken basil-roasted garlic meatballs.

Culver said the menu items were developed during the off-season and tested by guests during special events. “We were talking about these really as the playoffs were going on last year,” he said. “We tried to seek feedback at every opportunity.”

Culver said the items would likely be adjusted over the course of the season, and very successful items might be expanded to different markets.

Editor's note: This story updates the number of stadiums for which Aramark provides foodservice.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 29, 2013 An earlier version of this article has been updated to include the correct spelling of Jonathon Sawyer’s name.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality.

Hi is responsible for spotting and reporting on F&B trends across the country for both publications. 

He is the co-host of a podcast, Menu Talk with Pat and Bret, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities, and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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