NFL concession stand partners with culinary program

This is part of Food Management's new Community program, which highlights the ways onsite operators are lending a helping hand in their communities.

In Atlanta, the new NFL stadium—Mercedes-Benz Stadium—sits near the Westside, which is one of the city’s most impoverished areas, and it’s one to which Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank has made a commitment to institute a number of revitalization initiatives.

“Rather than simply writing a check and just throwing money at the problem, [Mr. Blank] is trying to get to it from the inside out by providing opportunity, because one of the biggest issues people from the Westside face is a lack of employment opportunity,” explains Chef Juliet Peters of Mercedes-Benz Stadium concessionaire Levy Restaurants.

This chicken sandwich developed by Levy Culinary Academy teacher Juliet Peters is sold at Levy’s West Nest concessions stand at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Photos: Levy Restaurants)

Peters is deeply involved in the effort as the person who conducts and oversees a culinary training program operated by Levy as part of an outreach program called Westside Works. Westside Works vets the students before they enroll in the classes such as the culinary program, which generally has 15 to 20 students per class.

Peters teaches the six-week course to groups of Westside residents who are looking for skills that would translate into solid jobs in the foodservice industry. Her curriculum includes subjects like knife skills and basic cooking techniques but also what she terms “soft skills,” which she defines as “etiquette” and having the proper attitude toward one’s job, from keeping one’s uniform neat to making sure food is always properly handled and mise en place always maintained. Also addressed during the sessions are topics like vegetarian and vegan cooking (which culminates in a veggie burger competition among the students) and sustainability issues.

While there is some variance in the experience and skill levels of her students, Peters says she generally has to start with the basics down to how to hold a knife properly. She stresses adaptability, for instance making students break down a whole chicken with just a plain chef’s knife.

“I want them to be able even with limited resources—such as the lack of a boning knife—to be able to complete their tasks,” she explains.

A single whole chicken will yield eight different lessons, from breaking it down to then identifying and utilizing the different components in different ways. So, for example, the tenderloin becomes the basis for a stir-fry lesson, the breast for a grilling lesson, the thighs and legs for braising and frying lessons, and so forth.

At the end, the leftover carcass becomes the basis for a stock-making lesson that then turns into a lesson on saving food cost as students have to remove as much meat as possible from it after the stock is finished. This meat then goes into a chicken salad the students have for lunch that day.

“The reason I do all this is because I remember what I wanted when I was hiring chefs,” Peters explains. “To me this is the perfect opportunity to groom them into someone a chef is going to want to hire.”

And getting her students ready for the job market is only part of Peters’ job as Westside Works offers not just free job training but also employment placement with partner organizations.

“Part of my job in the culinary program is to get hospitality industry leaders in the community to look to me as a pipeline for reliable employees,” Peters notes. “I am thrilled to say that every single student [who completes the course and passes the test] is offered a job upon graduation.” Course completion includes Serv-Safe certification.

Peters also oversees a concession stand at Mercedes-Benz Stadium called West Nest that is entirely staffed by graduates and current students of her culinary program. West Nest is, in fact, the stadium’s largest concession stand and typically serves as many as 2,000 customers a game with a chicken-centric menu that includes a tempura-battered chicken tender in a waffle cone and a signature chicken sandwich developed by Peters specifically for the venue.

Three of Peters’ graduates serve as managers at West Nest and are given “full ownership” of the operation, she says. “They have a lot of pride in what we’re doing.”

As of mid-September, two current Westside Works culinary students were employed at the stand, which Peters says is something they have to earn. The stadium not only hosts Falcons home games but also Atlanta United soccer games.