From The New York Observer story Game. Sauté. Match.
And if you thought the action on the courts was intense, check out what goes on in the kitchens, where scores of cooks from around the country scramble to feed some 650,000 people in just two weeks.
The stats are simply mind-boggling: “Last year, we did 230,000 hamburgers and hot dogs, 30,000 pizzas, 5,000 pounds of pasta, 13 tons of steaks, 77,000 pounds of chicken breasts, 4.5 tons of crab and lobster,” said Bill Wilson, director of operations for Chicago-based concessions behemoth Levy Restaurants, which oversees all food service at the Open, as well as at a number of other high-profile national events, including the Kentucky Derby, the upcoming Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa Bay, and all the Pepsi Center activities at this week’s Democratic Convention in Denver.
something else of interest: In 2010, the company [Levy] plans to make its second foray into the coveted New York market, after signing on to handle concessions at the forthcoming Barclay Center, future home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, at developer Bruce Ratner’s controversial Atlantic Yards complex in Prospect Heights.
Barclay's Center? 2010? Even Ratner is saying it will be 2011 at the earliest, and the smart money is all saying this project is dead, dead, dead. Sorry, Levy, I'm sure you make a great burger. But Ratner was already breaking his word to the community in dealing with you; Ratner had assured all the politicians and area residents that the concession contracts would go to local companies. So just get in line for the 'Ratner Lied to Me Too" convention. You won't be serving anything at Atlantic & Flatbush anytime soon!
Posted by: SmithBrotherJoe | August 27, 2008 at 11:10 AM