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Aloha Stadium
signs on new chef

After a two-month search,
a larger company takes over
the food concession

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By Janine Tully
Star-Bulletin

Kal-bi and mandoo are off the regular menu, but teri-beef, teri-chicken and hamburger steak plates will still be offered when a new company takes over the food services contract at Aloha Stadium tomorrow.

Aloha Stadium officials selected Volume Services Inc. to provide food at all stadium events after nearly two months of searching for a replacement, said stadium manager Eddie Hayashi.

The mainland company replaces Yummy Management Co., which ends its 10-year contract today after only five months with the stadium.

The contract termination was a "friendly termination," said state Deputy Attorney General John Dellera, counsel to the Stadium Authority.

He said Yummy wanted to end the contract as early as September because the scale of the operation was larger than expected.

"They had expected 23 stalls when there were 75 to 90 stalls to take care of, depending on the type of event scheduled," he said. "They realized this after they started operating the concessions."

Yummy Management owner Peter Kim could not be reached for comment yesterday. The company runs Yummy Korean Bar-B-Q and other local restaurants.

Volume Services is a big company accustomed to handling large facilities here and on the mainland, including Yankee Stadium, Dellera said. Locally it runs concessions at Blaisdell Center, Sea Life Park and sites on the neighbor islands, he said.

The 10-year contract requires Volume Services to manage all stadium events, including concerts, swap meets and athletic events.

Dellera said Yummy had asked Stadium Authority officials to sign over his contract to Volume Services, but that officials had refused to do so for fear of violating procurement rules. Instead, they put the contract out for bids in November.

On Dec. 15 the board decided to award the contract to Volume Services based on the company's return rate, Dellera said. Under the terms of the contract, Volume Services is to pay the state 48.5 percent of its gross sales on most items, or 1.5 percentage points more than Yummy provided.

"There were several bids, but Volume's was slightly higher than the previous contract with Yummy, and would bring in the state more revenue," Dellera said.

Stadium concession sales generate close to $4.5 million annually, said Dellera, with food and beverage during the football season making up the bulk of the revenues, totaling $3.1 million. The rest of the money comes from novelties and catering sales, he said.

Lois Sismar, the district manager for Volume Services says most stadium workers probably will not change as those who want to stay have reapplied for their jobs.