Sodexo Live! and the Univ. of Michigan have seen notable jumps in food and beverage key performance indicators at Michigan Stadium during a season-opening span of four consecutive home games at the roughly 108,000-seat-capacity venue -- which drew more than 483,000 fans total. Compared to the first four home games last year, the venue has seen increases in total transactions (13.6%), revenue (11%), per-cap spending (4%) and transactions per guest (6.4%). Simpler menus, better traffic flows on concourses and in grab-and-go markets, and faster and more points-of-sale are three of the main contributors to the success so far, said Sodexo Live!’s GM at the stadium, Michael Jordan. “When there is 100,000 people, you can’t catch up,” he said. "You have to be ready for them.”
HOT FOOD ALL AROUND: Michigan Stadium is nearly a hundred years old, but its sole concourse is sufficiently wide unlike many aging college football stadiums. On the south end of the concourse, Jordan and company used the extra space to park six shipping container kitchens -- manufactured by a company called Event Kitchens -- to increase capacity at the venue that has just six permanent kitchens, all of which reflect the stadium’s age. Where the south side of the stadium was previously limited to snacks and desserts, it now offers hot food. “We’re constantly looking at the balance of what we can execute,” with the reality of the historic stadium, said Michigan Associate AD Kurt Svoboda. "And we just have to be really thoughtful about the flow of what we’re doing."
TIGHTENING THE MENU: More tightly embracing the stadium's limitations has helped, including moving from five hot items at those main concessions stands down to just three items this year -- chicken tenders, hot dogs and hamburgers. Sales of chicken tenders are up 8.7% (20,000 servings sold), while hot dogs have seen a 7.6% lift thus far with more than 30,000 sold. Smaller selection has sped up transaction times, as has the deployment of two locations with Mashgin self-checkout units and an additional 30 point-of-sale terminals scattered throughout the stadium -- all of which contributed to a strong 60% guest capture rate (the percentage of total fans transacting during a game, on average). One of the Mashgin-powered locations replaced a traditional concessions stand and has doubled sales comparatively. It was specifically positioned on the east side of the stadium because the fire marshals expressed concerns about overcrowding on that side of the concourse. Jordan noted that the fire marshal is now happy with the results.
Sodexo Live! x Univ. of Michigan
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