Author Topic: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales  (Read 6846 times)

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Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #15 on: January 25, 2018, 09:41:37 PM »

Offline tarheelsxxiii

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Agree with Roy's last point, especially with his quickly UGA football has catipulted to the top.
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Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #16 on: January 26, 2018, 08:35:51 AM »

Offline Moranis

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It's entirely possible that they lost money on this, to be clear.

I would imagine that most of these entities have done a full-blown analysis of what their profits would be at different prices, and chosen the ones they have for sensible reasons.

Edit: also, this is not an apples-to-apples comparison, given that you're looking at a team coming off a Super Bowl visit, which would generate increased demand for all kinds of things.

How so?

The article just says that sales revenue went up by 16%.

But, food and labor costs must have risen. If you cut the price of hot dogs in half, and your revenue goes up, you're selling more than twice as many hot dogs. So your food costs will at least double. (I imagine that the stadium is already getting the best volume discount possible).

And you need more workers to sell more hot dogs. (Note that the article says there are "65 percent more points of sale and 1,264 more beer taps" - someone needs to work at those.)

The article annoys me, a little bit, because it makes it sound like this is a clear winner, and other teams could learn something from the experience. But in my experience, the pricing departments of sports teams and their affiliates are incredibly savvy and getting more so all the time, and I'd be shocked if this was a surprise to any real experts in the industry.

And indeed the writer does slip in one instructive line: "the reaction by the rest of the sports world has, for the most part, has been to ignore it. Few teams have sought to replicate the model..."

no i think the staff costs went down because they were many more self service lines...  also it adds in this "Merchandise sales were also up 88 percent." Seems like you are really reading what you want to read on this one. It flat out made more money with this model...

Profits were down:

Quote
About 6,000 more fans per game entered the stadium earlier than they did in 2016, and in general, the venue sold as much food by the end of the first quarter of Falcons games as it did in full games in 2016. Fans also gave the Falcons the highest satisfaction rating in the NFL for food and beverages, up from No. 18 in 2016, and the highest rating for security satisfaction, in part the result of lines made shorter by all the early entries.

They also bought more food -- sales were up 53 percent -- and each fan spent, on average, 16 percent more on concessions. It wasn’t enough to offset the drop in prices, though. The team made less on concessions in 2017 than it did the year before, according Steve Cannon, chief executive officer of AMB Group, the company through which Blank owns the team.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-25/atlanta-falcons-broke-the-rules-of-stadium-food-and-it-paid-off

The team seems willing to trade short terms profits for the "halo effect" of a better fan experience, and thinks in the long-run it's profits will increase, too.
were they down because they had more locations (and thus more staffing), or were they down only looking at the food cost.  That is the problem with these things.  They had a new stadium so there was a lot of new things going on so it isn't exactly an apples to apples comparison on anything. 
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Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #17 on: January 26, 2018, 09:40:23 AM »

Offline action781

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The team seems willing to trade short terms profits for the "halo effect" of a better fan experience, and thinks in the long-run it's profits will increase, too.

Anecdotally from myself, I expect this to be true.  I would go to more Celtics games at their current ticket prices if I knew I could count on myself to not blow another $20-50 on concessions.  Or at least if I was spending another $20, I'm getting my money's worth.  I also wouldn't feel it a necessity to make sure I eat a meal before the game if I could expect reasonable prices in the arena.
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Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #18 on: January 26, 2018, 09:52:21 AM »

Offline Moranis

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The team seems willing to trade short terms profits for the "halo effect" of a better fan experience, and thinks in the long-run it's profits will increase, too.

Anecdotally from myself, I expect this to be true.  I would go to more Celtics games at their current ticket prices if I knew I could count on myself to not blow another $20-50 on concessions.  Or at least if I was spending another $20, I'm getting my money's worth.  I also wouldn't feel it a necessity to make sure I eat a meal before the game if I could expect reasonable prices in the arena.
Right or if you go once a year and expect to spend 50 bucks at the arena, if before it was all food, now it might be half on food and the rest on a shirt or hat or something, which lasts past the game (and also has great margins).  You might be more inclined to take your kids, who you know are going to want to eat, if you can get them a reasonable price for a pretzel or hot dog or whatever.  And kids always want other things like shirts, which parents buys.  Plus a team wants kids to have fond memories of going to games so they become lifelong fans and take their kids some day. 

I would be curious to see how the numbers really shake out and not just vague statements (which I know is all we would get).
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Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #19 on: January 26, 2018, 09:56:54 AM »

Online Donoghus

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From the article.  Kind surprising but kinda not. 

Quote
Despite not being open for many of the stadium's major events, including seven of the eight regular-season Falcons home games, the stadium's Chick-fil-A stand sold the third-most items of any stand in the structure.


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Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #20 on: January 26, 2018, 10:01:17 AM »

Offline Tr1boy

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http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/22212592/atlanta-falcons-drop-prices-make-more-money-mercedes-benz-stadium-concessions

Goes to show if you price things better people will spend more since they don't feel they are getting ripped off.

exactly

12 dollar for a HOT DOG?   I may buy one

5 dollars for a hot dog? Give me three or four

plus if you order more/bulk = higher discounts

Doesn't always workout but Falcons owner is onto something...maybe other teams will follow


Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #21 on: January 26, 2018, 10:16:20 AM »

Offline SHAQATTACK

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for 12 day dollars I can bring hotdogs for everybody ten seats either side of me.

One that kills me is the 2 cents worth of popcorn for 10 dollars.

Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #22 on: January 26, 2018, 10:36:41 AM »

Offline ChillyWilly

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I think when you go to a sporting event you're not doing it because the beer and hot dogs are competitively priced.

My lazyboy is already paid for, I have executive rights to not one but 2 bathrooms and all the cheap beer I can get from Coscos. Yet I still go to games because it's more fun to scream at the refs with 15K other Greenbleeders. The $9 beer and $8 pizza slice doesn't stop me from enjoying the game with my 15k friends. I can't imagine how long those lines would be for food and bathroom if they cut prices to be reasonable.
ok fine

Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #23 on: January 26, 2018, 10:57:31 AM »

Online Roy H.

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I think when you go to a sporting event you're not doing it because the beer and hot dogs are competitively priced.

My lazyboy is already paid for, I have executive rights to not one but 2 bathrooms and all the cheap beer I can get from Coscos. Yet I still go to games because it's more fun to scream at the refs with 15K other Greenbleeders. The $9 beer and $8 pizza slice doesn't stop me from enjoying the game with my 15k friends. I can't imagine how long those lines would be for food and bathroom if they cut prices to be reasonable.

No, but some families have budgets. Maybe instead of skipping food all together, you get $25 out of a family of three.  Or, a family with a $100 budget buys food and souvenirs, instead of being forced to choose.


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Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #24 on: January 26, 2018, 01:08:19 PM »

Offline Big333223

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I think when you go to a sporting event you're not doing it because the beer and hot dogs are competitively priced.

My lazyboy is already paid for, I have executive rights to not one but 2 bathrooms and all the cheap beer I can get from Coscos. Yet I still go to games because it's more fun to scream at the refs with 15K other Greenbleeders. The $9 beer and $8 pizza slice doesn't stop me from enjoying the game with my 15k friends. I can't imagine how long those lines would be for food and bathroom if they cut prices to be reasonable.

No, but some families have budgets. Maybe instead of skipping food all together, you get $25 out of a family of three.  Or, a family with a $100 budget buys food and souvenirs, instead of being forced to choose.

I'm planning on going to a game in February and we've already talked about where we might go to eat before the game. The prospect of eating at the arena (aside from a beer and maybe a snack) is out of the question after the amount of money we spent on tickets and how high the prices are for food. If the prices were comparable to a regular restaurant in the area, it would be easier to just eat at the arena, instead we'll be spending elsewhere.
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Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #25 on: January 26, 2018, 01:10:14 PM »

Offline Tr1boy

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for 12 day dollars I can bring hotdogs for everybody ten seats either side of me.

One that kills me is the 2 cents worth of popcorn for 10 dollars.

and the popcorn is stale as ****

can i have butter??  sure its 2 more dollars

Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #26 on: January 26, 2018, 01:41:46 PM »

Offline mef730

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I think when you go to a sporting event you're not doing it because the beer and hot dogs are competitively priced.

My lazyboy is already paid for, I have executive rights to not one but 2 bathrooms and all the cheap beer I can get from Coscos. Yet I still go to games because it's more fun to scream at the refs with 15K other Greenbleeders. The $9 beer and $8 pizza slice doesn't stop me from enjoying the game with my 15k friends. I can't imagine how long those lines would be for food and bathroom if they cut prices to be reasonable.

No, but some families have budgets. Maybe instead of skipping food all together, you get $25 out of a family of three.  Or, a family with a $100 budget buys food and souvenirs, instead of being forced to choose.

I'm planning on going to a game in February and we've already talked about where we might go to eat before the game. The prospect of eating at the arena (aside from a beer and maybe a snack) is out of the question after the amount of money we spent on tickets and how high the prices are for food. If the prices were comparable to a regular restaurant in the area, it would be easier to just eat at the arena, instead we'll be spending elsewhere.

You've got a ton of options. What cheap and fast? Try the food court in North Station. The pizza place there is pretty creative.

If you want to eat in the area, most of the places right around the garden are bar food.

If you don't mind a few minutes walk, Government Center and the Financial District is 5-10 minutes. Tons of options (including Quincy Market, the only place more overpriced than the Garden).

Other stuff...

Once tried to bring in my own bottle of water and was turned away by security. So the next game, I just brought in an empty bottle and filled it in a sink. Why? Because they charge $5 for it at the concession stands.

I think a lot of the savings on the costs comes from having items priced in dollars, eliminating the need for change, and the self-service soda. I pay for everything with a credit card, so I was surprised to see how many people use cash at the concession stands. There's a lot of wasted time while the cashiers count out $.85. And I don't know what percentage of sales soda makes up, but it's a long(er) operation to fill one of those.

Oh, one last thing: the option to add a tip at concessions when I pay with a credit card? Talk about ridiculous...

Mike

Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #27 on: January 26, 2018, 01:42:12 PM »

Offline celticsclay

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I think when you go to a sporting event you're not doing it because the beer and hot dogs are competitively priced.

My lazyboy is already paid for, I have executive rights to not one but 2 bathrooms and all the cheap beer I can get from Coscos. Yet I still go to games because it's more fun to scream at the refs with 15K other Greenbleeders. The $9 beer and $8 pizza slice doesn't stop me from enjoying the game with my 15k friends. I can't imagine how long those lines would be for food and bathroom if they cut prices to be reasonable.

No, but some families have budgets. Maybe instead of skipping food all together, you get $25 out of a family of three.  Or, a family with a $100 budget buys food and souvenirs, instead of being forced to choose.

I'm planning on going to a game in February and we've already talked about where we might go to eat before the game. The prospect of eating at the arena (aside from a beer and maybe a snack) is out of the question after the amount of money we spent on tickets and how high the prices are for food. If the prices were comparable to a regular restaurant in the area, it would be easier to just eat at the arena, instead we'll be spending elsewhere.

I agree with this, Moranis and Roy in that I think this will work for the teams. I can speak to the fact that when the new 49ers stadium opened I went to one preseason game to see the stadium . At the time it was the most expensive stadium for concessions of any stadium (this is my memory of what I read at the time). Bud lights were about 11.50 and it was 12 bucks for a sandwich. Even bottles of water were about 6 bucks (which from a public health perspective really bothers me for a stadium that has half the seats baking in the sun) Especially with the 49ers being a bad team the last few years it has never been worth it for me to go down there because of the concessions. They lose money from me and my friends on this, and i know we are not a super unique kind of sports fan. Especially when a team is not must see for their being a good team, making the experience pleasant with reasonable food and drink options is going to make attending a game a lot more interesting for me. I really hope other teams follow suit on this. I would certainly attend more games if they do.

Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #28 on: January 26, 2018, 02:32:16 PM »

Online Roy H.

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I think when you go to a sporting event you're not doing it because the beer and hot dogs are competitively priced.

My lazyboy is already paid for, I have executive rights to not one but 2 bathrooms and all the cheap beer I can get from Coscos. Yet I still go to games because it's more fun to scream at the refs with 15K other Greenbleeders. The $9 beer and $8 pizza slice doesn't stop me from enjoying the game with my 15k friends. I can't imagine how long those lines would be for food and bathroom if they cut prices to be reasonable.

No, but some families have budgets. Maybe instead of skipping food all together, you get $25 out of a family of three.  Or, a family with a $100 budget buys food and souvenirs, instead of being forced to choose.

I'm planning on going to a game in February and we've already talked about where we might go to eat before the game. The prospect of eating at the arena (aside from a beer and maybe a snack) is out of the question after the amount of money we spent on tickets and how high the prices are for food. If the prices were comparable to a regular restaurant in the area, it would be easier to just eat at the arena, instead we'll be spending elsewhere.

You've got a ton of options. What cheap and fast? Try the food court in North Station. The pizza place there is pretty creative.

If you want to eat in the area, most of the places right around the garden are bar food.

If you don't mind a few minutes walk, Government Center and the Financial District is 5-10 minutes. Tons of options (including Quincy Market, the only place more overpriced than the Garden).

Other stuff...

Once tried to bring in my own bottle of water and was turned away by security. So the next game, I just brought in an empty bottle and filled it in a sink. Why? Because they charge $5 for it at the concession stands.

I think a lot of the savings on the costs comes from having items priced in dollars, eliminating the need for change, and the self-service soda. I pay for everything with a credit card, so I was surprised to see how many people use cash at the concession stands. There's a lot of wasted time while the cashiers count out $.85. And I don't know what percentage of sales soda makes up, but it's a long(er) operation to fill one of those.

Oh, one last thing: the option to add a tip at concessions when I pay with a credit card? Talk about ridiculous...

Mike

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Re: Atlanta Falcons lowered food prices by 50% and got 16% more in sales
« Reply #29 on: January 26, 2018, 02:34:01 PM »

Offline Snakehead

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This is a cool story and great to see.  I know for me, the total on the bill matters less than the actual slap in the face it feels like overall to walk through a door and see prices jump so much.  It just feels insulting and like they think you are dumb, at least to my weird mind how I look at things.  That keeps me from spending.  If it was lesser like this I would totally spend more.

Usually for me, when I go to the Celtics, I only buy beers because that's enough.  I eat before.  I would eat there if it was reasonable for example, and in the end probably spend more.
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