Concession stands

You can order directly to your seat with the Waitr app. Has worked great for me all year. They gave out qr codes for it at the Southern Miss game.

Y’all can’t sit through a ballgame without eating? Eat before you get there, geesh.

Lines were extremely long and slow.. worse than I remember

It was bad. I got my drink before the game, but lot of folks around us spent nearly an entire quarter waiting in line. I figure it’s the same issue as what the fast food industry is dealing with regarding worker shortages.

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In the end, you end up working a bunch of people for hours, netting less than minimum wage per worker.


And this is why places do this. It's a legal way for them to often pay less than minimum wage. I use to work in a similar setup at the Hoover Met for Barons games. We got 10 or 15% depending on the day. Our organization gave it up right after I graduated high school because they had such a struggle getting enough people to work because so many times you worked your a** off for very little money.

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So this is another part of the problem. The organization commits at the beginning of the year. Let's say it's a little league organization with 200 parents. It can be extremely difficult to get all of the parents to agree to work, or maybe some back out at the last minute. Halfway through the season, the organization is struggling to find enough people to work Saturday. Then parents start bitching at the coach for committing them to work. So now the University may be left in the lurch with no organization to work the stand.

I know a little about this because I knew of a high school sports team that worked concessions for the Titans. So here's what it's like for those parents. They have to get up early, fight traffic to get to the game. And maybe they aren't parking near the stadium, so they have to deal with shuttles or whatever. They have to put in the hours of work. And they aren't getting paid themselves...they're doing it to raise money for uniforms or whatever the team needs. And you guys who have played on high school teams know exactly what I'm talking about here...maybe 25% of the parents do all the extra work to fundraise, while 75% never do anything.

Those are the people working concession stands.

Using non-profits can be very effective. But Byrne needs to get very hands-on here to fix this, and it sounds like maybe he is. Maybe devote some athletic department employees to monitor and score the groups' efficiency, and then pay a bonus to those groups that score high. There has to be an incentive for them to work harder and do better. And there has to be better training.

The University bids the concessions out to a concession business. For many years the Yarbrough Cos had the Alabama games in Tuscaloosa and Bham. Pretty sure they dont have the bid anymore. Back in those days, they had a lot of people on payroll at the games. but also used the volunteer groups.

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The stadium has just gotten too big for them to still have these fundraising organizations running some stands. I love my kids, but I'm not giving up every Saturday shlepping peanuts and Cokes for 5 hours, not to mention the parking, traffic, etc. I'd rather just stroke a check to the team.

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That pretty much mirrors the points I was making.

You want to provide the very best concession stand experience? Try as much as possible to model it after the Mercedes Benz Dome, in every way. We just spent how many millions on some stadium renovations? Did that include several more concession stands, capable of serving more people faster?

How about soda refill stations, just like the Mercedes Benz dome? Imagine what that could do. I just paid $6, or whatever, for a souvenir cup. Give me a refill for free that I don't have to wait in line for again.

How about small kiosks on wheels that have only bottled sodas and water on ice, so that someone who just wants a drink doesn't have to wait behind people feeding a family of four?

There are lots of good ideas out there, and Greg Byrne is a smart guy. My suggestion is to just study what the M-B Dome does, and try as much as possible to do it exactly the same way.

Couldn't tell you the last time I bought anything at the concessions stands. What are prices like these days? Last time I did I seem to remember a Coke was around $10 in a massive cup. An amount of Coke I would never completely drink.

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As a former "band parent" I have worked concession stands for football games and its as organized as the goat breeding festival in Lee county....no one really in charge and its a fire drill.

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Having been involved in that sort of thing myself, I know exactly what you're talking about. At least with some high schools where the band runs it, it's the same organization every year, and ideally the veteran parents can train the new ones. They have more of a vested interest, because it really is their concession stand. I don't think the groups at BDS have that same sense of ownership.

The M-B Dome is known for excellent food, excellent service, and reasonable prices. The last time I went, I think hot dogs were $2 or $3. Drinks $2 with free refills. A ChickFilA sandwich costs the same as in a store. And virtually no waiting, ever. The experience was similar at Jerry's World in Dallas at the Michigan State game in 2015, although the prices may have been a bit higher. Lots of stands, great service, and no waiting, ever.

It's not rocket science. Arthur Blank wanted to create the same experience as at The Masters, so he did. He wasn't interested in making a billion dollars off concessions. The University doesn't need to make a huge profit off concessions. Sure, there may need to be some significant costs in renovations to create more concession stands. But other than that, after paying for inventory, refrigeration, and staff, they don't need to make a profit. They're already making millions everywhere else.