Shortly before kicking off the NHL and NBA seasons, Smith Entertainment Group rolled out a new initiative: selling cheap stadium food.
The “Mountain Menu” features hot dogs, ice cream, popcorn and nachos for $3 each, as well as Dasani bottled water for $2. It’s meant to help young people, especially families with children, giving them the best possible experience at games.
Now, as the Utah Hockey Club and the Utah Jazz trek through the back nine of their respective seasons, SEG has released stats to illustrate the magnitude of the program.
How successful has the Mountain Menu been?
Cars don’t weigh very much, but the Delta Center concessions staff has sold enough popcorn this season to balance out two of them on a scale — that’s 31,520 boxes of popcorn.
Have you ever wondered how many scoops of ice cream it would take to fill 35 bathtubs? It’s 279,368, according to SEG’s estimation. That happens to be the exact amount they’ve sold.
Everyone knows that it takes 9,983 trays of nachos to cover a football field — but did anyone think SEG would sell that many this year?
And, last but not least, the 25,945 hot dogs they’ve sold would equal the height of the Empire State Building if stacked vertically.
According to SEG, the company’s food and beverage sector has received a 30-point improvement in its Net Promoter Score since implementing the Mountain Menu.
What’s the purpose of the Mountain Menu?
As kind as Ryan and Ashley Smith seem, they didn’t implement the Mountain Menu just to be nice. It’s a strategic move — and by all accounts, it’s working.
“Year after year, there’s just an ongoing focus on fan experience,” said Rich Waters, area vice president of hospitality. “We know that there’s a perception with stadium or arena food and beverage prices. We just had the goal, going in this year, to see how we could make things more affordable for a family type of environment.”
Put yourself in the shoes of a young family trying to go to a typically priced sporting event. You might pay $50-100 per person for “cheap” tickets, $20-30 per person for hot dogs and drinks and $40 for parking. Before you know it, a family of, say, four people is spending upwards of $400 for a night out.
That’s not doable for most families — at least not more than once or twice a year. If that’s the case, how do you get young people interested in hockey (or keep them interested in basketball)?
Programs like the Mountain Menu and the $10 ticket initiatives are designed to lower the barrier to entry, especially for young people. And on the Jazz side of things, tickets are already affordable this year with their losing season.
What’s the future of affordable stadium food?
The Utah teams aren’t the only ones to experiment with cheap stadium food. The Phoenix Suns and the Baltimore Orioles started similar programs this season — and a number of other MLB teams have had them for years.
The common denominator between those teams is that they could all use more fans.
UHC is trying to build interest in the sport; the Jazz need to sell more tickets during their rebuild; the Suns were sixth-last in average attendance in the NBA last season; and the MLB as a whole needs to be innovative to keep people coming to games.
It’s not possible (or necessary) for every pro sports team to slash their concession prices. Whether it’s even profitable remains to be seen. But those who do it are sure to see two things: more full bellies and more butts in seats.
Regardless of the amount of money the company makes from it, it’s a great formula to ensure that kids grow up watching your sport and cheering for your team.