The Cleveland Indians have signed a four-year contract, with options, with Delaware North for its two concessions subsidiaries, Sportservice and Well Bread, to handle the general and premium concessions business at Jacobs Field, according to Jayne Churchmack, vice president of merchandising and food sales with the Indians.
The contract gives the Indians a single concessionaire for the first time in the 10-year history of Jacobs Field. Until this season, the club had split its general and premium concessions duties between Sportservice and Levy Restaurants, respectively.
Financial terms of the deal were not available, but Sportservice officials said it is structured as a profit-and-loss arrangement with performance incentives.
Churchmack said the deal is more cost-effective for the club than its prior arrangement because the team no longer has to pay for two separate operations and their respective staffs. She added that when the initial concessions deals were signed 10 years ago, many stadium operators felt that general concessionaires were unequipped to handle fine dining. That is no longer the case.
"The general concessionaires have really risen to the occasion and proven that they can be fine-dining experts as well," said Churchmack, who noted that the club also considered proposals from Levy and Aramark.
Indians executives toured the ballparks in San Francisco (Centerplate), Colorado (Aramark), Phoenix (Levy) and St. Louis (Delaware North) to determine what they wanted from a partner. Churchmack said Delaware North submitted the most attractive proposal.
"They came back with a lot of ideas and a lot of expectations, so for us to be able to meet those expectations was a big win for us," said Jerry Jacobs Jr., executive vice president of Delaware North.
Indians executives plan to complete construction plans to enhance food options on the concourse, Churchmack said.
Staff writer Don Muret contributed to this report.
| Delaware North and MLB |
| Delaware North’s deal with the Cleveland Indians gives the company the general-concessions business of nine MLB teams and premium-seat business for seven clubs. Including the Indians, 24 of MLB’s 30 clubs now have both concessions areas operated by one company. The following shows the concessionaire count for MLB teams. |
| | General | Premium-seat |
| Aramark | 13 | 10 |
| Delaware North* | 9 | 7 |
| Centerplate | 6 | 5 |
| Levy Restaurants | 1 | 6 |
| Boston Concessions | 1 | 1 |
| In-house | 0 | 1 |
| |
* Represents business for Sportservice and Well Bread
Sources: Companies, facilities and SportsBusiness Journal research |
