Major League Baseball’s Opening Day is just around the corner. Soon seats will be filled with excited fans who have brought with them not only their love for the game, but a strong appetite for tasty ballpark food! In the beginning, during the late 1800’s, there were no concession stands like we have today. Instead, locals would set up near the game and sell their own prepared food. Fans would gravitate towards the hand-held offerings, as this was more practical to eat while taking in the game.

As ballpark foodservice began to evolve and grow from its humble beginnings, items like hotdogs, peanuts, and Cracker Jacks quickly became staples at parks across the country. Good luck trying not to sing the song! Today, foodservice has evolved into an entire culinary experience, and it is a slightly different experience depending on where you are in the country. For example, while visiting Loan Depot Park (formally Marlins Park) in Miami, Florida you will find a delicious dish known as Salchipapas, which are French fries topped with sliced sausage, and drizzled with ketchup, mustard, mayo, and Aji chili sauce. Now, if you find yourself at a Cincinnati Reds game, you will quickly smell the dish of choice. Skyline Chili is not only a local favorite, but also part of the Cincinnatian identity. Visitors can enjoy the chili loaded up with shredded cheese in a bowl, or of course, on top of a hot dog.

Besides the food options, another thing that has changed since the early days of baseball is the amount of people attending the games. Fenway Park hosted its first official game on April 20^th, 1912 and drew a crowd of about 27,000 fans. Today, the Boston ballpark can hold up to 37,755 attendees, a little more than 10,000 in comparison. And just in case you were wondering, the largest stadium in the US, Dodger Stadium, has a capacity of 56,000! This means the demand for foodservice has greatly increased, and ballparks have no choice but to keep up.

So, how do they do it? How do they ensure they have the ability to feed their thousands of hungry fans game after game? The answer is pretty simple, they use the best kitchen equipment for the job. Ventless, automatic deep-fryers like the AutoFry® MTI-40E are ideal for ballparks and stadiums because they are able to continuously pump out high volumes of top-notch product with just the press of a couple buttons. Automation and a built-in technology known as Simplifry™ make these fully contained deep fryers the most reliable and efficient employee in the kitchen.

So, are you ready to start hitting homers with the MTI-40E? Click below to speak with a representative today!