Indiana football overhauls Memorial Stadium's concession stands, here's what's on the menu

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti won’t be the only game-changer at Memorial Stadium this season.

The Hoosiers announced a partnership back in April with Levy to overhaul the food and beverage experience at the university’s athletic venues.

Representatives from Levy were in Bloomington earlier this week to reveal the many upgrades that debut on Saturday when IU hosts FIU in the team's 2024 season-opener.

“They’ve made it a first class experience,” IU senior associate athletic director for strategic communications Jeremy Gray said.

Previewing Indiana football’s Week 1 game against FIU

Gray walked reporters through the changes earlier this week that include partnerships with popular local restaurants, walk through markets, upgraded point of sale technology and visual facelifts to the concession stands.

“Every entertainment venue you can find, food and beverage has become a big part of that whole experience,” chef Jennifer Cox, Levy’s VP of culinary, told The Herald-Times. “People aren't just going to watch the game. We want to make and showcase food that makes fans keep coming back to football games.”

The number of food options is way up — from 115 vendors to 175 — and athletic director Scott Dolson told The Herald-Times that the university made a $5 million commitment to upgrading the concessions across campus.

"There was a significant capital investment put into the infrastructure,” Levy regional vice president Marty Price said. “Fans are going to see a lot of variety and be able to eat something different at every game.”

What’s on the menu at Indiana football games this fall

Levy has partnered with more than 20 athletic departments and seeks to bring unique dishes to the table that represent those cities to each one.

Cox and Price spent extensive time in Bloomington making their way through the culinary scene and the menu offerings are a direct result of those research efforts along with input from the company's data and analytics department.

“We wanted to see what fans like and what they are missing,” Cox said. “We also want to get people's attention.”

Levy’s “Hoosier Dog” is a perfect example — it’s a foot long all-beef hot dog with mustard, pulled pork, creamed sweet corn, cotija and corn nuts.

Some of the other notable menu additions include a B-Town BBQ Chips Stack that features housemade potato chips, pulled pork, queso, sour cream, jalapenos, green onions and BBQ sauce as well as a BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich that’s made with shredded pulled pork, coleslaw and BBQ sauce.

Bold predictions for Indiana football in 2024

There will also be locations serving crafted sausages in partnership with Smoking Goose.

Levy’s other focus was bringing in local Bloomington restaurants to Memorial Stadium and the lineup for 2024 includes BuffaLouie’s, Yogi’s, Aver’s, Social Cantina and Chocolate Moose.

"It's a little bit of a different business,” Price said. “Imagine serving 40,000 people within three hours. We work with our restaurant partners around here and around the country to make sure they are successful. They are very proud of their brands, their products and foods, and we will continue to add more flavors and tastes cause there's a lot of great restaurants and food folks here."

The initial offerings will include BuffaLouie’s famous Buffalo wings, the “Crimson and Cream” eight-inch personal pizza from Aver’s and a smashburger basket from Yogi’s.

Price also emphasized the importance of the six grab-and-go markets Levy’s added to Memorial Stadium. They will help with the wait times across the stadium and allow fans looking for a snack to quickly get back to their seats.

BuffaLouie’s owner Ed Schwartzman on IU partnership: “It’s humbling”

What restaurant represents the taste of Bloomington? Price kept getting the same response on his culinary tour of the city.

“We were trying to come up with a North Star,” Price said. "I set up camp here, got a lot of references, talked to a lot of people and BuffaLouie’s always came up.”

BuffaLouie owner Ed Schwartzman was the first to hear Price’s sales pitch in late spring when the two sat down at Gables Bagels. Schwartzman has run the Bloomington mainstay alognside his wife Jaimie since 2006.

“He told me the game plan, and I thought there's got to be a catch,” Schwartzman told The Herald-Times. “I told him, ‘I've got to be crazy to say no.’”

The catch came in the form of a request from Price to offer a pork tenderloin sandwich. Levy wanted to live up to the promise they made in their initial press release announcing their partnership with IU. Schwartzman doesn’t offer the sandwich at BuffaLouie’s, but has flirted with adding it to the menu in the past.

“One of my good vendors has been begging us for years to offer a pork tenderloin sandwich,” Schwartzman said, with a laugh. “I told him the news and he said he was going to be the first in line."

The lineup of restaurants quickly came together after Schwartzman signed up. Much of the group will be at Assembly Hall for the upcoming men’s and women’s basketball season as well.

"It's humbling,” Schwartzman said. “They wanted us, we were the whale and once we were in they were able to go to those other places. We don't take that lightly.”

BuffaLouie’s will be located on the concourse in the north end zone at Memorial Stadium.

Schwartzman is fully staffing the kitchen with “seasoned” veterans — Levy hires volunteer not-for-profit groups that receive a percentage of concession sales to run the front of house — who will be operating the only working kitchen in the stadium.

They replaced the grill with more fryers in anticipation of the high-demand for the wings.

“We are prepping and cooking right there,” Schwartzman said. “We think we are going to do a million wings. I think we are going to be slammed.”

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana football: What's on the new-look menu at Memorial Stadium