Emilee Prado
WHAT ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES?
I’m responsible for all of the front-of-house operations for all the concessions stands, for the in-suite vending operations and in-suite service for the stadium. I also oversee the warehouse operations and work with the culinary team on the development of new items and setting the menus for concessions stands.
HOW DOES THE NEW PARK AFFECT YOUR PREPARATION FOR THE NEW SEASON?
As far as the menu preparations go, it’s actually not a huge difference. You know, there’s always going to be the fan-favorite items — the items that you have to have: hot dogs, nachos, hamburgers, beer, soda. So a lot of those items are easily transferable. [We’re] just trying to get them some cool new cups, maybe get a few more beers.
WHAT ARE THE MOST POPULAR CONCESSIONS DURING A SEASON?
Your standard hot dogs, soda, beer, nachos. But as far as a fan-favorite that gained the most notoriety, those [are the] two-foot-long items and the dilly dog — which, when we debuted it in 2018, I think we sold 15,000 or 16,000 of that the first year.
HOW DOES THE NEW PARK AFFECT THE CONCESSIONS PREPARATIONS FOR THE NEW SEASON?
There’s a whole new process as far as different kitchens and different ways to prepare the food. While cumulatively my team has 30-plus years of experience in the previous stadium, we’re going into a new ballpark where everything’s fresh.
ARE YOU WORKING ON NEW MENU ITEMS FOR THE NEW SEASON?
We are definitely working on a good handful of new items — some fan-favorites that are just going to be really good, delicious items [and] some are going to be wow items that draw attention.
HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH IDEAS FOR NEW MENU ITEMS?
We usually start off with a group of about 10-15, so it’ll be some of the front-of-house staff. We’ll have some of the chefs in the room, and we’ll even bring our IT guy in the room, and spitball some of his ideas. For example, one of our most popular items last year came from our warehouse manager, and the year before that, it came from an hourly culinary person.