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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

stadium food

Zippin Cashierless Convenience Store Now Open in Mile High Stadium

Back when they were open and operating at full capacity, stadiums were an excellent way to get a glimpse at the future of food tech. The high-volume, high-speed nature of eating at sporting events and monster truck rallies lent itself to things like robots, AI for line management and mobile ordering.

While the pandemic shut stadiums, arenas and civic centers down for most of the year, some, like Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado have re-opened, albeit cautiously. Only 5,000 fans can spread out across Mile High’s 76,125 seats for Broncos games. And though the crowd size may be diminished, that isn’t stopping Mile High from going high-tech with its approach to concessions.

Earlier this, foodservice operator Aramark tapped Zippin to transform the Mile High’s Drink MKT store into a cashierless checkout experience. Zippin’s technology, which includes cameras and shelf sensors as well as computer vision and AI, allow shoppers to tap their credit card as they walk into the store, grab what they want and leave. Upon exit, customers get charged automatically and receive an itemized receipt. The new Drink MKT opened at the end of September this year.

Not only is the Zippin-powered store contactless, Zippin CEO, Krishna Motukuri told me by phone this week that the entire transaction process is faster. Between grabbing what you want, standing in line and checking out with a cashier, the traditional retail transaction can takes minutes. With Zippin cashierless checkout, Motokuri said “We were able to show that most of the customers checked in, picked their stuff walked out in 45 seconds.”

Mile High Stadium is the second sports venue to house a Zippin convenience store. In September of last year the startup opened one in the Golden 1 Center arena in Sacramento.

For its part, Mile High Stadium is no stranger to high-tech concessions. Last year the stadium used a robot to pour out Bud Lights to thirsty fans.

Motukuri told me that his company has seen an influx of interest from stadiums and office buildings as they look to create more contactless retail experiences when they re-open. For example, office buildings want to replace cafeterias with contactless grab-and-go food options. It will face competition there from Amazon, which has also openly explored the idea of putting small Go stores in offices.

How many more stadiums Zippin builds in is dependent upon how soon those buildings open up. The pandemic is still going strong, but there is a potential light at the end of the tunnel with the forthcoming arrival of vaccines. That said, even when the virus recedes, fans will probably still be a little gun shy about congregating in stores for a long time just to grab a Gatorade, so cashierless checkout could be the big winner at the big games.

Postmates Now Delivering Dodger Stadium Food to LA Doors

Dodger fans now can change up “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” with some new lyrics:

Take a walk down my hallway
Take a seat on the couch
Postmates and Dodgers now deliver snacks
Just in time now that baseball is back

Baseball fans may be stuck at home, but if you’re rooting for the Dodgers in LA, you can still eat like you’re at the stadium. Postmates announced earlier this week that has partnered with Home Plates to offer home delivery of Dodger Stadium food.

From a Postmates blog post describing the program:

Home Plates will serve Dodger Stadium fan-favorites like Dodger Dogs, micheladas, and garlic fries to go along with snacks, salads, bar, and dessert options. In addition to premium Dodger Dogs, items specially produced by Home Plates include individual thin-crust Brooklyn-style pizza, carne asada helmet nachos, and Dodgers’ blue gelato. Also, check out the family party pack and catering options.

Right now, delivery is only available in the Hollywood and West Hollywood neighborhoods of Los Angeles, with plans to expand to other areas of the city. Hollywood and West Hollywood, of course, are also the neighborhoods where Postmates uses its Serve robot to make deliveries. So your Dodger Dog may be brought to you by a cute robot!

This isn’t the first deal between Postmates and the Dodgers. Last year, the two teamed up for online ordering and food pickup inside Dodger Stadium. But with stadiums shut down, this is the next best thing for those wanting more of a realistic baseball experience while watching the games at home.

Postmates was recently acquired by Uber for $2.65 billion, which could buy a lot of peanuts and cracker jacks.

I say this without judgment, but given the greasy nature of stadium food, I’m curious as to how well it will travel for delivery. Obviously, downing a Dodger Dog on your recliner at home is a lot different from eating one amongst tens of thousands of your fellow fans. But will the food even be that good outside a stadium? If you’re in LA and try this out, drop us a line and let us know if it was a home run or a strikeout.

FanFood Brings Mobile Concession Ordering to Minor League and High School Stadiums

Most of the time, when an entrepreneur has an idea, they immediately focus on how to break into the big leagues of their industry. But Chicago-based startup FanFood likes being in the minor leagues — literally.

FanFood provides mobile ordering for concession stands at stadiums and arenas, but the company is focusing on smaller venues like those in baseball’s minor league, colleges and even high schools. FanFood works with individual concessions at each location to let fans order food ahead via mobile app and have it ready for express pickup or delivered directly to their seat.

Version 1, which is out now, is a standalone FanFood app that consumers have to download in order to use the service. While the forthcoming V2 will still work as a standalone app, it will also feature mobile browser ordering and can also be integrated into a venue or team’s existing app.

It’s not uncommon for this type of in-seat accommodation to be implemented or piloted at large venues. Both Yankee Stadium and Dodger Stadium now have Postmates Pickup, for example, and WaitTime is an app that tells you how long the food lines are at American Airlines Arena concession stands. But FanFood is skipping the big time parks (for now) to bring these features to small-town venues.

“Convenience is an expectation,” FanFood Co-Founder and CEO, Carson Goodale, told me by phone this week. And given the rise in meal delivery services, it’s not hard to imagine that soon most people will expect even more meal convenience wherever they go. And that includes small-town arenas.

Aside from the fact that there are tons of concession stands at arenas big and small across the country (especially when you count regional colleges and high schools), there’s another reason Goodale is focusing on smaller venues. “The Sales cycle is smaller on the smaller stadiums,” Goodale said. With less on the line, as it were (fewer people, fewer concessions, smaller brand names, less money, etc.), there are fewer levels of bureaucracy for FanFood to get through.

“We’ll be in 100 venues by the end of the year,” Goodale said, including locations such as Durham Bulls Athletic Park, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Owasso High School in Oklahoma. It’s easy to see why minor league parks and even large colleges might want to use FanFood: Fans don’t have to miss any of the game when getting their food, and the concession and venue operators can ideally generate more revenue, get analytics around what food is ordered and when to staff events with more people.

For high schools though, there’s the added benefit of fundraising. Goodale told me that most concessions at high school games are run by boosters and are used for athletic program fundraising. In a case study video on the FanFood site, Owasso High School said that FanFood bumped sales up by 20 percent, or added roughly another $6,000 in revenue. That’s money that can go towards uniforms, equipment and travel.

But perhaps the most interesting thing about FanFood is its ability to create virtual concession stands. Just as Uber Eats can create virtual restaurants that exist only inside its app, so too can FanFood do the same for a concession stand. If food is ordered via app and picked up directly from a smart cubby or delivered to a seat, there’s no need to build out and staff a a full operation with cash registers, digital signs, etc. inside a stadium where space is already limited.

Right now, the biggest issue for FanFood seems to be scaling up. While smaller stadiums may be low hanging fruit, there are a lot of them, spread out across the country, and FanFood sells to each concession stand individually. The company charges a one-time setup fee, licenses the platform to each concession stand and takes a percentage of any convenience fee tacked on to an order (e.g., 99 cents to deliver to a seat). FanFood has only raised $2 million in seed funding at this point, so it doesn’t have a massive warchest to go out and spend.

But by playing small ball, FanFood may not need to spend as much to capture a market looking for convenience. Game on.