Change in food, beverage seller

Ryan Sanders Sports Services new concessionaire.

Change is on the menu at Cedar Park Center.

The venue, home to the Texas Stars hockey team, has signed a deal with a new food and beverage provider, Ryan Sanders Sports Services, that plans to remodel concession areas and make a number of new items available for purchase.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Round Rock-based Ryan Sanders Sports Services also is the concessionaire at Dell Diamond, Circuit of the Americas and the Austin360 Amphitheater. Aramark, a Philadelphia-based company, previously handled food and drinks at Cedar Park Center.

“We contacted all the major concessionaires in the country,” said Rick McLaughlin, the Cedar Park Center general manager and Texas Stars president. “When we finished our analysis, Ryan Sanders Sports Services emerged as the best provider for us. We were very impressed with their food concepts and their food offerings. It seems like a really good fit for us to partner with a Central Texas company.”

The changes are expected to be in place by Oct. 10, when the Stars start their season. Visitors will notice all concession stands have been renovated to look like restaurant storefronts, McLaughlin said.

Those storefronts will include Fairlane’s Diner, Metro Deli, One-EightyThree Chophouse, Rojo’s Mexican Hideaway and Texas Smokehouse presented by Smokey Mo’s Bar-B-Q.

Ryan Sanders Sports Services also will oversee catering for Cedar Park Center’s suites and the MillerCoors Club.

“It’s more inviting,” said George King, president of Ryan Sanders Sports Services. “Our whole intention was to get away from what you assumed concession food to be. We want it to be something that’s authenticated by being from a brand.”

Some of the new menu items to be introduced will include 18-inch flatbreads, fried alligator bites and a hot Cuban sandwich. The beer and wine selection will be expanded, as well.

“Austin’s a food town,” King said. “The fans are so much more sophisticated these days. We get how Austin works and what the fans and guests are looking for.”

Brian Candler, who was Ryan Sanders Sports Services’ general manager at Dell Diamond, will shift to Cedar Park Center, overseeing the company’s food and drink operations there.

On game days, King said, Ryan Sanders Sports Services could have as many as 200 employees working at the venue.

“We bring a different mentality to the table, and we hope the fans embrace that,” King said. “We want to deliver an unexpected level of service.”