Source: Food Service Matters
ATLANTA February 8, 2018 When fans come together by the thousands for annual historic sports competitions and extraordinary entertainment at landmark venues across the United States, they expect to be wowed on all levels. Food and beverage have become crucial to the overall experience for fans of all ages.
Food Service Matters (FSM) is a maverick firm creating a new dynamic in hospitality management consulting primarily for venues within the sports and entertainment industry. FSM brings an innovative approach to business analysis and recommendations for busy team owners and executives looking to receive concise reports and recommendations that will elevate the fan experience, enhance their brand and generate revenue for their organization. Brand stewardship, better reporting, less clutter, and more out-of-the-box thinking are the key tenets that represent Food Service Matters.
Mike Plutino founded Food Service Matters in 2013, seeing that the marketplace needed a fresh approach for advocates focused solely on food and beverage. Services for clients range from leadership designation as Owner’s Representative, conducting operational assessments, conducting the Request for Proposal process to determine food and beverage providers, designing kitchens for optimal equipment efficiency, as well as contract negotiations. Plutino’s extensive operational experience on the food and beverage provider side of acclaimed large attendance venues equips him with a highly beneficial “behind-the-curtain” view on how these facilities truly operate.
The fan and guest experiences of some of the most recognizable names in the Sports and Convention Center industry already have been influenced and improved through Food Service Matters’ guidance in its young history. In just five years, Plutino and his stellar team of food service experts have built a full-service practice that guides premier venues on how to make their unique and individual fan experiences better, while growing the heritage and honor of their home teams and signature events.
A global roster of clients includes the Rose Bowl, NBA teams the Golden State Warriors and The Atlanta Hawks, the NFL’s Tennessee Titans and Learfield Sports at the University of Alabama. Most recently, Food Service Matters has taken on the consulting services contract for Speedway Motorsports International’s eight prestigious racetracks.
Food Service Matters’ successful guidance of clients is generating the firm’s own robust business growth, with its food and beverage management consulting practice doubling each year. Along with its distinct focus on disrupting the routine of conventional thinking, Plutino credits Food Service Matters’ success to the firm’s clever and appealing culture, creative and insightfully precise study of their clients’ data, and keen ability to determine pioneering solutions to make the clients businesses better.
“We have a deliberate culture of intensely direct, “straight-shooting” client service and a relentless discipline to get deep into the details of operational systems,” says Plutino. “This brings wins for our clients who are operating already at an extraordinary level of excellence continue to raise their food and beverage standards for authentically satisfying experiences for fans.”
The firm’s work with the Rose Bowl is particularly compelling as the beloved American historic venue prepares to enter its next century of top-tier college sports and entertainment culture.
With impact on such diverse sectors of sports and entertainment, the Food Service Matters team’s launch of 2018 is robust, as Plutino shares. “Our work is so exciting, and we are completely inspired about the success that is ahead for our clients this year, innovating their landmark experiences for continually raving fans.”
