Saturday, Delaware North will replace Aramark as the concession vendor at TDECU Stadium. The privately-held company has a long history in sports stadiums, airports, and entertainment complexes.
This will be their first time operating food and beverage in a major college football stadium. But Delaware North runs food services at Globe Life Park (Texas Rangers), Met Life Stadium (Jets and NY Giants), Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers), Lambeau Field (Packers), Target Field (Minnesota Twins), the Boston Garden (Celtics, Bruins), and dozens of others.
Last month, the company began providing training table meals for student-athletes and will also run concessions at Fertitta Center, Cougar Softball Stadium, and Schroeder Park. They will also provide catering for the premium areas at TDECU and Fertitta.
GoCoogs spoke with Delaware North district manager Kenneth Gaber to get a sense of what to expect Saturday. Gaber has been working out of TDECU Stadium and is leading the rollout at UH athletics facilities.
“We took over (the UH contract) on August 2nd. So we’ve been fast-moving over the past 35 days to get ready for this football game on Saturday,” Gaber said. “We’ve also been running the concessions at Fertitta Center (volleyball, PBR) as well as the track facility for soccer games.”
Gaber emphasized that the company is dedicated to improving customer satisfaction in all UH stadiums.
“We’ve been putting plans together to address this,” he said. “We’re bringing Chick Fil A back. We have Pink’s Pizza, who is going to be a great partner.” Gaber mentioned other local restaurants like Dolce Vita will be partners as well.
“The ‘wow’ item we’re looking at right now is called the First Down Dog,” Gaber says. “It’s a two-foot-long hot dog with chili and cheese on it. It’s enough to feed a family.”
“And the First Down Nacho which is a two-foot-long nacho plate.” He says TDECU will add a brisket burger as well.
“Whether the game’s at TDECU or at Fertitta, we want to make sure we have a wide variety (of food) and it’s not just the basics.”
Delaware North is increasing point-of-sale stations by 10% over what Aramark had in the stadium. The company will utilize hourly associates and non-profit groups to staff concession stands.
Food delivery to seats is “one of the projects we’ve been working on” Gaber tells me and will be available in the club section (to start). The company will partner with sEATz and utilize the sEATz mobile app for delivery. He expects all deliveries to be made within 8 minutes.
Domestic Prices Stay The Same
For the 2020 season, all domestic beer pricing is staying the same, Gaber says. “For our premium offerings, we are increasing it, I think, 25 cents. We’re offering a lot of local beers, Love Street, Hopadillo, we’re adding Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer, 8th Wonder.” The other domestic varieties will be available. Delaware North is increasing the pouring stations as well.
The company has also taken over training table meals for all UH teams. It’s a new concept for Gaber and the company.
“That’s definitely quite an undertaking, feeding all the sports up to three times a day,” the district manager says. “We’re working with the nutritionists to make sure the menus are correct and accurate and what they want us to serve.”
After the PV game, Delaware North will have almost as long to prepare for game two as they had for the opener. The second home game for the Coogs is October 12 vs Cincinnati.
But with all of these areas to service, the challenge for Delaware North is instituting all of this in such a short period of time. Aramark had decades of experience on campus and could never figure it out. How will Delaware North enter the market and be able to make it work?
“Every time you open (food service in a) building there’s a lot of little challenges,” Gaber said. “We rely on training and having the proper amount of staff. We’ve worked to get our associates on board to be able to service the fans.
“We’re definitely in a good place.”
Join GoCoogs For *All* Of Our Content
No one has broken more UH stories in the last year than GoCoogs.com. Our subscribers get breaking information first and always get the extra info you won’t see anywhere else.
Join GoCoogs
Football Season Is Here!
GoCoogs takes Cougar fans beyond the game recap with premium content and exclusive stories you can’t find anywhere else.
The biggest inside scoops – no one breaks more UH football news than GoCoogs;
20+ pieces of content each game week – more than every other outlet combined;
NEW! Talkin’ Bout Them Cougars! – our new twice-weekly Cougar football podcast;
Film Room: analyzing the plays that turn the game;
NEW! Game breakdowns from former players;
Beyond the Box Score: our popular feature on the analytics of a game;
NEW! On This Day stories that take our social media series even further;
Profiles of current and former players and UH commits;
Our popular series: UH Glory Days;
Exclusive Q&As with players, coaches, and administrators;
Our subscriber-only message board, The Veer;
And more!
No one produces more quality HOUSTON COUGARS content than GoCoogs. This season, 75% of our content will be exclusively for our subscribers.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”#dd0000″ class=”” size=”20″] Did you know? GoCoogs is the only UH subscription website with special pricing for UH students & staff. [/perfectpullquote]
Become a subscriber now:
Or you can subscribe month-to-month:
Once you subscribe to GoCoogs.com, you receive full access to our premium content. You also have access to the Veer, our private, subscriber-only message board.
The Veer forum is where we first post our insider scoops, news, and stats. GoCoogs subscribers have built a fun, drama-free community that allows for great, civil conversation among passionate Cougar fans. By having a completely private forum, we’ve eliminated trolling, outsiders, politics, and over-the-top profanity.
Subscribers also have access to awesome UH emojis, exclusively on the Veer, like these:
Get all of this for just $89.99! There’s no better deal for Cougar fans!
A great deal for UH students and staff
GoCoogs offers discounted subscription options for UH students & staff: either a monthly ($3.99/month) or annual ($29.99) subscription. These plans are only valid only when subscribing with a @uh.edu e-mail address.[footnote]We reserve the right to verify if students and staff are currently enrolled or employed at UH.[/footnote]
Students & Staff Monthly – $3.99 | Students & Staff Annually – $29.99
GoCoogs.com is the only UH subscription website with special pricing for UH students & staff.
*Please note: the promotional subscription deals above are valid for until August 31, 2019, and cannot be guaranteed after that. These are our most up-to-date subscription specials.
*By clicking Place Your Order, you agree to our Payment Terms. After year one, your subscription renews at the regular rate available at the time of renewal. Fall 2019 renewals will be for $89.99.