Pro arenas healthier beneath the surface of junk

TUCSON, Ariz. – I’ve been quite critical of stadium food in the past two entries based mainly on the eye test walking around the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., but any good journalist knows there’s often more to the story than what can be found on the main concourse.

That’s what Patti Green, the marketing director in the West for Levy Restaurants, explained to me. (Levy Restaurants takes care of arena fare for about 100 locations around the nation, including Staples and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and Chase Field, US Airways Center and Dodge Theatre in Phoenix.)

Green said many of the stadiums offer a chef’s harvest selection in their restaurants, such as Staples’ Lexus Club, which focuses on “natural, locally-grown and organic ingredients, things they would maybe find at a farmer’s market.”

“We really take great care in making sure that at all of our locations we have a selection of options for people looking for healthier choices or the lifestyle they have,” Green said.

Dodger Stadium has what Green called a “healthy cart” where specialties like an oven-roasted turkey wrap, a grilled vegetable wrap, hummus, fruit salad and apples can be found.

She said it was very popular last season in its first year, so they’re adding another cart.

“With it being LA they seem to be very conscious there of what they eat,” Green said.

Closer to Tucson, Chase Field – the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks – serves veggie dogs and plans are in the works to offer grilled chicken tenders with a fresh fruit cup and vegetables on the kids menu so children don’t have to eat the usual hot dog, fries and soda.

Levy Restaurants started out as a restaurant company, so Green said it aims to serve its customers with a variety of options just as if it were a physical restaurant without a stadium attached to it.

“We look at it the same way when you come into a sporting event,” she said. “It’s not just about who’s playing on the court or on the field, it is the overall experience, and we do recognize there are people that have differences, be it dietary needs or want a healthier lifestyle. A lot of people are very into green and local sustainable options as well, so we just work to make sure to try to offer those.”

When asked about her take on UA concessions manager Brett Brestel’s comments concerning people not caring as much about eating healthy at a game as they do the rest of the week, Green did not completely disagree.

“For us it’s just about offering the options,” she said. “We understand we have a lot of different people from a lot of different walks of life. Some people want beer and brats and some people might not.”

Stadium food has always gotten a bad rap for being unhealthy, something the newly-instituted “healthy cart” aims to counterbalance.

Nobody’s asking ballparks and arenas to become Whole Foods, but it’s nice that at least the consumers have the choice of if they want the dog and a beer or something like a grilled vegetable wrap at pro arenas staffed by Levy Restaurants – even if the majority of the options are often quite unhealthy as I learned during my investigation.

“We want to try to cater for all of our fans and not the select group,” Green said. “Our goal is anybody who comes into one of our venues has options and is happy with the options and recognizes we’re trying to provide them something above and beyond what their expectations might be.”

Although college arenas like McKale Center sell food to smaller audiences than those Levy Restaurants offers meals to, the company’s commitment to providing healthy options proves it can be done.

It might hurt the profit margin a bit, but I wouldn’t be surprised if healthier food sells well in McKale – and Arizona Stadium for that matter – next to the pretzels, nachos and hot dogs it would be going up against.

As America becomes more health conscious, McKale should take a look at making its concession stands go green, at least a little bit.

Unable to eat green in the Verizon Center

WASHINGTON – After taking a look at the lack of green items in the Staples Center in Los Angeles last week, my trip to the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. to cover the Arizona men’s basketball team in the NCAA Tournament provided the perfect opportunity to see how things compared on the East Coast.

The verdict: things aren’t any greener on the other side of the country.

I took a walk around the main concourse of the stadium for lunch Thursday to see if any green options existed, but all I found were the same types of stadium food at Staples and on a smaller scale McKale Center.

Maybe UA concessions manager Brett Brestel was right, fans just don’t care about eating healthy.

I certainly didn’t mind chowing down on a delicious beef sandwich, but what about those trying to eat green?

Smithfield BBQ hit the spot for me with a piping hot beef on a bun and other stations offered carved meat, but that’s not going to do much for anybody trying to eat green.

I saw a “power grill,” but all the power it was serving up comes in the form of the calories from its burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers and fries.

I also passed by plenty of places offering hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn, pretzels and other assorted junk food at station after station, with one sign even saying, “Fill up, Buster!” above pictures of four hot dogs surrounded by popcorn and nachos.

The only thing you’ll be filling up is the bathroom with that kind of a diet.

The Verizon Center also has a Chinese concession stand that seemed like a glorified version of Panda Express with orange chicken as one of the featured entrees, but again, there’s nothing green about that.

In my previous article, Brestel basically explained to me that fans go to games to get away from their normal diet and just want to eat food that will get them back to their seats as soon as possible.

That’s really a shame, because by not offering these types of healthy options arenas are giving fans no choice but to eat junk food. As I learned when I interviewed a few students in McKale Center, the public would likely respond to healthier choices.

It also seems like it would create an economic boost for the arena’s concession stands. When I go to a game as a fan, I try to avoid the concessions altogether and eat either before or after the game because I know what kind of food is generally offered, not to mention the jacked up prices.

Offering healthier foods would likely attract a larger concessions audience and thus more dollars.

And we all know what dollars mean in the world of sports.

Trying to eat green in Staples Center

LOS ANGELES – After working on a story for The Cat Scan on eating green in McKale Center, I wondered how things differed in a professional arena in a big market.

My trip to Staples Center in Los Angeles this week to cover UA basketball in the Pac-10 Tournament provided the perfect opportunity to find out.

But like everything else in LA, it was complicated getting any answers.

I spoke to a worker at the media buffet, who brought me somebody who deals with food at Staples Center, who brought me Staples Center executive chef Matthew Herter. He gave me the number of Patti Green, the sales and marketing director of Levy Restaurants in the West Region, who apparently is the only person the company wants talking about its food.

Then when I called her on Friday, Saturday and Monday all I got was her answering machine, so unfortunately I won’t have an official source on what Staples Center brings to the table and how it differs from other major arenas.

Although UA concessions manager Brett Brestel told me people don’t care about eating healthy at sporting events, I wondered how things differed in a much bigger venue in a much bigger market.

Besides the fact it offers many more choices, the eye test says Staples isn’t much different from McKale.

Both stadiums feature your typical assortment of hot dogs, pretzels and nachos, which are literally the staples of arena fare. It seems like every stadium has that one concession stand that keeps repeating over and over with these typical food choices.

Beyond that, California Pizza Kitchen has a deal to be the exclusive pizza supplier of Staples Center and represents a chain not found in McKale Center. I enjoyed the pizza there but not the price.

The arena also sells sushi, a delicacy that certainly cannot be found anywhere near McKale, but the healthiest offering could be deli sandwiches it offers along with the typical concession food and a Mexican food stop.

Besides the concessions, the stadium hosts the AMEX Arena Club, Lexus Club and Fox Sports Sky Box, as well as the Royal Room for season-ticket holders

I will keep trying to reach Green for a future blog where she will likely be able to enlighten me on some green options in Staples Center, but from my walk around the main concourse, it didn’t look too different from McKale save for the increase in choices expected from a major arena.

Maybe Brestel was right about sports arenas not being a place where people want to eat green.

Keep reading this blog to find out about green eating choices in the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.

Unions now satisfying gluten-free diets

TUCSON, Ariz. – When Nicole Garibay spent last year as a dorm resident with celiac disease, she basically lived off salad and grilled chicken.

People who suffer from celiac must eat a gluten-free diet because their bodies cannot take the wheat, rye and barley found in gluten, so if Garibay wanted anything outside of the Student Unions, she had to walk a long walk off campus to Fry’s or Wild Oats.

“You have to go to extraordinary means to get the food,” she said.

So when Garibay, a nutritional sciences sophomore, earned a position working for the Park Student Union as part of a Professional Internship Program, she noticed the Union’s purveyor offers gluten-free products and started pushing for it. Starting this semester PSU offers a gluten-free food section to accommodate dorm dwellers like Garibay last year.

“I think a lot of people don’t realize how many people have celiac or just another gluten intolerance, which includes a wheat allergy,” Garibay said, “and more and more people are finding out that that’s what’s making them sick throughout their life, and without having those offerings the kids really have nothing.

“My first year, while most people have the freshman 15, a lot of kids who have celiac like me we actually end up losing weight because there’s just not food.”

PSU offers gluten-free chicken nuggets, pizza, macaroni and cheese and the only brand of gluten-free bread that doesn’t require a freezer, convenient for the dorm lifestyle.

Around campus, 3 Cheeses & a Noodle sells a gluten- free pasta, On Deck Deli has gluten-free bread and Highland Market offers gluten-free products as well.

“It’s everywhere, and we have so much variety,” Garibay said.

She added some people who don’t suffer from a food allergy have bought products like the gluten-free chicken nuggets and pizza based on their taste and the fact they’re allergen-free.

“I think we’ve gotten a pretty good response,” Garibay said. “I’ve talked with a few people when they bought the food to see how they’re liking it. People seem really excited, especially since we didn’t have the offerings before.”

PSU also now offers gluten-free cookies that appeal to the vegan market because they’re allergen-free and don’t include eggs or any dairy products.

PSU supervisor Rachel Barthel said many of the Union’s offerings are actually Garibay’s preferences, as she had inside knowledge of many of them having used them herself.

“We had a point of reference so to speak with Nicole in saying, ‘I like this item, let’s bring that in,’” Barthel said. “She’s been a really good reference for that.”

So now the next time Garibay wants a bite to eat to satisfy her gluten-free diet, she doesn’t need to put her walking shoes on to get it.

“It’s a lot easier,” she said. “We can just walk over here and here’s the food.”

Eating ‘Fresh’ on campus

TUCSON, Ariz. – Although healthy eating has certainly become easier since I arrived on campus in the fall of 2004, that trend actually started when I first came to school.

That’s when IQ Fresh replaced Louie’s, a Philly cheese steak restaurant, in the corner of the main Student Union.

That change seemed to symbolize the start of a philosophical shift for the Union, replacing cheese steaks and greasy fries with healthy wraps.

IQ Fresh has become a bastion of healthiness amongst the Chick-fil-A’s, Burger King’s, Papa John’s and Panda Express’ that surround the restaurant specializing in wraps, salads and signature smoothies. And IQ hasn’t even forgotten its roots, with a Philly cheese steak wrap on its menu.

The switch from IQ Fresh to Louie’s serves as another example of students being able to seek healthier alternatives while eating on campus.

David Galbraith, the Assistant Director of Arizona Student Unions, said Louie’s was “almost an institution” it was so popular in the old Union, which made way for the Student Union Memorial Center in 2003.

“It was massively successful at the old building, but we shut it down and the students changed,” he said. “It only lasted one year. We shut it down and said we got the message. They’d had enough.”

So Union officials developed a menu and logistics for IQ and sent it over to Prof. Jackson Boelts’ class, the same class from which Acacia Betancourt designed Core.

Galbraith said the reaction has been very positive, with IQ making about three times as many smoothies now, around 1,000 per day, as it did when it first opened.

He added the menu could use a little tweaking, but overall the reaction has been positive.

Four years later, IQ has become as much a staple of the Union as places like Panda and Chick-fil-A, with lines snaking around of students hoping to grab a healthy wrap or a refreshing smoothie.