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Concession Tip February 2019

Throwback Pricing

By: John Gibson, University of North Texas

Just before Christmas, the North Texas Men’s Basketball Team captured a big-time victory on the road over the New Mexico Lobos.  This win continued a tremendous start to the season for the Mean Green, with 13 wins and only 1 loss; matching the best start in school history since 1953.   The opportunity to set the school’s all-time best start to a season presented itself during the upcoming Conference USA Home Opener on January 3rd.  Because of this chance, UNT Athletic Department leadership wanted to create a special environment for the team and help increase attendance for this opportunity.

To accomplish this goal, our Ticket Office, Marketing Team and Concessions Operation partnered together and created the “Throwback Game” to increase fan interest and attendance at the game.  General Admission Tickets were reduced to $5, throwback UNT logo’d T-shirts were produced as a giveaway for fans, and our Concessions Operations offered $1 Popcorn and $1 Regular Sodas during the game vs Louisiana Tech.  While popcorn and sodas are typically a Concessions Operation’s highest profit margin items, the price of Beer, Bottled Water and all other food/snack items remained at regular price.  The thought process was that enough fans would attend this first Conference game and visit the Concession Stands to make the event profitable.

Did It Work?

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Concession Tip October 2018

A Hot Chocolate Solution

By:John Gibson, University of North Texas 

Here in North Texas, the weather may not turn as cold compared to several other NACC Members; nonetheless, we still have a need to produce and sell Hot Chocolate 1-2 Football games a season. While our Concession Stands are equipped with a hot water heater, the temperature only reaches around 130 degrees Fahrenheit, which is not adequate to produce quality hot chocolate. Additionally, the hot water heaters can run out of hot water after just a couple of batches. Therefore, our Concessions Operation was in need of a Hot Water Solution that could keep enough Hot Water supplied for hot chocolate sales throughout a Football game.

Years ago, a former Vendor of mine provided a great idea which I have utilized multiple times. The idea is simple: a Tankless Water Heater, converted to use Liquid Propane as a fuel source, can provide an endless amount of Hot Water to mix and serve Hot Chocolate throughout your stadium or arena. As long as there is enough propane on hand, this Tankless Hot Water System can produce gallons of hot water, to a maximum water temperature of 167 degrees. This temperature range allows the water to maintain a hot temperature, even after mixing with your hot chocolate powder.

The execution of the idea was fairly straightforward. Online, I was able to purchase a Tankless Hot Water Heater and ship it to my Concessions Warehouse within a couple of business days. With the help of our campus Facilities team, we mounted the tankless water heater onto a two-wheel dolly, connected an LP Regulator and connection hose to the gas in-take valve, and fitted the water inlet and outflow connections with NSF Food Grade Water hoses. After changing the hot water temperature setting to 167 degrees, and plugging the control panel into an electrical socket, we had hot water available instantly.

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Concession Tip April 2018

Allergens

At Michigan State University Concessions, we pride ourselves on leading with food.  If you come to our Stadium or Arenas, you can find a variety of options from Healthy Grab and Go’s, Loaded Pork BBQ Sliders, a Cheesy Beefsteak Sandwich or our unique hotdog, made just for our Concessions.  Now, would you think that the hotdog has milk in it or the grilled chicken you are eating has soy in the marinade?  If you don’t have an issue with eating these ingredients, you probably wouldn’t.  But what about the fans that do?

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Concesssion Tip February 2018 

Staff Appreciation

By: Chris Lauber, University of North Dakota at R.E. Arena

Do you have a program in place for staff appreciation? If you do, that is fantastic and keep it up! If you don’t, put it on your to do list to figure out some way to show appreciation to your staff, it goes a long way. For 10 the years I spent at an account in Denver, CO;  I never had the chance to do a staff appreciation program, end of year party, or even just a holiday party.  When I got to Oregon in 2013, we did both holiday parties and end of season parties. Now I’m at Ralph Engelstad Arena at North Dakota University and we have a whole program for staff appreciation.

Here are some of the items we do for our staff:

• Christmas Party for each department (required by management)
• Twice a season, we feed all staff a catered dinner before the game. Usually simple like chili or pasta bake. (Staff does not get free meals or drinks during events, only half off pricing)
• End of season Staff Appreciation Dinner and Awards night
• Above and Beyond Program
• If you get nominated, your name goes in a monthly drawing for gift cards.
• At the end of the season, all names are put back in the drawing and we draw one name and they get tickets, hotel, and food for the NCHC Playoffs in Minneapolis, MN

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