Ballpark contractors unveil new battery of food items

Nation's Restaurant News, April 2, 1990 by Alan Liddle

Ballpark contractors unveil new battery of food items

Exclusive hand-made microbrewery beers, no-alcohol beers and carry-out salads and desserts for fans sitting in the bleachers are a few of the new menu items expected to show up at major league baseball facilities this year, contract feeders say.

According to company officials, Ogden Allied Entertainment Services of New York is trying to make its most popular items at the Seattle Kingdome more appealing by lowering prices.

"We're reducing prices on core items, including soft drinks, hot dogs and beer. The new Seattle Mariners' owner is anxious for an exciting new feeling in the Kingdome, and all of us are trying to be partners in that new atmosphere," Roger Hoen, Ogden's Kingdome general manager, says.

The Kingdome's standard hot dog will drop from $1.75 to $1.50, and soft drinks will also come down slightly.

"We want to make it [pricing] so that if you come to the Kingdome, you can get a hot dog and a soft drink for $3," Hoen says. "Of course, when you reduce prices, something will happen. We're betting on some [gains in] attendance."

With an average attendance level of just 16,030 people per game in 1989, the fourth lowest average in professional baseball, Hoen and the new owner of the Mariners can't be faulted for looking for ways to increase the number of tickets sold.

Hoen is also adding Northwest microbrewery-made beers at the Kingdome as part of a strategy calling for battling declining beer sales by selling customers on higher-priced hand-made beers.

Babyback ribs, chicken, french fries and corn dogs are going to be added to the outdoor barbecue station just outside the Kingdome, he notes.

In another new development, Hoen points out, "This year you'll be able to buy a beverage, order your pizza and sit down and we'll bring it to your seat."

Such a service "just sounds like the next step" in stadium feeding, he indicates. "Besides, I think that people who don't want to order a single wedge or stand in line, waiting for a whole pizza, will appreciate getting their pizza delivered right out of the oven."

The Sports Service division of Delaware North Cos. is developing a new pizza format at Busch Stadium in St. Louis with the help of segment leader Pizza Hut.

"We'll be offering a new pizza product that is more easily vended, a French-bread type of product that is easier to keep, doesn't break up and stays warmer," Michael F. Thompson, president of the Delaware North Foodservice Group, explains. "If it [the test] goes well, we'll become a Pizza Hut franchisee and open more."

Sports Service will sell two sizes of carry-out chefs salads at Milwaukee County Stadium this year and might also introduce them at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. He said the small chefs salad will be priced at about $2.25 and the larger version at about $3.25.

Hoen says carry-out salads will also be available at the Kingdome for about $3, as will a dessert made of angel food cake, fresh strawberries and whipped cream, which will sell for $3.50.

Thompson says his company will make one of the new name-brand no-alcohol beers, such as O'Doul's by Coors or Sharp's by Miller, available in bottles at all five of the stadiums where it manages foodservice.

Volume Services, a division of Chicago-based Canteen Corp., will also be offering no-alcohol beers at the Oakland Coliseum, division president Carmen Torzon says.

According to Torzon, Volume Services is also adding chicken fajitas, a broiled chicken sandwich and a "New York-type" steak sandwich to the menu at the Coliseum, where the company recently revamped the look of all of its concessions stands.

At the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Torzon reports, Volume Services is adding a meatball sandwich this year and has installed point-of-sales registers at nearly all concessions stands.

The new P.O.S. registers not only put the customer at ease by showing him what his change should be but also reduce transaction times.

"Percentagewise, we think we are getting about 35 percent quicker service" when an experienced and trained employee uses the P.O.S. system, Torzon indicates.

Torzon also notes that both the Oakland Coliseum and the Metrodome will see an increasing number of "express stands," or food or beverage counters selling a limited-product line in a restricted range of sizes to reduce customer transaction times and increase the sales per stand.

Jamie Herskowitz, vice president of operations at Yankee Stadium, another Volume Services account, says carry-out salads will also be tried there, as will a revamped line of Mexican foods. Herskowitz indicates that the company has tried Mexican dishes in the past with less than impressive results, but he adds, "I'm seeing more Mexican dishes in bars and restaurants, so maybe it is picking up in this area."

The Mexican product line will feature tacos, burritos, nachos and taco salads, Herskowitz says.

Gone from the Yankee Stadium food scene after two years, Herskowitz says, is the raw bar. He says trying to shuck shellfish to order in a ballpark was a nearly impossible task. "And you don't want to open clams ahead of time."