Bogart & Co. fine dining experience at the Long Beach (Calif.) Convention & Entertainment Center.
There is a big opportunity in the restaurant/café business for concessions companies serving sport and entertainment venues, in the opinion of Shaun Beard, senior VP for the SMG-owned Savor. A prime example of his point is Bogart & Co. at the Long Beach (Calif.) Convention & Entertainment Center.
Bogart & Co. is a renovation of what had been a grab-and-go restaurant outside the arena portion of the complex. Savor created a 350-capacity a la carte dining experience, similar to its Prelude Restaurant at McCaw Hall in Seattle, Beard said. “It’s always about value – if you deliver value and they understand the origins of the food and the quality is there, it does well.”
Bogart & Co. launched in March as part of a slew of renovations at the venue, but it’s first big test for all day dining was during the April 19-21 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The event takes place on the streets surrounding the convention center, which is used as exhibit and headquarters space. Savor provides concessions for the race over 15 city blocks, with 130 points of sale. Attendance this year was 175,000, up slightly from last year.
“Our partner there is Steve Goodling [president and CEO of the Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau], who is reimaging the city for the convention market. The name was his brainchild,” Beard said of Bogart & Co. “It looks classy. The name fits the niche very, very well.”
Bogart & Co. was open for breakfast, lunch and dinner during the three-day race.
Charlie Bierne, general manager of the LBCEC for SMG, said Bogart & Co. was very busy during the race. “People are taking to it quite well. It’s upscale and attractive.”
Out on the street this year, several innovations boosted sales during the Grand Prix, most notably the saturation of credit card use availability.
“Every POS had credit cards this year,” Beard said. “That’s always the challenge in outdoor events. You have to make sure you have technology to support the customer.”
A Pit Stop concession stand at the Toyota Long Beach Grand Prix.
Credit card sales doubled from last year, to $110,000-$115,000, “a huge lift,” Beard said. During the 2012 Grand Prix, only 65-75 percent of the outdoor concessions accepted credit cards. The challenge is the third-party vendors and the concessions located on the outskirts of the main grandstand area, he said. “Everything Savor operated had credit cards this year.”
Other new features at the 2013 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach included celebrity chefs, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger from Border Grill Santa Monica (Calif.), hosting a specialty concession for the first time.
Savor also introduced its own margarita program with eight locations. Last year, a third party handled margarita sales, selling about 1,500 units during the event, Beard said. This year, Savor quadrupled the number of locations and sold over 7,000 units of the $12 frozen drink served in a specialty cup.
More locations sold 24-ounce cans of beer at $10.50 each, rather than draft, Beard added. That helped speed of service and quality. The price was the same for draft, but 24-ounce cans proved more popular.
The bottom line at an outdoor event like the Grand Prix is all weather driven, Beard said. Last year, the event suffered from rain on Friday. This year, the weather cooperated for the entire run, which assured an increase in sales, but there were still tweaks that helped.
“Long Beach is going through a Renaissance. The city is putting money into the convention center, restaurants are retooling, hotels are making investments,” Beard said. He’s feeling bullish on Long Beach.
Interviewed for this story: Shaun Beard, (610) 729-7916; Charlie Bierne, (562) 499-7575