OVATIONS STANDS FOR FANS

Ovations Food Svcs., based in Tampa, FL, was established a year-and-a-half ago to pursue contracts in minor league baseball stadiums as well as recreation and convention services. To date, it has already achieved gross annual sales of $30 million, thanks to the experience and industry savvy of its three founding partners: Ken Young, president, Todd Wickner, v.p. and Gary Horvath, v.p.—and the financial backing of a "parent company."

Young had previously operated his own company and eventually sold it to Service America. Wickner served as v.p. with Aramark, responsible for western convention center accounts, while Horvath held the post of pres., recreation svcs. division for Service America.

In July of 1997, the threesome formed Leisure and Recreations Consultants, not only to provide consulting services but also to pursue food and beverage contracts in minor league baseball. In January 2000, they formed a new partnership with Comcast-Spectacor, a Philadelphia, PA-based company and named the entity Ovations F/S L.P.

Comcast became the parent company (principal partner in Ovations). A major TV company, it also owns the Philadelphia Flyers, the Philadelphia 76ers and three Maryland baseball teams, while operating the First Union Ctr. in Philadelphia, etc.

With the backing of Comcast, acquisitions have contributed substantially to Ovations' growth. In fact, Horvath is optimistic that it can once again triple in size within the next two years.

"We now have nine minor league baseball stadiums and we're a partner/operator in an amphitheater in Portsmouth, VA. Our area of operations is east of the Mississippi. Recently we finalized the acquisition of Fanfare—now 'Ovations Fanfare'—a food and beverage provider in the San Francisco Bay area with gross annual sales of approx. $14 million. They have contracts with U. of California at Berkeley and a minor league ballpark. But they're mostly at state fair grounds.

"As part of the Maryland baseball acquisition by Comcast, Ovations acquired Excel Food Services—with gross annual sales of about $10 million—which has been absorbed into Ovations.

"We're a closely knit group of managers and our clients receive close attention from the three owners. The parent company pretty much lets us run the business. We've more than tripled the size of the company in less than two years and through acquisition we could triple again in two years, although there's nothing on the drawing board.

"All of our food prep is done on-site. We're too spread out—from California to New Orleans to Wilmington, NC to Altoona, PA—to have a central commissary. Our industry really works on-site with each facility being self-supporting.

"We have only about 20 to 25 FTEs. In about 75% of the locations we use not-for-profit service organizations. You don't always have that luxury, but in most cases we're successful in linking with them.

"Over the past 35 years that I'm in the industry, what has changed most is the variety of the menu. It used to be hot dogs, peanuts, soda and beer and that has changed dramatically. Now we offer everything from vegetarian meals to exotic cocktails and health foods. As long as the customer perceives value, they're willing to pay for it.

"We like to do national franchisers plus locals like the Rendezvous restaurant. It's marketed on our menu board along with a number of other products. We also sub-contract with an outside Pizza Hut franchisee who comes in and pays us a royalty. We also have some limited agreements with Wendy's and Dominic's of New York for their specialty Italian sausage.

"Just this summer we've opened three accounts: the Wilmington single A franchise of the Los Angeles Dodgers; the amphitheater in Portsmouth, VA; and we're consulting at Temple Univ. in Philadelphia, PA, for their arena. A sister company of ours, Global Spectrum, manages their facilities. Global Spectrum is also owned by Comcast Spectacor.

"In the past, bundling the services of these two companies hasn't come into play, but one-stop shopping makes sense down the road. We're hoping to do more of this with our sister company. We're optimistic about opportunity for growth and, with the backing of ComCast, we feel we're in a good position for that growth."