Almost every sports team has some version of a stadium or team app, usually developed by one of the main third-party providers in the market. These vary in quality and functionality, with most teams trying hard to engage fans by supporting digital ticketing and payment and loyalty services inside the app, with varying degrees of success in getting fans to download and use the programs.
To support its ambitious fan-connection demands — including its concessions operation — St. Louis City SC went its own way, building its own team application from scratch to get all the functionality it wanted.
“Most stadium apps leave something to be desired,” said St. Louis City SC chief experience officer Matt Sebek. City SC’s app, on the other hand, was functioning a year before the team ever took the field, bringing content and information to prospective fans well before the first game ball was rolled onto the CityPark turf.
By building connections through the content, Sebek said that City SC now can claim that approximately 74 percent of the fans have the team app installed on game day. And while digital ticketing was a “no-brainer” inclusion, the “City Go” functionality of the app allows fans to store a payment form for easy scan-and-pay operation, as well as to order food ahead of time for express pickup at any one of 10 different stands.
According to Sebek, the order-ahead option was a key to the team’s strategy to “stretch the time” available for fans to get food and drink. By adding an order-ahead option, the idea was that stands could essentially serve approximately twice the number of patrons, with one window for walk-up orders and another for orders made via a mobile device.
“The peak times for fans to get food is 10 minutes before game time, and 10 minutes before halftime,” Sebek said. “We want to extend those ordering times.”
So far, the concept is trending toward increasing success. Some of that may simply have to do with the fact that the app looks good and works well.
“The photos [of menu items] are professional, they’re beautiful,” said Sebek. The order-ahead part of the app also includes photos of the individual stands’ purveyors, and a small company logo.
“It’s like something you might see from Panera,” Sebek said.
According to Sebek, online orders currently make up 20 percent of a game day’s overall orders at most of those stands, with a higher overall order size and bigger tips than in-person orders. Many of those are placed before the game starts, as more fans embrace the team’s urging for fans to arrive early and take full advantage of the extensive menu options. According to Sebek, 60 percent of a game’s overall food and beverage sales now take place before the opening whistle is blown.
While the providers we talked to cited fulfilling the app orders as one of their biggest game-day challenges, they also embraced the option, claiming its additions in volume and revenue made it a great business decision.
“A small restaurant business might see 10,000 customers in a year — we’re putting them in a place that gets 22,500 people every night,” Sebek said. “It’s an environment that’s a bit imposing at first, but we’ve all been making operational improvements. Because mobile is so successful, more of our partners are looking to adding it.”
Checkout-free stores already a fan favorite
Next in the technology line are the three checkout-free stores, which use technology from Zippin, the leader in the sports stadium marketplace. If you’re not familiar with checkout-free stores, here’s a quick primer. Customers are allowed to enter stores by scanning a credit card or some other pre-authorized payment method. After entering the store’s gate they simply take the items they want off the shelves and then exit. Payment takes place online after they leave the store.
All three of the checkout-free stands at CityPark have a hot food option available, as well as drinks and packaged snacks like chips or popcorn. In several live timings, Stadium Tech Report can confirm that even a fan who wanders around a bit to check out the various offerings can usually figure out what they want and leave in less than a minute.
Sebek said the checkout-free stands are getting “incredible numbers” for transaction times, with an average of 90 seconds per transaction through the first 10 matches. CityPark said checkout-free orders on averge are also 125 percent higher than those at other stands, stats that already have the stadium team in motion to bring the technology to more stands.
“We’re going to find ways to add more [checkout-free stores] for sure,” Sebek said.
A number of other stands that don’t have order-ahead or checkout-free options are still using advanced technology, including the self-checkout terminals from Mashgin, which use cameras to scan items placed on the terminal shelf, allowing fans to complete a transaction without staff assistance. At some belly-up bars CityPark has flip-screen terminals where staff enter purchase information and then flip the screen over for a customer to complete the payment part of the transaction.
Overall, “it’s the perfect marriage — emerging tech and great local food,” Sebek said.
Next: Part 3: The Food: Hard to match St. Louis’ menu
Editor’s note: This post is one part of our seven-part report on the concessions operations at St. Louis City SC’s CityPark. To go to the start of the report, click this link. You can also download a PDF of the full report, with more photos.
