The Warriors have signed a deal with Levy Restaurants and Bon Appétit Management after "recognizing the critical role food plays" at Chase Center, their new $1B S.F. arena set to open for the '19-20 season, according to Don Muret of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Both food service companies have been "part of Compass Group for 15 years." Levy President & CEO Andy Lansing said that the multiyear agreement at Chase Center "stands out as the first time they have partnered at a sports facility." The deal "extends Levy Restaurants' relationship with the Warriors," which has been in place at Oracle Arena since '04. Bon Appétit "runs the food at most of Silicon Valley’s top tech firms, including Adobe, Brocade, Google, LinkedIn, Oracle, SAP, Uber, Twitter, Yahoo and Sony." The company also has deals "with about 40 colleges and museums." In sports, its portfolio is "lean, but it does have the premium dining account at AT&T Park." Muret notes the agreement is a management fee contract, "giving the Warriors greater control over pricing than would a revenue split" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/3 issue).
BAKE OFF! In S.F., Justin Phillips reported Bakesale Betty is "one of five Bay Area food businesses recently selected to anchor" Chase Center's concessions. All of the businesses are "relatively small, and most are family-owned." In addition to Bakesale Betty, the selections "include Tacolicious, a Mexican restaurant with several Bay Area locations; Sam’s Chowder House of Half Moon Bay; Hot Dog Bill’s, the family-run stand at the exclusive Olympic Club that sells burger dogs; and a new incarnation of Big Nate’s BBQ, the now-closed Folsom Street barbecue restaurant" from late Basketball HOFer Nate Thurmond. All will be "operated in partnership with Bon Appetit and Levy Restaurants." Warriors President & COO Rick Welts said, "The decisions had nothing to do with analytics. This was much more of how do we make sure we signal right from the beginning to everyone at Chase Center that this is going to be the best of what’s offered locally" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 4/4).
