CHICAGO Sportservice division of Buffalo, N.Y.-based Delaware North Cos. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
“It’s a great trend—we embrace it a lot,” Mark Angeles, executive chef at Chicago’s Soldier Field, told his peers during a panel discussion that closed Delaware North’s first Food, Beverage & Catering Summit held here recently. “We have 22 separate interactive areas with chefs.” —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
Preparing food to order in front of customers encourages interaction between chefs and patrons and results in little product waste from leftovers, which typically occurs when food is prepared ahead of time and held on buffet tables, panelists said. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
Angeles said he is working to get approval for portable cooking stations in the suites at Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears NFL team. He also has introduced ice cream sundae stations in the suites and expects they will increase sales. He still uses dessert carts but is including some less-common dessert items on them. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
Panel moderator Richard Dobransky, Delaware North’s vice president of food and beverage, asked panelists if more interactivity was possible in sports concession areas. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
Tab Daulton, executive chef at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, N.Y., said he is working to introduce interactivity, especially for hockey and baseball games. Rolf Baumann, corporate chef for Sportservice/Well Bread, reported that he recently observed more interactivity at stadiums in Europe than in the United States. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
“Here, we are becoming more sophisticated,” Baumann said, adding that he would like to borrow some ideas from Europe’s more personal approach of customer interaction. “People like to be in control, and you can charge more.” —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
Daulton offers some new items at his arena and has changed the menus considerably over the past eight years. He tries to educate the waitstaff about them so that they in turn will sell them to customers. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
In spite of the changes, the top three sellers at HSBC Arena continue to be hot dogs, chicken tenders and nachos, he said. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
Some new items are selling pretty well at stadiums, however, panelists said, including chicken sliders in St. Louis, fish sopaipillas in San Diego and fried cookie dough in Cincinnati. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
“Anything small that’s one bite—people love it,” Baumann said. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
Roland Henin, Delaware North corporate executive chef and chief culinary ambassador for global hospitality operations, cited some dishes served at the San Diego Padres’ Petco Park as those “we should do more of,” such as vegetarian stir-fries, Mediterranean items incorporating grains, and sustainable and underutilized fish. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
“Vegetarian items have lower food costs, too,” Dobransky added. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
More customers are asking where various foods come from, Henin said. Although there is more demand for organic, sustainable and locally grown foods, he said less than 10 percent of the 80 percent of total products that Delaware North buys through its contracted distributor are organic, and only 10 percent to 15 percent are from sustainable sources. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
“We’re a global company; it’s very difficult to change guidelines,” Henin said. “We can’t buy from the back-door person or farmers markets.” —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
If using more organic and sustainable products becomes mandated, chefs will have to push their distributors to be more responsive, he said. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
Removal of artery-clogging trans fats from foods is also “a can of worms,” Henin said. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
“They are in just about everything,” he said. “Anything processed or hydrolyzed has been subjected to trans fats—they’re very difficult to eliminate.” —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
Since deep-fried foods are the most visible to customers, Delaware North has eliminated about 89 percent of trans fats from frying oils in its national parks division, Henin said. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
“The next step is eliminating them in products that come to us that are blanched in trans-fat oil. To eliminate it totally, we would need to prepare everything ourselves,” he said. He pointed out that doing so is not possible because there is not enough staff, space or equipment. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
“It’s our job to push our manufacturers,” Dobransky said. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
Also during the conference, the company’s executive chefs, food and beverage directors and catering sales managers heard guest speakers Richard Melman, chairman and founder of Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, and his colleague John Buchanan, senior vice president, speak about the growing importance of catering in their restaurants. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
Melman said his company backed into catering after customers began asking if his restaurant chefs would cater parties in their homes. He ruled out that idea but began doing on-premise parties in the restaurants. Now, almost all LEYE restaurants include private-party rooms. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
Attendees of the Delaware North summit also competed in a catering competition and toured a group of local restaurants as well as the suites and concessions operations at Soldier Field. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
Privately held Delaware North, a global contract management firm, has annual revenues in excess of $1.6 billion. Its Sportservice division manages foodservice at more than 50 ballparks, arenas and stadiums in the United States and Canada. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the
Upcoming Delaware North conferences include the Parks & Resorts F&B Summit-Fine Dining and Restaurants, to be held the last week of November at Yosemite National Park, and the Concessions Summit, to be held in December in Chicago. —Interactive cooking, long a staple in on-site accounts at colleges, universities and businesses, is gaining traction at sports venues serviced by the