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UPDATED: Marlins Concession Foods: BYOF

Update: Bob Pascal, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Centerplate, confirmed to us that low attendance does affect how many different types of food get sold."The attendance on that particular night was under 4,500, so not all of our stands were open," said Bob.   "We try to avoid equipment redundancy...
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Update: Bob Pascal, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Centerplate, confirmed to us that low attendance does affect how many different types of food get sold.

"The attendance on that particular night was under 4,500, so not all of our stands were open," said Bob.   "We try to avoid equipment redundancy. This (low crowds) poses a challenge to our ability to provide the breadth of variety while managing waste. This is something we'll continue to look at, to see how we  can better protect the variety available on any given day." 


At the beginning of last baseball season, I wrote disparagingly of the foods served at Sun Life Stadium. The vendor, Centerplate, had brought in all sorts of interesting new foods to other sports venues around the country. "And what did Marlins fans come out with at Sun Life Stadium? 'Extensive facility upgrades include a new general concessions area, kitchen equipment, and refurbished carts'." I soon heard back from the Centerplate folks, who put me in touch with executive chef Orlando Morales. He claimed that the exciting changes in concession food at Sun Life had occurred earlier, to time it with the Super Bowl.

"There used to be hot dogs, popcorn, and burgers. Now it's a beautiful Stadium with lots of new flair: Latin cuisine, open flame grills, carving stations, pulled pork smoked in-house at Everglades BBQ, Carnegie Deli, a more open feel... ."

Maybe somewhere in the ballpark there is an Everglades BBQ, but sure didn't see it at last night's ballgame. All I saw were the same old overpriced hot dogs, chintzy nachos, and Papa John's pizza -- along with a few shlocky snacks sold elsewhere.


​The crowd at the game was small, so the upper deck and its' concessions were closed. We tried the hot dogs, chicken tenders basket, and Philly cheesesteak sandwich. And instead of buying $9 beers from the vendors who work the stands, we got a $7 bargain at the Grille concession. Didn't try Papa John's pizza, as we already know what that's like, or soft serve ice cream. The "Carnegie Deli" made Boar's Head sandwiches that looked a notch or three below what you would get at the deli section in Publix. Really: The food scene in this ballpark is ugly.

Only real tip to offer: The Philly sandwich, at $8 (sold at a small cart) will fill you up more than other similarly priced foods. In fact, if you're lucky it will fill you up so much that you won't need to order anything else. It's not a Philly cheesesteak per se, but it has the basic ingredients and tastes decent enough.

The Marlins lost the game in extras and looked sluggish for a young team at the beginning of the season. Maybe they've been snacking at the concessions.


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