Alison Birdwell is the new president of sports and entertainment at Aramark, part of a reshuffle that sees longtime division president Carl Mittleman shifting to COO, international. Birdwell, who joined Aramark in 2002, was most recently Western regional vice president and will continue to be based in Houston for the company, which did $16 billion in sales during the most recent fiscal year. She spoke with Terry Lefton at the start of this month about the industry and her new role.
Sales are obvious, but what else are the other important metrics you’ll be looking at in your new job?
Alison Birdwell has been with Aramark since 2002.Courtesy Aramark
BIRDWELL: Retaining the right people is always important, because it means you can have the right teams on the ground. You need that to get to where you have the right people in place to increase sales, as the business evolves.
Where do you see growth potential in your business?
BIRDWELL: There will be a lot more from the non-traditional side. Many of our clients are doing entertainment districts. We are branching outside and servicing locations like training facilities. And when you see new things like gaming gaining traction, that adds another area to serve.
How has all the consolidation in the sports licensing market impacted you?
BIRDWELL: We had a lot of discussion about that area, which is also changing very rapidly. We continue to operate clients’ brick-and-mortar operations there, and to do special events, when they make sense. I don’t see us changing our involvement in that area of the business. It serves our clients well, the fans well, and us well.
Seems to us that your business has changed more quickly over the last few years than anytime before. Why?
BIRDWELL: One of the biggest factors is fan expectations and fan experience. With the cost of attending an event rising, heightened expectations go along with that. Technology has also changed things considerably. Clients are now asking us what we can do to help drive attendance. ... We are also seeing a lot of change in premium areas, and not just in concessions.
Seems like there’s less buzz about ordering from seats and much more about grab-and-go concessions.
BIRDWELL: Fans want a value proposition and want to be more in charge of their experience and customize what they are getting, with quick-serve concepts to get them back to the game. We are getting lots of traction in that area, but we’ve also been expanding ordering at seats, which is a bit ironic. It’s all about choice.
