Levy Restaurants Wins Deal to Provide Concessions at Ohio State Venues
The BBQ Short Rib Dog that Levy serves at Chase Field.Levy Restaurants, one of the premier stadium concession providers, has signed a seven-year deal with Ohio State, replacing longtime food service provider Sodexo.
“Ohio State is incredibly passionate about creating an exceptional experience for this vibrant community of students, faculty, family and fans,” Andy Lansing, President and CEO of Levy Restaurants, told Eleven Warriors. “We are thrilled to work together with Ohio State in every aspect, from how we partner with the community and local businesses, to offering a new variety of culinary options and an exciting new level of hospitality that celebrates the spirit of this distinguished institution.”
Levy currently provides concessions for 21 sports venues around the country, including Churchill Downs and AmericanAirlines Arena. Iowa State and Purdue are the only colleges that use Levy's services. They also outfit the Grammy's with food items.
Levy recently provided the NBA All-Star Game with a special spicy grilled chicken wing recipe. Below, for your pleasure:
Spicy Grilled Chicken Wings
16 chicken wings, de-jointed
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons chipotle peppers, canned in adobo
2 tablespoons honey
½ cub green onions, chopped
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Bamboo skewers for serving
Buttermilk DipIn a food processor, add the vegetable oil, chipotle peppers, honey, green onions, garlic, salt, cumin and cayenne pepper and blend until just combined.
Using bamboo skewers, place 4 chicken wings on each skewer. Place the chicken wings in a plastic zipper bag and add the marinade. Refrigerate overnight.Prepare a charcoal grill to medium-hot heat. Place chicken wings on the grill and cook for about 10-15 minutes, turning and basting constantly with marinade. Serve chicken wings with buttermilk dip.
Buttermilk Dip
1 cup sour cream
½ cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon white pepperCombine all of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. Adjust seasoning to taste. Chill and serve dip with spicy grilled chicken wings.
Sodexo has recently come under fire for violating workers' rights. Western Washington University was the first college to end its contract with Sodexo.
United Students Against Sweatshops has been one of Sodexo's harshest critics.
"It is important to remember that the university is not directly involved in this matter," OSU spokesman Jim Lynch said in a May 18 email to The Lantern regarding the complaints against Sodexo. "We continue to maintain that every employer is entitled to its own views on unionization and employee relations, just as every employee is entitled to vote on representation; we should not infringe on the rights of either party."
Ohio State's new direction solves that problem, while also (we hope) upgrading the food options.
Comments
oh great, just what we need, more hipster douchebags.
Speaking of hipsters:
How did the hipster burn his tongue?
He drank his coffee before it was cool.
I take this as good news. (The horrific photo above of what I assume to be some form of a hotdog notwithstanding.)
Step Two: Start selling beer.
And they should only use Ohio breweries (just like at Woody's Tavern in the Union)
35 hours to Pasadena! Go Bucks!
Agreed!
Dude, its short rib, cheese and fries on a hotdog bun, tough to mess that up. Haha.
"I'm One Bad Buckeye, and I approve this message."
Great here comes $18.00 hot dogs and $13.00 H2O. Their wings sound good.
Beer would be awesome, and just do not mess with my nachos!
You liked those nachos? I thought the 2012 vintage was a little more cardboardy even than usual.
As long as the Stadium Mustard never leaves, I'll be happy
/Duff'd It
Sadly, that might be the first thing to go. I'll throw a fit myself if it does.
"Sherman ran an option play right through the south" - Greatest.Civil.War.Analogy.Ever
NOVA: Which Stadium Mustard are you referring to? I hope you're not talking about that crap imitator that's also sold at Browns games.
"Attack the Strong, Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead!"
-Former OSU S&C Coach Lichter
That's an Ohio product! I'm sure it will stay. http://www.stadiummustard.com/
741: It's a shameless ripoff. Just because it's an Ohio product does not mean it should stay.
"Attack the Strong, Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead!"
-Former OSU S&C Coach Lichter
I honestly don't know any better - you mean there is some other "Stadium Mustard"?
Ah - I think I get it. Per wikipedia there are two competing Cleveland mustard products (one called Ballpark Mustard and the other Stadium Mustard). I had no idea - and am not partial to one over the other.
P.S. Here we go Steelers!
Bertman's is the original. They used to be the same company; when they split, Stadium got the name and Joe Bertman got the recipe. Bertman's has grown greatly in the past few years while Stadium is starting to fade away. Stadium is at Browns Stadium while Bertman's is at Quicken Loans (Cavs) and Progressive Field (Indians), as well as all Indians affiliates.
Side Note: I'm the one who upvoted you to counter the needless downvote.
"Attack the Strong, Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead!"
-Former OSU S&C Coach Lichter
This was more interesting than the wiki. Thanks! I checked out the website for the true original: http://www.bertmanballparkmustard.com/prod01.htm
By the way, I may be a little biased... I may or may not be a Bertman ;)
"Attack the Strong, Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead!"
-Former OSU S&C Coach Lichter
As someone who worked for Sodexho I say 'good riddance' ! They were not a class act and the management team was a joke !
As one of the churches that staffed a concession stand, I fear losing Sodexo means our excellent fund-raiser goes with them. I too had my issues with some of the procedures/leadership with Sodexo, but at the same time our church and school benefited GREATLY from this venture. I hope that we can continue, but fear we may not.
Our group also staffed a concession stand at Ohio Stadium and the Schott this past year. According to their website, they also offer NPOs the same opportunities as Sodexo. We'll see how that shakes out.
They better still have the same regular hot dogs available.
D. Anthony
The only food I ever purchased was the hot dogs. They were the same since before I started school in '70. Maybe that makes be old school, but those dogs were just to hard to resist. Smothered in Stadium Mustard (I think it is Gulden's) - just was a game day tradition. Terrible for you, but part of the overall experience at The Shoe.
in the 70s, that may have been the only food you could get at the stadium, except for popcorn and the random fundraising and enterprising kid who brought (snuck) in $1.00 candy bars to sell! I vaguely remember burgers for a couple of years in the late 70s, which featured some sort of bbq sauce soaking the burger.
And those hot dogs were great!
Stadium dogs with stadium brown mustard are essential!
Back in '93, I used a couple of stadium dogs as hand-warmers at halftime of the Penn St. game when it snowed on Oct. 31.
As long as they don't run out of hot dogs during the The Game, I am good.
I will eat a short rib dog every game if it's offered.
I always thought it would be a huge opportunity to provide ribs and other "more high end" food in the stadium. A City Barbeque booth would be AWESOME at Ohio Stadium.
I heard a report on WOSU on the drive home this afternoon that Levy Restaurants is working to partner with several "Ohio based" providers to add some variety to the offerings in the stadium. I'd love to see City Barbeque on that list. (Hoping they don't just mean Bob Evans, or even Wendy's.)
I can barely afford the spring game tickets I just bought. I can't see myself buying a couple tickets at $125 each and then spending another $50 for a stadium meal that's probably going to make me feel like shit an hour later... But I probably will.