LONGTIME VENDOR ARAMARK OUT AT PEPSI CENTER
Players and coaches have come and gone over the past 20 years at the Pepsi Center, but for almost all that time, fans could count on getting their hot dogs and beers from Aramark and their finer fare from Levy Premium Foodservice.
No more — the food contractors have been cut from the team effective Sept. 25.
“We are in the stages of finalizing a new contract. That’s coming soon,” confirmed Becca Villanueva, director of marketing communications for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
Aramark Sports & Entertainment Services, based in Philadelphia, filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice (WARN) with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment late last month stating it would let go of 185 workers at the Pepsi Center on Sept. 25.
“It is our understanding that most displaced workers typically have continued employment opportunities with the incoming provider,” Kendra Liggins, Aramark human resources director, said in her letter to the state.
Levy Premium Foodservice, which provides higher-end offerings on the club level since the Pepsi Center opened, also filed a WARN saying it planned to dismiss 56 workers within nine days of Sept. 30.
“The closure will affect substantially all employees at Levy’s Pepsi Center operations, who will experience either termination from Levy or a transfer to other Levy locations in the area, but such transfer will result in an expected reduction in hours,” Jeannifer Hao, regional director for employees at Levy, which is based in Chicago, said in her letter to the state.
Although Levy sounded a less hopeful note, the expectation is that the new vendor will interview and hire the workers that the two firms are having to let go, Villanueva said.
Rather than having two separate vendors to handle common and high-end fare, the new contractor will provide both, she said.
“Once we do finalize everything with the new company, the employees are welcome to interview,” she said. “They would then
become employees of the new company.”
ESPN “Outside the Lines” rated Colorado’s three largest sports venues at the bottom of the list when it came to food safety in a mid-December program.
Broncos Stadium landed at 103rd of 107 venues studied for food safety, with an 80 percent violation rate, while Pepsi Center ranked 101st with a 76 percent violation rate and Coors Field ranked 99th, according to the ESPN analysis.
Among the violations that food inspectors reported at the Pepsi Center were cheesesteaks and bratwursts stored at 97 degrees in a warming drawer instead of the recommended 135 degrees and a black mold-like substance on an ice machine.
But Villanueva said the story on food safety violations wasn’t why Aramark and Levy didn’t get renewed.
“It was time for a change. It didn’t have anything to do with the (ESPN) story,” she said.
Levy has operated at Pepsi Center from its opening day on Oct. 1, 1999. Aramark wasn’t far behind, gaining the concessions contract there with its acquisition of Ogden Entertainment in early 2000.
Nuggets and Avalanche fans, not to mention concert-goers and others who visit the Pepsi Center, can expect to see some changes on the menu when the new vendor takes over, Villanueva said.
The Denver Broncos yanked CenterPlate, the vendor at Broncos Stadium this spring, replacing it with Aramark. Although Kroenke could go with Centerplate, if it is looking for a fresh start a more likely candidate would be Legends Hospitality, which feeds New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboy fans.
Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, is a cofounder and owner of the firm, which is known for offering fans of all stripes a more refined set of food options, according to 247 Sports.