The Royals’ Diamond of Dreams hosts 1,500 at Kauffman Stadium. Eleven restaurants partnered with Aramark on the fundraising event.Suzy Stratton Photography (2)
Staging culinary events at sports venues can often spawn more events, Tim Witkowski, Aramark district manager in Kansas City, has learned.
In Kansas City, Aramark stages the Kansas City Royals’ annual 1,500-person on-field fundraiser, Diamond of Dreams, at Kauffman Stadium in June. In concert with that same event, Aramark also staffs a separate 400-person VIP event.
“It takes a lot of coordination because you only have a certain amount of time on the field to get set up,” Witkowski said of this year’s event. “It is done between homestands. We had a game Wednesday. We had a game Friday.”
The Big Slick Celebrity Weekend charity softball game at Kauffman led to Aramark’s work on a separate food event at a downtown Kansas City theater.Getty Images
He said hosting food events for the Royals helped Aramark forge links with K.C.-based actors Paul Rudd, Rob Riggle and Eric Stonestreet for their Big Slick Celebrity Weekend charity events to benefit Children’s Mercy Hospital. Witkowksi said the actors had held charity games at Kauffman Stadium and turned to Aramark to provide food for a 600-person event June 2 at a downtown Kansas City theater.
Aramark staffed that event with 40 people and pulled staff from convention centers and other venues it manages in the region. “We pulled assets and chefs from those locations. At the same time we were pulling this off there was a baseball game going on,” he said.
