Welcome, Super Bowl LIV! Cooking for a Crowd
Super Bowl LIV is right around the corner. And if you're going to the game, food and drink and part of the fun.
From traditional concession foods like burgers, hot dogs and chicken fingers to sushi and barbecue and luxe offerings in the posh club level suites and VIP lounges, hospitality pros spend countless hours making sure everyone gets good food and drink before the next quarter starts.
Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens
Capacity 65,000+
The freshly renovated Hard Rock hosts the Miami Dolphins, the University of Miami Hurricanes and the Miami Open, big-time soccer matches and concerts by musical acts like the Rolling Stones. They hosted the 86th Orange Bowl on Dec. 30 and are now gearing up for Super Bowl LIV on Feb. 2.
It’s a big job for executive chef Dayanny De La Cruz and the Centerplate crew. Food operations vary from three-hour Dolphin games to the two-week-long Miami Open. Overseeing the food for the tennis tournament is more challenging than football, says De La Cruz. “The tennis crowd has higher expectations for lighter, healthier food. Because they arrive at 10am and stay late into the evening, variety and diversity of flavor proves paramount.”
She and her team work to reflect local tastes and flavors.
“We will always continue to build out our service offering to provide the most personalized live experience that is distinctly South Florida,” says De La Cruz. They source a bulk of their produce locally, including greens from Lady Moon in Punta Gorda, oranges from Lambeth Groves and avocados and mangos from M&M Farms. “We like to stay within 250 miles of the stadium to keep flavors fresh and authentic,” she says.
To accompany their handmade guacamole carts that travel through their suite level are watermelon and tomatillo salad, mojo pork belly chunks, rosemary steakhouse tenderloin, signature cubano sausage and seared yellowtail snapper. “In the general concourse areas, taco stands serve vegan tacos with a fried avocado topping,” she says. “It’s out of this world!”
Vegan and gluten-free options, including sweet treats like Earl Grey tea macarons, sweet plantains and raspberry almond tarts, are available in the club area. Local eateries like Mojo Donuts, Los Ranchos, Novecento, PINCHO, RA Sushi, Café Versailles, Chef Creole, Sushi Maki and Grown are all on site.
Centerplate works closely with Food Rescue Miami for unused meals after each event. “For the last 17 rescues, the average donation was 1,380 pounds, good for a total of 23,460 pounds of food diverted from the landfill and 19,550 meals delivered to the surrounding communities,” she says.
By the Numbers
At AmericanAirlines Arena, Bodega Taqueria & Tequila served more than 500,000 tacos last year. During a Panthers game at BB&T, fans buy more than 1,000 soft pretzels. At Hard Rock Stadium, there are more than 1,000 tap handles stadium-wide, many of which are local, making their beer portfolio one of the biggest in sports. Fans eat more than 3,000 hot dogs on average during a Marlins game.
AmericanAirlines Arena, Downtown Miami
Capacity: 21,000
There’s never a dull moment at the AAA, home of the Miami Heat and concerts by big-deal musical acts. Jarod Higgins, executive chef of the Arena and the Miami Heat, and his staff prepare breakfast, lunch, dinner, post-meal and private events for the teams and coaches, and run all the concession stands and VIP experiences including suites and club level.
“We’re proud of our local concession vendors and chef partnerships,” says Higgins. “We want to bring that restaurant experience into the arena. We’ve built small restaurants in the arena with local chefs from Bodega Taqueria y Tequila, Sergio’s Cuban Café and Grill, Miami Smokers BBQ, Mojo Donuts and – just brought in this season – Ms. Cheezious and Kuenko, a food truck serving poke bowls, bao and fried rice. We create their menu items closely following their recipes.”
Preparing the food are five sous chefs and 75 cooks who go through nearly 4,500 rib loins per season, almost 3,500 pounds of beef tenderloins and 61,000 pounds of chicken.
The concession environment is fast-paced. They need to get guests through the lines efficiently so they can get back to their seats. “Our average ticket time, getting them through the line, is four to six minutes,” says Higgins. “We don’t want them to be stalled. I like to send managers around the concourse to spot check that it’s running smoothly.”
There’s a wide array of dining choices. For their VIP experience, he’s worked with celebrity chefs like José Andrés and Geoffrey Zakarian to do takeovers in the high-end lounges. For health-conscious diners, a Fit Cart stocks fresh salads, veggie burgers and a carving station with fresh turkey.
Sustainability is also on the menu. Last year, they donated 6,000 pounds of leftover food to Camillus House and the Little Lighthouse Foundation. Shelter donations are properly packaged and chilled so they’re ready for pickup. They’re rolling out a program to compost all their vegetable scraps. All glass and plastic is recycled.
“We’ve been #1 in the NBA when it comes to fan experience four years in a row,” says Higgins. “We set that bar high and try to beat it every single year.” Something folks will have to get used to: the name of the arena is set to change in 2020.
BB&T Center, Sunrise
Capacity: 20,737
Before the Florida Panthers or Disney characters take the ice, Jarrett Seldin, director of hospitality and his staff, are ready to feed the masses. It takes close to 250 employees working the concessions, and maybe 50-100 more “based on who’s in town and how many bars we need open,” says Seldin. “We’ll roll out more portable bar locations for the big-name acts.”
For any big event venue, serving lots of people quickly and anticipating how much food they’ll need are always a challenge, he says. “For hockey games, fans come during the 17-minute intermissions.” Because they make their food in-house, sometimes there’s too much or too little of something. At Chicken Out, for example, “fans asked for chicken tenders, so we’re adding those to the menu and we’re re-imagining our concession called Brunch and converting it to a burger concept and introducing a veggie burger,” he says.
New at the BB&T are two grab-and-go locations, one each on the Upper and Plaza Levels, serving salads and sushi. The club concessions offer heartier fare, like jerk chicken as a meal or in a wrap, Jamaican beef dip sandwich and sausage, peppers and onion sandwiches. Local favorites include Cuban sandwiches in the Club Level and Cuban sliders on the Suite level and brews from The Tank, Concrete Beach and Funky Buddha. Among new items on their Sin Bin restaurant menu are vegetarian dishes like stuffed portobello mushrooms and grilled marinated vegetables; plus potstickers, stuffed pork loin, tater tot nachos and vegetable empanadas. Special days mean special prices – Nacho Tots during Panthers Tuesday home games and $5 beers for Thursday home games.
Several sustainability practices are in place at BB&T Center, with more on in the works. Much of their leftover food is donated to those in need. “Within the year we hope to set up an innovative food waste solution that converts any waste into liquid,” he says. Recycling bins are located throughout the concourses, and containers are made of recycled materials. On hold for the moment is an on-site container garden. “Most of our focus has been on trying to improve our concession food,” says Seldin. “However, it’s still in the long-term planning.”
Marlins Park
Capacity: 36,742
When Hall of Famer and former New York Yankee Derek Jeter took over the Miami Marlins, the team and the ballpark got an overhaul. It made for plenty of work for Marlins chief revenue officer Adam Jones and executive chef Michael Finizia from Levy, who run the Marlins Park culinary operation.
They introduced a new $3 o $5 Menu – three bucks for a hot dog, nachos, popcorn or a pretzel, five bucks for mojo pork tacos or a domestic draft beer. Local businesses PINCHO, Miami’s Best Pizza, La Cocina presented by Goya, Novecento, SuViche, plus Butterfly Tacos y Tortas La Pepa by chef José Andrés’ ThinkFoodGroup opened up as part of the overhaul. Fresh, healthy grab-and-go meals are available at El Mercadito presented by Pepsi, while The Change Up, is a rotating concept of different test features every homestand series.
“From our view, we imagine what ballpark food is, and now offer enough variety with that experience, not only for the baseball fan but a broad number of consumers,” says Jones. In the concessions as well as the premium experiences, Levy works with local purveyors to source both meats and produce. “And many of our local brands from PINCHO to SuViche also source locally as part of their operation,” he says. Vegan and kosher foods are part of their offerings. A new concept as part of their VIP experience. The Club presented by DEX Imaging, showcases small plates and bites with premium ingredients like ceviche, gazpacho, niçoise and Caesar salads and sliced steak.
Other than a few dessert items, everything is prepared on site by Levy and a few other operators by an average staff of 200, sometimes 400, depending on the event. Leftover food is distributed to agencies in underserved communities. The park works with Waste Management for their recycling efforts and has introduced paper straws to eliminate plastic use. “We avoid waste wherever possible and work with vendors that have sustainable operations, both for produce and other products,” Jones says.
