Oak View Group hit the ground running after taking over food and beverage operations last month at Allegiant Stadium.
Oak View, which owns or operates more than 300 sports and live entertainment venues around the world, was chosen by the Raiders to replace Levy Restaurants as the 65,000-fan capacity stadium’s concessionaire in March. The move marks the company’s first time providing food and beverage operations to an NFL stadium
Oak View had a previous Las Vegas presence, as the company has been exploring building an NBA-ready arena project in Southern Nevada. The arena venture is ongoing, with Oak View exploring new areas where the project could be built, after pulling out of plans to construct a $10 billion arena-hotel project on land located on Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road.
Employee retainment
Oak View’s human resources team has retained 95 percent of the food and beverage employees at AllegiantStadium, with some choosing to stay with Levy, which handles food and beverage operations at multiple other Southern Nevada sports venues. Oak View also hired an additional 200 people as it began its Las Vegas tenure.
“Almost everybody that wanted to come over came over… We’ve been thrilled with that,” said Chris Granger, president of OVG 360, Oak View Group’s venue management, service and hospitality arm.
First NFL facility for Oak View
Raiders President Sandra Douglass Morgan said the Raiders organization fully vetted Oak View to take on running food and beverage options at Allegiant Stadium before deciding to make the switch from Levy to Oak View.
“We did due diligence in chatting with others, whether it be arenas and venues, not only in the domestic U.S., but also internationally,” Morgan said. “Many members of our leadership team had conversations with their team on our expectations and how we do think that Allegiant Stadium is the crown jewel of all NFL stadiums and what we can do to make that experience better. … We wouldn’t have made that transition if we weren’t confident that they were going to be able to meet that mark and they have thus far.”
Hit the ground running
Oak View Group took over as Allegiant Stadium concessionaire on April 1, hosting several events, including the two-day WrestleMania, and more than 100,000 fans during its first month.
On that first day Oak View handled a private Wynn event, celebrating the casino’s Day 1 employees. That was followed by a private Google event that included a Killers concert for 15,000 attendees, WrestleMania, an AC/DC show and last weekend’s Post Malone, Jelly Roll concert.
Nearly 125,000 fans attended the two-day WrestleMania, the biggest event in professional wrestling. Over the two-day event, 3,357 people, including 552 chefs, were working in the food and beverage operations, drawing strong sales. Oak View collaborated with the WWE and its ownership of the TKO Group and On Location, which sold fans WrestleMania hospitality packages that included VIP pre-parties each day at Allegiant Stadium, with OVG heading the food and beverages operations for those as well.
“It was great to be part of the team,” Granger said. “We were thinking about the suite holder. We were thinking about the fan in the upper bowl. (We) were thinking (about) WWE and TKO and all of their media partners. We were thinking about the premium buyers that came through On Location, so we really tried to think about the individual guest experiences along the way to make sure that we were doing something interesting and fun for all types of clients of the venue.”
Over that period, Oak View sold 14,702 hot dogs, 13,591 slices of pizza, 70,020 beers and 55,581 waters.
Speeding up concessions
To make it faster for customers to buy concessions at Allegiant Stadium, OVG added nearly 100 points of sale, which will be used for all events. Oak View also plans to add 200 additional points of sale for future events, to even further increase speed of service, allowing for continued fan satisfaction at the stadium, which is routinely ranked among the best in the NFL.
“We want our fans, whether it be a Raiders fan, a concert fan, a special event fan to come back,” Morgan said, underscoring why the additional concession locations matter.
“Points of sale was incredibly important because this was our first time hosting WrestleMania and they (fans) really want to be in their seats,” she said. “Some of the other events you kind of have people walking around and mingling, so to have those different areas where people could buy and purchase what they wanted and get back to down to their seat was important and OVG was able to execute on that.”
Oak View also used 10 AiFi markets, or markets that use artificial intelligence, cameras and sensors to track customers and accurately identify items chosen by patrons and charge them accordingly.
During WrestleMania the AiFi markers saw 11,000 fans pass through the 10 markets, purchasing 18,000 items, with an average shopping time of under a minute, according to Oak View.
Having a mix of traditional food and beverage concession stands and the newer self-serve types is important to cater to the different needs of the fans at each event.
“It is important that we have a mix of these different kinds of food and beverage opportunities in the stadium and OVG is aware that we want to meet our customers, our fans, where they are,” Morgan said. “Having additional self-serve markets has been helpful and a great addition to the stadium as well.”
OVG’s vision
As Oak View gets more comfortable operating at Allegiant Stadium, the company will look to further add its own touches to various areas of the food and beverage offerings.
Adding more local vendors is also top of mind for Oak View.
Ahead of WrestleMania, OVG added three new Southern Nevada vendors to the stadium’s food and beverages offerings with Tu Michoacana, Taqueria Ktrina and Antidote.
“We’re really focused on local and making sure we’re highlighting and shining the light on local chefs, local flavors and local partners within the building,” Granger said.
Having that focus on further incorporating local businesses in the stadium’s business is something that Morgan deemed important to the Raiders.
Focusing on furthering the premium products and experience is also on Oak View to-do list. With Las Vegas being known for its hospitality, keeping pace with the latest trends will be important to Oak View, Granger said, noting “whether that’s for club seat holders, for suite holders or creating new ancillary premium ideas to expand the experience either before or after game day or event time.”
Putting its mark on events with specialty items catered to each one is also a goal of OVG. That started at WrestleMania, using wrestling-themed titles to add excitement to the event’s menu. Items include specialty vodka drinks in the Turning Heel and the Top Rope and the Royal Rumble burger which featured Wagyu beef, sweet and sticky pork belly, carrot, cucumber ribbons, pickled red onion, fresh jalapenos on a brioche bun.
Sustainability and community efforts
Allegiant Stadium has been focused on being environmentally friendly and sustainably efforts, with the building being awarded LEED gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. The Raiders signing Oak View as its new concessionaire was also based partly on them sharing the same goals as the Silver and Black.
Following WrestleMania OVG donated 1,578 pounds of food, and 15,679 pounds of waste was diverted from landfill.
“Their focus on sustainability and community impact is great, just look at what they’ve done at their other arenas,” Morgan said. “One of their first questions that their (OVG) was about sustainability initiatives that we have. So, we were able to stay in lockstep with our community and feeding operations team… You’ll see some other ones coming up with some concerts and some of the collaborations that we’re doing with some of the artists and promoters and with OVG from a sustainability standpoint.”
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.