One of the bars serving local beer at The Diamond, home of the Richmond Flying Squirrels (Photo courtesy The Diamond)
Homemade barbecue, build-your-own burritos, action-packed soccer and timeless baseball: Sports fans around the region have access to a wide array of food and drink from local purveyors while they cheer for their teams.
In recent seasons, the Tri-City Chili Peppers, Richmond Flying Squirrels, Richmond Ivy and Richmond Kickers have introduced new items to their food and beverage menus and forged partnerships with area businesses — though each stadium uses a different strategy.
City Stadium combines the worlds of food trucks and breweries during Ivy and Kickers soccer games. Five food trucks hold a residency at Kickers games and two at Ivy games, according to Tom Pritzl, executive director of stadium partnerships and operations. Patrons can also choose from 30 taps of beer and 18 canned beer options split across five bars, he says.
Patrons will find IPAs, pilsners, pale ales and more from Richmond’s Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Three Notch’d Brewing Company, Triple Crossing Beer, and Premium and Brown distribution companies. The distribution companies’ options don’t stop at beer; stadium guests can fill their glasses with Twisted Tea on tap at the Premium bar and supplement it with a Chomp Nightingale Ice Cream Sandwich from the Brown bar.
Pritzl says he’s researched all the distributors and breweries to ensure people can enjoy the game no matter what they’re craving. “We are the best brewery in Richmond,” he says. “We have the best selection.”
Variety is also the name of the game when it comes to stadium munchies. At Kickers games, Arroz RVA offers a build-your-own burrito and bowl bar right outside the stadium entrance. Fans can also dine from Mexican-focused food truck El Guapo’s, tater-tot-heavy Shakedown Eats, and La Bête, known for its killer crab sandwiches.
Shakedown Eats is also at Ivy games, along with Real Ginger, a recently debuted food truck from the owners of Carytown’s Ginger Thai.
“We’ve kind of got a little bit of everything,” Pritzl says. “You’re able to get your food, you’re able to get your drink, you’re able to hang out [and] bring the fam.”
Pritzl also hopes that ordering from local vendors helps people see City Stadium as a community hub and encourages them to visit. “Richmond’s a very cultured beer and food and beverage area, so I’m just trying to highlight Richmond as best as I can in the way that I can,” he says.
Chris Martin, founder of Colonial Heights’ Tri-City Chili Peppers collegiate baseball team, also brings local fare to fans.
Martin smokes barbecue for 14 hours before home games at the Chili Peppers’ Shepherd Stadium, he says. While people tell him he doesn’t have the 14 hours to spare, Martin says, “I love making barbecue — I love making food, believe it or not.”
The stadium’s double cheeseburger also features a pepper jam made by a local business, and Martin says he hopes homemade fare adds to the atmosphere at Chili Peppers games.
Another local business provides popcorn to Shepherd Stadium, and Martin say the local partnerships are mutually beneficial to the Chili Peppers and the community.
“Their success is our success and vice versa,” he says. “We want to take care of everybody. At the end of the day, if we’re good people, if we’re good neighbors, we all win.”
Shepherd Stadium also serves Italian sausages, hot dogs, cheeseburgers, cheese curds, chicken tenders, french fries, nachos, pretzels and ice cream. Stadium staff test the menu items for taste and preparation time.
In choosing the menu, they also balance adding new items and offerings that were previously successful. Martin says they switched from quarter-pound hot dogs to Italian sausage when the pandemic hit, while pretzels and popcorn have been a mainstay since day one.
“There are certain things you have in there to try and get people to come to the kitchen,” he says.
The food, Martin says, is part of the Chili Peppers experience that fans come back for. “If they had a good experience, they’re going to want to come back."
At The Diamond, Steve Bales says baseball classics including franks and a cold one are part of what keeps some fans returning. The director of food and beverage jokes that some kids care more about burgers, fries and a helmet of Dippin’ Dots than the score of the game, and that some adults want to experience childhood nostalgia.
So, he says, the staff prioritize their stadium space for hot dogs and beer, the two bestsellers. “You concentrate on what you’re going to sell the most of,” he says. “You make sure you do that well, and then you try to find those holes to fill with your stuff.”
Hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, chicken tenders, popcorn, pretzels, french fries, ice cream and a stand for Potbelly, the national sandwich restaurant, fill the extra spaces, according to Bales. The Diamond also serves Kona Ice, a national shaved ice vendor. Partnerships with companies like Potbelly and Kona Ice add variety to the menu, Bales says.
“There’s some stuff that those third parties can do better than we can,” he says.
The Diamond’s Funnville Grill and Crispy Corner stations also serve specialty items and sides such as double-patty burgers, steak burgers, fried chicken sandwiches and mozzarella sticks.
“Those types of menu changes aren’t really about sales,” Bales says. “It’s more about having something fun for those people that are looking for something different.”
It’s part of an effort to serve as many fans as possible as fast as possible, no matter what type of food they want, Bales says. “We want to get bigger and better at serving everybody and doing it fast,” he says.
