STAR-BULLETIN / 2001
In addition to plate lunches already being sold at Aloha Stadium, fans will also see sushi rolls, margaritas and more. CLICK FOR LARGE
|
|
Stadium offers fans more choices for grinds
Football games get more flavor with seven new food vendors
Forget the hot dog with mustard. Try fried mandoo, spicy tuna rolls, margaritas or Chunky Monkey at University of Hawaii football games.
Seven new food vendors will offer different grinds at Aloha Stadium -- just in time for fans attending the UH-versus-Eastern Illinois football game tomorrow.
"Everybody wants a hot dog ... but in Hawaii, everybody wants a plate lunch or bento," said Roger Reeves, general manager of the stadium's concessionaire, Centerplate.
The new vendors will bring the total to 22 subcontracted by Centerplate to provide more variety for UH football fans, Reeves said.
"You want to make it enjoyable for them and not eat the same thing," Reeves said.
Eight more UH home games are left in the football season, spokesman Patrick Leonard said. All 22 vendors also will be serving at the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 24 and the NFL Pro Bowl on Feb. 10.
The new vendors are:
» M&N Treats to serve minidoughnuts.
» SkyBox Express to serve edamame, garlic chicken, furukake chicken, wasabi chicken and dynamite chicken.
» Genki Sushi to serve pieces of cut and hand-rolled sushi that include inari, nishiki and spicy tuna.
» Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.
» Okuhara/Hoops AC to serve freshly cooked fried noodles.
» K-Restaurant to serve plate lunches that include kalbi ribs, fried mandoo and barbecue chicken.
» K-Town Koolerz to serve margaritas and ice cream with slush.
Plate lunch costs will range between $5 and $10.
Maps will be posted within the stadium to inform fans where the new vendors are located, which, Reeves said, will not be a far walk for fans.
"When I took a job here, the biggest thing that people were asking for was variety and quality of product. That was our main goal," he said.
Reeves, a 1974 graduate of Damien High School, worked at UH as a concessionaire manager and general manager for 25 years for three different dining services that include Marriott and Sodexho USA.
Reeves hired Curt Radles as the food manager for Centerplate. Radles, who started this past summer, was food manager at Wrigley Field in Chicago and has about 15 years of experience in the industry.
Before he became general manager of Centerplate at Aloha Stadium, Reeves brought in new food outlets to UH-Manoa that include Yummy's Korean Bar-B-Q, Ba-Le and Jamba Juice.
The new vendors will add to the existing stadium vendors, such as Papa John's, Compadres and Leo's, along with Centerplate, which serves shrimp and steak plates.
"We have the most incredible lineup of food in any stadium," Leonard said.