Food workers have cooked up a plan to feed thousands of Jayhawk fans at the home opener.
Half a ton of hot dogs, untold gallons of soda, hundreds of employees, a catering service and, for the first time, alcoholic beverages will be ready by the 6 p.m. kickoff Saturday at Kansas University's Memorial Stadium.
When the ball is actually kicked in the Jayhawks' home opener against Cal State Northridge, employees will have been working in the stadium for more than a day to prepare food and take tickets.
Besides 10,000 hot dogs, Steve Vormehr, owner of Mid-America Concessions, has ordered 24,000 bottles of water, 100 gallons of popcorn cooking oil and 500 pounds of uncooked popcorn.
Concession workers began cooking popcorn Friday morning afternoon.
To each of the 30,000 to 35,000 fans expected to attend, Vormehr hopes to sell between $2.50 and $3 worth of food.
His employees will begin work at the stadium at 10 a.m. Most of the concession booths are run by charity groups. The groups get a percentage of the sales from the concession stands they operate.
To be able to provide alcoholic beverages to those people sitting high above the stands in the new suites, as the skyboxes are called, the Lawrence Hy-Vee grocery store had to get a catering liquor license, said the store's catering manager, Theresa McMullen.
Hy-Vee was selected about three weeks ago from among five different caterers vying for the job, she said.
As for what alcohol the skybox crowd wants, it sounds like standard fare for Lawrence.
Corona, Heineken, Guinness, Boulevard, wines and assorted liquors.
All of the liquor orders have to be in by Friday with a credit card number. According to campus policy, no liquor can be sold on campus on Saturday, McMullen said.
As for food, those in the skyboxes have chosen appetizers including shrimp cocktail and hot wings. For their entrees they can choose traditional football fare like hot dogs, bratwurst or other sandwiches.
For snacking during the game, skyboxers will be kept supplied with chips, dips and popcorn.
About 25 people will be working for Hy-Vee Catering at the game, McMullen said.
Most of the ushers, ticket takers and security personnel come from the Lawrence branch of Manpower Inc.
The temporary agency provides between 200 and 250 workers to the KU Athletics Corp. for games.
"With the ushers, some are on a regular basis, they do this on the side," said Nancy Slabaugh, branch manager for Manpower.
Manpower has provided the workers for the football games since 1977, and some of the workers the company sends to KU have been working the games for 22 years.
For their work, they are paid "more than minimum wage," Slabaugh said. Minimum wage is $5.15 per hour. She declined to disclose the wage paid.
"It's not a high-paying job," Slabaugh said. "They do it for the camaraderie."
-- Erwin Seba's phone message number is 832-7145. His e-mail address is eseba@ljworld.com.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.