The way to a fan’s heart is through his stomach.
Well, that is not exactly the saying, but for those responsible for food and beverage at venues they know it might as well be gospel. It is certainly taken that seriously at Rogers Arena, where a new hospitality division was started last season that specifically addresses the fare offered at the venue.
“One of the realizations of when people come to the arena to enjoy a hockey game or an event or concert is they want the complete experience and to have a high-level quality of food with great, friendly service,” said Jeff Stipec, vice president of hospitality and event services at Rogers Arena. “We thought the model was best served for us to develop a team and deliver the service to the level we want to see it delivered, and so we created a new hospitality division.”
Stipec is not exaggerating when he talks about how serious the staff takes the hospitality experience as some 1,700 part-time personnel work in the division and on most any given night the number is close to 1,000 in culinary and service.
Stipec was employee No. 1 in the hospitality division roll-out and joined the team in March 2014. He said that his first task was to find the finest chef in the industry and in North America sporting venues and to bring that person to Vancouver. Hello, Robert Bartley.
“We came out pretty good,” Stipec said after bringing Bartley aboard. The chef had worked at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment in Toronto.
For his part, Bartley, whose title is executive chef of Canuck Sports & Entertainment, was excited to make the move and take on a new challenge.
“When we first took over this food and hospitality program here it really was about resetting our priorities to what our fans’ expectations are,” he said. “Vancouverites are extremely passionate about food and they’re very knowledgeable about food. They expect high-quality food no matter where they go, whether it’s a restaurant in the city or at a hockey arena. So really it was about resetting the expectations to deliver fresh food with a real emphasis on quality and freshness.”
Stipec said that some measurables are in place to see if his team is delivering.
“We have a structured and unstructured approach to that (fan feedback),” he said. “We host focus groups with a number of different constituents. We have the opportunity through social media to receive feedback from all of our fans. It’s very communicative what we do because our fans, unlike a restaurant patron, are already making a pretty significant commitment with a season ticket purchase so they have a pretty loud voice with what we do here.”
Bartley said that the guest dining experience at venues has evolved over the years, partly out of necessity due to the time and work demands on so many people.
“Time really has become such a critical commodity and the most important commodity in every person’s life,” he said. “Perhaps back when time wasn’t as important … coming to an arena was more of a snack environment where you get a hot dog or bag of popcorn and a beer. Now with the time pressure that people have they are running right from their office to the entertainment facility and they need to have an actual dining experience.”
Bartley cites that need as the major reason menus have evolved to offer more and, in many cases, have become more upscale.
“The other thing is that there has been such an increase in arena fare as a whole and making it a bit more of a dining type of facility as opposed to just that snack facility, so people are coming here with the anticipation that they can actually get a decent meal,” he added. “You have to be able to back that up by providing that. I think you have seen it all across North America where there has been a real increase in the food service side of things where before it was more of a secondary focus. That helps balance the increase in the ticket prices and adding value to the overall experience. It has become an experience instead of just coming to see a hockey game.”
Stipec said that it is not unusual for season ticket holders to have dinner up to four times a week during games as opposed to a person making one visit to the arena for the year. Those regulars, Stipec said, are more inclined to indulge and want more of a balanced meal as part of their regular routine.
Rogers Arena has six restaurants that range from a chef’s table to an a la carte restaurant. Menus range from high-end items that are comparable to the city’s finest restaurants to something more casual. The restaurants are tied directly to a ticket that gets fans into certain spaces.
Bartley said that decisions for new items are always based on fans and their likes and dislikes.
“One thing we are proud of here is we really are trying to represent our fans as best as possible,” he said. “We consider ourselves to be pretty good listeners whether we’re going through surveys, direct contact, social media or whatever. We are constantly listening to our fans and reacting accordingly.”
Finally, the hospitality division looks locally.
“How do we want to celebrate and support our local community?” Bartley asked. “We’re heavy on seafood out here. People love fresh fish and seafood so we really try to represent the West Coast brand out here as much as we can at the arena.”
Bartley said his approach is “multi-pronged” in that he has a checklist of some 15 to 20 different menu items. His team does an internal sifting of the items to make sure they can produce them to the quality needed and then they get focus groups to test them out and offer feedback whether they think the item would be the right menu offering. Then it comes down to making the decision whether to go forward and place the item on the menu.
“Really, the hospitality division was created to get us closer to communicating with our fans,” Stipec said. “We want their food and hospitality experience here to be second to none.”
Interviewed for this story: Jeff Stipec, (604) 899-7588; Robert Bartley, (604) 899-7588