Levi’s Stadium vendor cuts Santa Clara jobs

759 employees will be laid off after 49ers drop concession provider

SANTA CLARA >> Centerplate, the principal food and beverage vendor at the Levi’s Stadium complex in Santa Clara, will permanently eliminate 759 jobs in Santa Clara after the 49ers football team switched concession providers, according to a state government filing.

The types of jobs affected by the layoffs include accountants, food servers, bartenders, cashiers, cooks, chefs, hosts and hostesses, restaurant workers and supervisors, attendants and warehouse workers. Among the major categories affected: 154 bartenders and 139 suite attendants.

Centerplate, a veteran company in the hospitality industry, was the first food and beverage services vendor at the stadium.

“The food and beverage service provided by Centerplate at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara will cease on or about April 15, 2018,” wrote David Winarski, a vice president of human resources with Centerplate, in the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filing with the state’s Employment Development Department. “The client has elected to contract with a different food service provider.”

The San Francisco 49ers acknowledged the planned change at the stadium.

“We are aware that Centerplate notified its employees that it expects there will be a change in concessionaire at Levi’s Stadium,” the team said in an emailed statement.

Centerplate executives in Santa Clara were contacted, but didn’t immediately comment for this article.

The Centerplate contract began

sometime in 2014.

“As the operator of Levi’s Stadium, we expect our guests to receive a best-inclass experience every time they visit Levi’s Stadium, and we know food and beverage operations are a crucial element of that vision,” the 49ers stated. “We are in the final stages of the evaluation and selection process of a new concessions provider for the venue and we look forward to presenting our recommendations to the Santa Clara Stadium Authority on Tuesday.”

It’s possible that Centerplate workers could be hired by the new concessions operator. The unions representing Centerplate employees at Levi’s Stadium are Unite Here Local 2 and Teamsters Local 853.

“Any new concessionaire is required by contract and by the city of Santa Clara worker retention ordinance to hire existing employees,” the 49ers said.