Red Sox concessionaire Aramark has “signed a deal to bring a pair of ‘Bottoms Up’ beer dispensers” to Fenway Park by Opening Day, according to Greg Turner of the BOSTON HERALD. The system “fills a special cup from the bottom up in just a few seconds, vastly outpouring typical tap setups.” Aramark Senior PR Manager David Freireich said, “We think people will be lining up and stopping by even if they aren’t planning on buying a beer, just to see how it works.” Red Sox fans “got a taste of Bottoms Up at Fenway at the end of the 2009 season during a few games of testing.” Freireich said that “improvements over the last year convinced Aramark to add Bottoms Up to the concessions starting lineup.” Freireich: “The speed is the key selling point.” He added that the “pint-size plastic cup’s recyclable magnet bottoms, which can be used for advertising, won’t force Aramark to hike prices for Bottoms Up-poured Budweisers” (
BOSTON HERALD, 3/24).
EXPANDING THE PALATE: In Baltimore, Richard Gorelick notes Camden Yard's new concessionaire, Delaware North Companies Sportservice, yesterday unveiled a new ballpark menu “with a decidedly local flair.” The company “brought the traditional (a tastefully done crab cake), the outrageous (an Esskay hot dog topped with smoked pit beef, pepperoni hash stewed tomatoes and crispy onions) and the whimsical (a golden pretzel braided in the shape of the Orioles' O).” The concession offerings in the past “felt generic and indistinct to many fans.” The “only exception over the years” has been Boog's BBQ, and “even that is being given a Sportservice twist.” Some of what Sportservice will serve "appears to have been directly inspired by the culinary bus tour of Baltimore that Sportservice executives and regional chefs took" in December. Gorelick notes the “traditional ballpark items will still be available” at the ballpark (Baltimore SUN, 3/24).
