John Wentzell, president, Sportservice, with Delaware North President and COO Chuck Moran, Principal Jerry Jacobs Jr., VP of Operations Sportservice Joe Simms, and GM Tim Stib at Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles.
Innovation and customization have always been paramount at Sportservice. Its reputation as a forward-thinking industry leader is well established with firsts like preparing food in an open kitchen and delivering all-inclusive ticketing concepts.
Adapting to the rapidly changing business world today, particularly as it relates to technology, Sportservice continues to retain its leadership role in culinary and service, now under the leadership of John Wentzell, Delaware North Companies Sportservice new president. As the industry is changing and growing more complex as customers become more sophisticated, Wentzell is in the perfect position to understand that scenario and lead a smart and aggressive charge.
Interviewed less than a year into his new job, but 30 years in the business, Wentzell believes the future for Sportservice is going to require that it play a more integrated multidimensional role with its clients, beyond food, drink and preparation and service.
“We know our clients are now seeking a 360-degree view of the customer and that requires cooperation and integration among all parties and with various systems,” Wentzell observed. Sportservice is focused on being an essential partner in the process of understanding the customer's preferences and behaviors.
“Fundamentally we are the food and beverage provider, so it’s about food and drink, but what is changing is in the delivery transaction. We are doing, technically, much more sophisticated types of transactions. We are required to be the point of delivery for many of the team’s fan benefits.”
Sportservice is the touch point for fans and customers for everything from season ticketholder benefits to incentives and discounts to loyalty programs and loaded-value tickets, he noted.
“That is literally an everyday, every month topic of discussion with our clients on site and, as we have broader conversations at my level with prospective clients. It’s about having the right approach in technology and a capability that clients are comfortable that you are ready to deliver now and tomorrow.”
Sportservice has always invested in culinary expertise, people and food. Recognizing technology is playing a bigger role in that business, Delaware North recruited Kevin Quinlivan as Chief Information Officer. His extensive experience in providing cost-effective technology-based solutions is a key to Delaware North’s strategic plan of continually improving the company’s infrastructure.
“Because we are a large hospitality company, we have the ability to do enterprise-wide strategy on technology,” Wentzell noted. Hiring Quinlivan is “one step in making this a more robust focus of the company.” Quinlivan is taking a hardcore agnostic approach: developing and implementing the infrastructure and platform that will enable easy integration with other applications and systems.
In addition to positioning Quinlivan at the corporate level, Sportservice has created a new role of Director of Technology to implement strategies and tactics at the divisional level. The director will leverage the corporate infrastructure to design technology solutions, customized for the needs of our clients.
“In addition to comprehensive knowledge of POS systems, we have extended our technology integration capabilities to encompass a wide range of industry programs and platforms such as Fortress and Giv-X loyalty programs. Our staff can provide the right solution for our clients and help them activate in their businesses,” Wentzell explains.
CUSTOMIZING THE EXPERIENCE
Having sat on the venue and team side as manager of TD Garden, Boston, home to the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League, Wentzell finds it abundantly clear how integral the food, beverage and retail partner is to any sports and entertainment operation. Sportservice also understands the importance of customizing the experience to each market.
“There are certain commonalities, but each market needs to be analyzed for fan preferences,” Wentzell said of Sportservice’s approach with each client. Location and proximity to restaurants and bars affect fan behavior. Sportservice invests in research to learn more about specific fan behavior, using analytics and customer insight pulling data from POS each day.
To effectively customize each program requires considerable research, some of which is done by Turnkey Intelligence and some done in-house, Wentzell said. In retail that has led to “boutiquing” as well, which he described as the shop within the shop. “Using an analytical, statistics-based model allows us to stay ahead of the game and engage with our clients in a way that keeps them current with what the customer is demanding.”
REINVENTING SUITE FOOD
Delaware North has been about food and beverage sales for more than 95 years under ownership of the Jacobs family. Focusing on the quality of food, ingredients, staff and culinary team differentiates Sportservice. Wentzell said the firm has always been unique in chef development and certification, a major driver for decades. Now, they have upped the ante on the culinary side with another new hire, Richard Hamilton, VP of food and beverage, and an accomplished concept developer and highly-acclaimed chef who has been on the job six months.
Wentzell says, “He is redefining the culinary experience in our industry with a focus on creative new signature concepts and personalized servings for our premium and suite customers. Through a fresh set of eyes, Richard has developed a new approach to suite food where portions are smaller and replenished more often. It enables customers to taste more, enjoy more dishes and helps us maintain quality, freshness and visual appeal.”
THE HUMAN TOUCH
For Wentzell, “the last piece of the vision — things that keep me awake at night — is maintaining a solid bench of managers and future leaders. Trained people throughout the Sportservice system are critical to our reputation and to what we do. And considering our rapid growth [adding the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks to name two] we need to focus on that.”
“Sportservice has been about people and food at its core but now we are deploying smart technology to make us even better. The business requires innovation and it moves quickly. You have to be nimble to be out in front on trends.”
Currently in the process of putting the final touches to the company’s new multi-year strategy, Wentzell is stressing that “innovation is a core element in the way we envision our future.”
Some things don’t change however. “Ultimately, it’s all about the fan and no matter where I’ve been on this journey, I’ve found that if you focus on the fan experience, everything else follows.”