QSR June 2023

TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENTS

aren’t resonating in the channel. Kamis says the smaller menu has improved speed of service and helped ensure the outlets are delivering restaurant-qual ity food. “Regardless of who’s serving the food in the concession stand, it’s our name on the wall there. So from our perspective, it’s really important that the brand is represented the right way,” he says. “Our chicken is hand breaded and cooked fresh right at the stands, so we do training with staff at all the venues several times a year to make sure they’re up to date on all the procedures.” Big Chicken had to adjust its standard operating procedures in concession stands to handle the massive influx of volume. A single stand may sell around 500 sandwiches in 30 minutes during a concert, or 1,000 sand wiches in 90 minutes during a sporting event. “In brick-and-mortar restau rants, we’re dropping the chicken made-to-order, but here, we’re always dripping chicken and then dressing it made-to-order,”

PDQ HAS CONCESSIONS THROUGHOUT THE SOUTHEAST, INCLUDING ITS HEADQUARTERS IN TAMPA.

coming one of our highest-selling LTO programs. It helped us realize how the expectation around what used to be hot dogs, popcorns, and nachos is now so much more. People are even willing to experiment with completely out-of-the-box things.” Big Chicken has catered to hometown fans with locally inspired menu items. Earlier this year it entered Busch Stadium in St. Louis, home to baseball’s Cardinals, where it teamed up with a cult-favorite donut shop for a chicken sandwich served on a red-dyed maple bacon donut. PDQ, a Florida-based fast-casual chicken chain, has con cession stands throughout the Southeast, including in its home market of Tampa. Jeffrey Kamis, vice president of marketing and public relations, says the localized nature of those partner ships offers something that can’t be captured with traditional marketing collateral. “The first PDQ was here in Tampa, and we’re the official chicken tender of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,” he says. “That connection means something to people, especially here in our home market, where people are fans of the local teams.” For fans that aren’t already familiar with the brand, the concession stands offer an unparalleled opportunity to con vert stadium-goers into loyal customers. To further unlock that opportunity, the company has worked with its partners to streamline the concession stand menu and eliminate items that

Halpern says. “If you’re going to order an Uncle Jerome–our Nashville hot sandwich–we’re going to quickly dunk it in the Nashville hot oil, add the toppings, and out it goes. But the chicken was already in motion before you ordered.” For restaurant brands that make an impression in the sta dium, he says the benefits of concessions extend far beyond the revenue generated on game day. “In the beginning, we were the no. 1 concession stand in the Climate Pledge Arena, and we didn’t have any brick-and mortars in that market,” he says. “I used to joke with Shaquille that getting into stadiums early was both a blessing and a curse because if people loved our food, the closest restaurant was about 1,000 miles away.” When the brand opened its first location in Seattle, it quickly became the No. 1 store systemwide. “We had massive built-in demand the minute we opened our doors,” Halpern says. “Now, if we know we’re going into a stadium or arena, the question becomes, how do we get a fran chisee there? “If we’re going to generate all of this demand, we’d be crazy not to ensure that fans are able to get our food when they leave the stadium, too.”

Sam Danley is the associate editor of QSR . He can be reached at sdanley@wthwmedia.com .

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JUNE 2023 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com