Levy Restaurants will feed thousands of people at a trio of events over the weekend before the Super Bowl. The concessionaire is set to handle the food and beverage operations for the NFL Pro Bowl, NHL All-Star Game and the Grammy Awards. “Hosting one major event, like an All-Star game, is a great challenge,” Levy President & CEO Andy Lansing said. “Planning for and executing several within a three-day span requires skill and knowledge across our entire company.” At Sunday’s Pro Bowl at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, the company expects to go through about 1,000 pounds of chicken, 2,200 hamburgers, 10,000 hot dogs and 36,000 bottles of water. Levy said 15 chefs will walk about 23 miles during the Pro Bowl and 300 team members will serve 41,000 fans at this year’s game. “We’ve encountered these situations frequently over the last decade, though 2020 will be one of our busiest yet,” Lansing added. “Success ultimately boils down to mapping out all the details well in advance. Just like chefs focus on mise en place before cooking, we set the ingredients of hospitality in place well ahead of an event.”
SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS: St. Louis’ Enterprise Center is hosting NHL All-Star festivities on Friday and Saturday, and Levy’s hospitality team will have five chefs and 22 managers on hand. The company expects 10,000 hot dogs will be eaten during All-Star events at the arena, and it will open a new grab-and-go market on the main concourse offering 45 types of domestic and premium craft beer, cider and seltzer. Levy will also add nine new specialty dishes to the Enterprise Center menu this weekend. “Hockey All-Star planning started with last year’s event, which our St. Louis team attended,” Lansing said. “From there, it’s about having amazing talent to pull it all together. And while it’s long, hard work, we always remind ourselves to enjoy the ride. We got into this business for these amazing opportunities.”
HITTING THE RIGHT NOTES: The Grammy Awards are a slightly different affair, as Sunday’s event at Staples Center will see Levy’s 800 on-hand employees serve 1,000 bottles of wine, 2,000 bottles of champagne, more than one ton of vegan and vegetarian food offerings, 3,000 handmade eclairs made by local pastry shop Artelice, 5,500 mini hand-rolled egg rolls, more than 200 pounds of chocolate, 12,500 ounces of carved prime tomahawk steak and 20,000 gummy bears. Levy employees spent five months of collaborating and planning the menu with the Grammys and Staples Center and over 1,500 hours cooking leading up to the event, Lansing said.
