In 1983, I wrote about the phenomenon of major food service at festivals. The event was the US Festival at Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino, Calif., and the concessionaire with this unique contract was Ed Campbell, Ed Campbell Co., who traveled all the way from Texas to set up concessions around the rim of the festival location.
Flash forward to 2015, and a big topic of conversation is festivals and the growing impact they have on the concessions end of this business.
I started with an interview with Sean Kavanaugh and Ken Wilson of Rojo Hospitality who had booked their $1-million Primetime Grill at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Sean told me the Arizona Cardinals look upon the 44-foot super truck decked out with boilers and broilers and an entertainment center as a way to increase catering income when they don’t need the truck at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale. Savor’s Shaun Beard considered it a great addition to the lineup in Long Beach, calling it a destination.
Talking to Rishi Nigam, who I think will soon be named president of Americrown, owned by International Speedway Corp., I heard a similar story. They are reaching out to festivals and special events with their mobile equipment and, like Primetime Grill, they are investing in making mobile equipment look permanent, more robust, more inviting.
Nigam pointed out Juicy’s has been booking its 50-foot Outdoor Grill truck at events for a few years now, including a handful of ISC races, definitely upping the bar for mobile concessions.
Americrown doesn’t brand its 40-footers to racing. They are outfitted, though, to be destination locations. As a concessions company that is a large-scale traveling business, setting up at various tracks to feed 70,000-100,000 people a day, Americrown sees the festival business as a natural extension. “We focus on large scale events,” Nigam said.
Legends, founded by the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees sports teams, is also heavily into the music business now with 34 Live Nation amphitheaters as clients. They plan to bring a minifestival atmosphere to those sheds.
Shervin Mirhashemi, Legends COO, also reminded me of the Urban Music Factory in Dallas, where they partner with Live Nation as well, saying that will be a food and beverage, retail and entertainment destination, which will be activated on nonevent days.
When Ed Campbell reminded me about that long-ago US Festival, sort of the Woodstock of festival food undertakings, we were amazed at how far food and drink has come. Food and drink has always been a driver for the sports, entertainment and meetings industry, but now “concessionaires” are partners more than vendors, in on the planning and expansion of every type of event.
God grant you many years to cater to the great outdoors.