The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tailgater Concierge plans the party
Service looks to cater to niche market of fans.
CHICAGO – Love tailgating but hate the hunt for parking, the setup, the cleanup, all that work?
Former McDonald’s Chief Marketing Officer Neil Golden has the solution for your chichi ways: Tailgater Concierge.
For about $55 to $90 per head, Golden’s new business will deliver a grill, cooler, groceries, a canopy, chairs and nonalcoholic beverages to a prime tailgating spot outside the college stadium of your choice, nationwide. Don’t want to get your soft hands dirty on the grill? Tailgater Concierge provides a chef too.
The idea of catered tailgating might seem to fly in the face of tailgating’s do-it-yourself ethos: The high prices will rule out all but the wealthiest students and alumni, and some die-hard locals and spatula-wielding fans may even see it as an affront.
But Golden thinks he’s found a niche just waiting to be filled - successful grads returning to their alma mater from out of town for the weekend.
“As a lifelong fan of college football, I’ve seen firsthand how much work fans put into the tradition of tailgating and realize that many just want to enjoy their time with friends and family, not deal with the responsibility of owning, hauling, setting up, taking down, and storing their own equipment,” he said.
“There are fans who have taken tailgating to a remarkable level — God bless ‘em,” he said, but added that most fans who enjoy tailgating are “not quite as vested” as the hardcore fans who spend thousands of dollars to bring trickedout RVs and giant drum smokers to games.
The startup marks a change of pace for Golden, who until November 2013 controlled McDonald’s $1.4 billion marketing budget. Since he left the burger giant during a management shake-up prompted by McDonald’s struggle to adapt to changing consumer tastes, he’s acted as a marketing adviser for Bain Capital and has taught part time at Northwestern University, where he first caught the college football bug more than 30 years ago.
Though catered tail- gating businesses exist all over the country, Golden’s attempt to create a “consistent, national” brand is new and will allow him to rely on insights from his 24 years at McDonald’s, he said.
Golden resists comparisons to the growing trend of glamorous camping, or “glamping,” in which urban sophisticates pay top dollar to experience the great outdoors in high style, but he is betting that two groups of college football fans will be willing to shell out premium prices: recently graduated superfans of college teams looking to reunite with their college pals, and well-heeled older alumni keen to have everything taken care of by a hospitality industry pro and a team of current students.
“They think that it represents a good value,” he said, adding that simply finding a good tailgating spot at many schools is expensive and requires a season ticket.
He has deals for prime tailgating spots with 18 schools across the U.S. — including Arizona State University, Mississippi State University, the University of Illinois, Northwestern and UCLA — where he has hired and trained students. At bigger schools, he has the capacity to handle up to 75 tailgates at once, he said.
It’s yet to be seen how seasoned tailgaters will respond.
But Joe Cahn, a tailgating fanatic who says he has attended more than 850 tailgates all over the country since bought a motor home, said he expects Tailgater Concierge to do well. While “there are unwritten rules and some tailgaters look down” on catered tailgate parties, others treat it as if “you’re having a party at your own house and you bring caterers in,” said Cahn, who styles himself the “Commissioner of Tailgating” on his tailgating website.