Day 15, 16 - Concessions!

So at the start of this week, Monday/Tuesday, we got to go through everything that concessions does! This involved checking out the different stands at the football stadium, men's gymnastics and wrestling, softball and baseball stadium, soccer field, tennis courts, and the basketball arena. Hands down my favorite part of being here so far.

So on Day 15, we got to spend the morning with James who is one of the concessions managers. He took us to the football stadium first which is just insane. I was overwhelmed just being there without the people so I can't imagine what people must feel like when there are 85,000 fans for a game! It would just be chaos. So he said they have around 30 concession stands in total, plus 70 suites that are covered by catering. They actually just got permissions this year to start selling alcohol in the private sections since the campus is supposed to be dry, but they expect it to be a huge asset to increase sales even if it is just limited to that one area. James also explained that they bag allllll their own ice for the entire stadium! It takes them almost a week to prepare all of this and sometimes it still isn't enough (they do this because purchasing the amount of ice required is much more expensive than doing it themselves). They also sometimes run into problems at the stadium because the warehouse for dry/cold goods is located on the west side. So if they run out of something on the east side, they have to transport it from one side all the way to other.. with over 80,000 people in your way! So they really have to prepare and be ready. It is serious such a beautiful stadium, and we got to view the field from a number of different spots and it really wouldn't matter where you're sitting, you would be able to see the game extremely well! Each year they spend upwards of a million dollars to invite teams from other states to play (which are outside of the Big 12 they typically play in one season, there are 6 home games that run from September to November), so this coming year they've invited Notre Dame to play which should be a huuuuge game. Bob Stoops is their coach, who makes a crazy amount (approx. $4.3 million) but has taken them to nationals several times and won last in 2000. This year their home games include Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Notre Dame, and one other that I can't remember. I'm so sad that we won't be here for one of the games, but maybe I'll have to come back just to check it out :)

After that, we headed off to the softball and baseball fields which were nice, but small in comparison to other facilities that they have. There were only 2 concession stands at either of those locations. We drove past the soccer field and the tennis courts which only have one (because they're not very busy), then we went into the basketball court... OH ma gossssh it is amazing!! I think I'm even more surprised with this than the football stadium! The basketball stadium seats 12,500 fans, although they also hold concerts there as well.. but still! That is sooooo many people! They have around 12 concession stands (spread out through 3 floors), a beautiful legacy hall, the regular court plus 2 other courts (one each for women's and men's to practice at), and the coaches offices plus a bunch of offices for concession managers. Such an amazing spot. They've had players like Blake Griffin and the Paris sisters (Courtney and Ashley) play for them and said that they would end up selling standing tickets because so many people wanted to come and watch them play! The past few years they said the team hasn't been as successful and with the Thunder coming to OKC it's taken away a lot of their business but it's still their second biggest sporting event at OU.

After exploring the basketball stadium, we got to meet with Keith who is the director of concessions. He got to show us some sales numbers for the football games as well as how they decide on pricing and a bunch of other stuff. With concessions they end up losing money every year (ie. $200,000 this year alone) mainly because the bid for supplying concession stands went to OU H&FS, HOWEVER the athletics department (since they are a separate department) takes a certain percent of everything that they sell there (47%, which is very high!). Plus then they have to deduct labor and food cost from that and end up making very little. Football and basketball seasons are the busiest times (and they sometimes overlap which I hear is absolutely crazy!), and for them to do highest sales possible it should typically be either an 11am or 2pm game, hot weather, and it is also dependent on the team they're playing. So their most profitable game last season was played against Texas A&M, it was a 2pm game with sunny hot weather and they made over $400,000. The whole season that make around $3 million or more. It's funny to think they're losing money, huh? But the problem with their upcoming season is that the majority of Big 12 games are being played in the evenings around 8pm, so people will have already eaten meals, the weather won't be as hot, and fans are more likely to purchase snacks over anything. He also explained that they have to decide on pricing based on what other universities are offering and what other professional level stadiums/arena's are offering. So they'll look at, for instance, what the Dallas Cowboy's, Chesapeake Arena, and Texas A&M will sell a hot dog for and base it off of that. It's a lot of work!

On the second day (Day 16), we got to spend time with Danielle who is another one of the managers. She focuses on doing hiring, training, and anything to do with money. So she spoke to us on how they hire NPO's (non-profit organizations) to run the concessions during games which saves them a TON of labor costs throughout the year. She also explained how they do their training sessions in August and teach those who will be working how to serve certain items (like chili cheese nachos) to provide the customers with the best product possible. She is also in charge of posting any positions within concessions, as well as a variety of random tasks that are throughout all sporting areas. We also got to observe her taking measurements for soda fountains that they are going to be implementing in some concession stands at the basketball arena and it was actually really interesting to see her working with the company guy who is doing the installing. There is actually so much work it takes like finding a water source, finding a drain system, cutting through stainless steel vs. wood cabinets, etc. A lot more then you think goes into the process.

After that we headed off to lunch and went to see Dot. She gave us our mid-point evaluations (can't believe we're halfway done!) and then we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon! It's been a great week so far, and now we're off to catering for the rest of the week :)