Aramark’s Alicia Woznicki talks about the tech revolution in concessions

For a long, long, time, there was almost zero innovation around stadium concession operations. But that’s simply no longer the case. The intersection of new technologies and increased fan and business demands have spurred an explosion in concession innovation, from optical-scanner self-checkout machines to checkout-free stores, to systems that let you use your face to buy a beer.

What’s driving this revolution, and how do stadiums and concessionaires work together to implement all the new ideas? Listen in as we talk to Alicia Woznicki, vice president of marketing and innovation at Aramark Sports and Entertainment, about how this revolution got started, and where it’s headed — on the Stadium Tech Report podcast.

According to Woznicki, when she joined Aramark 8 years ago from a career that included experience at fast-casual restaurants, she didn’t see much innovation in the stadium concessions world. But now? “Technology has changed the dynamic,” she said, with new-technology stands seeing a 50 percent rise in revenues last year at Aramark properties.

Stadiums a good testing ground

One of the things Woznicki likes about stadiums is that they offer a good place to test new technologies and concepts, in a more flexible fashion than a standalone restaurant.

“In stadiums you can test and learn, and if the concept doesn’t work there’s always another stand close by for fans to use,” she said. “You can earn a lot at stadiums without as much of the risk.”

One venue where Aramark did a little bit of build-it-and-watch was at the building formerly known as the Pepsi Center (now Ball Arena) in Denver.

“We put some of the new [self-scan registers] from Mashgin on the counters and said, ‘let’s just see what happens,’ ” Woznicki said. What Aramark learned from that early experiment is that the Mashgins — which use cameras to optically scan items placed on their shelf, allowing customers to check out without any staff involved — work better at a stand where fans select items themselves in a grab-and-go fashion, as opposed to getting food and drink from a staffer at a traditional belly-up stand and then checking out via a Mashgin terminal.

Those learnings evolved into some brand-new concepts like the Walk Thru Bru stores in baseball stadiums and the Drink Mkt stands at Empower Field at Mile High, concepts that involved not only new technology but new procedures, like a stand filled with coolers where fans just selected what they wanted and checked out.

More choice, fewer staff needed

In Denver, Woznicki said the stadium’s challenges of hiring enough workers was the main reason more concession technology was deployed. After first opening the Drink Mkt stands with Mashgins, a year later Aramark added in the Zippin checkout-free technology to the Drink Mkt stores, producing another hit with fans. The Mashgins are still being used in Denver at some grab-and-go type stands, where “fan favorites” like canned beverages, hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts and nachos are simply taken from shelves as fans walk by. Payment for those stands is done via Mashgin scanners at the end, with a staff member present only to check IDs for alcohol purchases.

One of the interesting things about deploying new technology in stadium concession spaces is that it can have attributes beyond just making transactions faster and more contact-free. In the case of the Walk Thru Bru and Drink Mkt stands, Woznicki said the new concepts allow for venues to offer far more choices of different brands, because having fans pick their own drink choices out of coolers is much more efficient than having a staffer turn around to get a fan’s choice from a menu.

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And while Aramark had been looking and deploying technology before the Covid pandemic hit, Woznicki said the fan responses in a post-shutdown world showed a higher level of receptiveness to technology-based options.

“Before the pandemic, we had kiosk systems in [where fans order or pay from a screen] but people didn’t want to do it,” Woznicki said. “We couldn’t figure it out, even though they were doing it in everyday life.” But now?

“Now, we don’t see any hesitation for fans to use kiosks,” she said. “That was a post-Covid switch.”

Keeping track of new technology another challenge

While teams and venues in general have seemed to welcome the new technologies (which can both decrease lines and increase revenues) Stadium Tech Report has heard some concerns about how venues will manage their expanding technology stacks.

For Aramark customers, Woznicki said there is now in place a coordinated point-of-sale administration system for all its options, which allows teams and venues to better compare performance and track inventory. “But there’s always something new being added,” she noted.

Looking forward, Woznicki still sees a concessions landscape that is a mix of old and new for the next few years. Some things, like mobile order-ahead systems, have yet to fully catch on, but she expects that will be just part of the new scenario for teams and venues — which will require more thought than just what kind of beer to put in the coolers.

“If everything is a POS, it changes how you plan for that,” she said.

But there’s also no going back, for caterers, fans or stadiums, especially since the new technologies are not just helpful but also apparently fun and exciting.

“It’s great to see people coming to games, and taking pictures of concession stands, saying they never want to shop any other way,” Woznicki said. “Hearing that never gets old.”

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