Cream City Cluckery<\/a> ghost kitchen is a textbook business case of pivoting during the pandemic.<\/p>\nThe lockdown came suddenly for the Milwaukee Bucks foodservice management group, which partners with 35 food outlets inside Fiserv Forum. One day, there were 18,500 potential customers at a game or event, the next day it was zero.<\/p>\n
That day was March 11, 2020, and pandemic uncertainty prevailed over the future of the multimillion-dollar arena food business. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t know how big it would be \u2014 the first six weeks, we were tidying up, keeping products safe, and then we were donating and giving food to our employees,\u201d says Clifford Hull, Executive Chef at Fiserv Forum.<\/p>\n
The Bucks wanted to clear as many people from the building as possible for health safety reasons. The foodservice team reached a crossroads. By the start of June, Milwaukee Bucks\u2019 Vice President of Hospitality Justin Green suggested starting a ghost kitchen.<\/p>\n
The goal: Save the jobs of salaried team members.
The questions: What kind of food concept, and how would it operate?<\/p>\n
Finding a way for a ghost kitchen to fit in<\/h3>\n
They didn\u2019t want to be in direct competition with nearby businesses that also run the taco stand and Italian food outlets inside the arena. The answer to what was geographically missing from the area came from a would-be customer following his GPS map.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody stopped me outside the arena and asked, \u2018Isn\u2019t there a Chick Fil-A somewhere around here?\u2019 I said. \u2018Yeah, it\u2019s in the arena, but we\u2019re shut down,\u2019\u201c Hull recalls. \u201cThere was nobody offering a fried chicken option within a mile and a half.\u201d<\/p>\n
A month after that chance encounter, July 8, Cream City Cluckery opened. And it was a slam dunk from the start, achieving $4,000 to $5,000 daily in delivery and takeout sales in those first days.<\/p>\n
Teamwork gets things off the ground<\/h3>\n
Behind the overnight success was a lot of planning, hard work and hiccups. The experienced salaried management team started with a budget of $1,000 and an idea. Executing the ghost kitchen was a team effort.<\/p>\n
Fiserv Forum Senior Executive Chef Kenneth Hardiman created the recipes. He started with his favorite formula for coating chicken tenders, and then he added chicken sandwiches, biscuits, butter cakes, mac-n-cheese, tater tots and sauces.<\/p>\n
Naming the business was Green\u2019s suggestion \u2014 a nod to one of the city\u2019s nicknames. Cream City comes from the iconic light-yellow bricks used to construct many of the city\u2019s buildings in the 1800s. \u201cIt was important to feel Milwaukee-centric, and everybody loved Cream City Cluckery,\u201d Hull says.<\/p>\n
Finding a kitchen led the chicken business to cross the road … twice. The ghost kitchen originally struck an arrangement to work out of the Mecca Sports Bar and Grill, which operates next to the arena. In three days, conflicting production and space needs sent Cream City Cluckery across the street to the Fiserv Forum where the Milwaukee Bucks play. Since then, they found a way to move back into the Mecca facility.<\/p>\n
Making the move toward growth<\/h3>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve moved the operation at this point three times, and the next step is that we\u2019re looking at a brick and mortar place beyond the Mecca Sports Bar,\u201d Hull says.<\/p>\n
In addition to continuing a ghost kitchen next to the arena, plans include moving into a building 15 minutes north of the arena that will become Cream City Cluckery\u2019s flagship brick and mortar operation. They also have received several requests with interest to franchise, and a food truck will soon be outfitted for a mobile offering.<\/p>\n
The simple, versatile menu has created a solid fan base. In just eight months of operation, tracking data shows some customers have been back more than 20 times.<\/p>\n
That loyalty is the result of tasty food, as well as a desire to fit into the community. Throughout the pandemic, 10% of dessert sales went to the Milwaukee Bucks Foundation, the basketball team\u2019s philanthropic organization. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve raised a few thousand dollars so far \u2014 it\u2019s not much, but it adds up,\u201d Hull says. <\/p>\n
In the meantime, the ghost kitchen kept a team of workers employed during a difficult period. A core team of six or seven managers started by providing lunch and dinner service Tuesday through Saturday. Business was so strong \u2014 inventory required more than 400 pounds of chicken \u2014 that arena supervisors were approached to help. The experience they\u2019ve gained has made them leaders in the Cluckery business as original team members transitioned back to their arena roles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s shocking to me that without any of us having any experience opening any type of fast food restaurant, not knowing what we were getting into, here we are almost a year later,\u201d Hull says. \u201cIt feels like something that\u2019s going to endure. I hope we get to see it around for years to come.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When the basketball season went into lockdown, a chicken operation took flight.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":5457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthcare","category-running-your-business"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Customer Success: Arena Operator Rebounds with Ghost Kitchen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Success Story: Arena Operator Rebounds with Ghost Kitchen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the basketball season went into lockdown, a chicken operation took flight.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gordon Food Service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-20T17:35:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-01T20:15:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/CCC-tenders-plated.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cody Rivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GFSDelivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GFSDelivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cody Rivers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Customer Success: Arena Operator Rebounds with Ghost Kitchen","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/","og_locale":"es_ES","og_type":"article","og_title":"Success Story: Arena Operator Rebounds with Ghost Kitchen","og_description":"When the basketball season went into lockdown, a chicken operation took flight.","og_url":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/","og_site_name":"Gordon Food Service","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/","article_published_time":"2021-04-20T17:35:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-01T20:15:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":760,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/CCC-tenders-plated.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cody Rivers","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GFSDelivers","twitter_site":"@GFSDelivers","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cody Rivers","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/"},"author":{"name":"Cody Rivers","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/#\/schema\/person\/8228686a3a3177cc28319b0a04b01174"},"headline":"Success Story: Arena Operator Rebounds with Ghost Kitchen","datePublished":"2021-04-20T17:35:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-01T20:15:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/"},"wordCount":864,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/CCC-tenders-plated.jpg","articleSection":["Healthcare & Senior Living","Running Your Business"],"inLanguage":"es-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/","url":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/","name":"Customer Success: Arena Operator Rebounds with Ghost Kitchen","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/CCC-tenders-plated.jpg","datePublished":"2021-04-20T17:35:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-01T20:15:10+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-US","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/CCC-tenders-plated.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/CCC-tenders-plated.jpg","width":760,"height":400,"caption":"Cream City Cluckery chicken tenders on a white plate with three dipping sauces"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/ideas\/success-story-arena-operator-rebounds-ghost-kitchen\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Success Story: Arena Operator Rebounds with Ghost Kitchen"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/","name":"Gordon Food Service","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/#organization","name":"Gordon Food Service","url":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-US","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/GordonFoodService_Logo_RGB.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/GordonFoodService_Logo_RGB.png","width":628,"height":210,"caption":"Gordon Food Service"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/","https:\/\/x.com\/GFSDelivers","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gordonfoodservice\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@GFSDelivers","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/gordon-food-service\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/en-us\/#\/schema\/person\/8228686a3a3177cc28319b0a04b01174","name":"Cody Rivers","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9b81a7281ffd8fc2d52ce39faf1be6f131db67bdc3ed5914928324e202f21f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9b81a7281ffd8fc2d52ce39faf1be6f131db67bdc3ed5914928324e202f21f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9b81a7281ffd8fc2d52ce39faf1be6f131db67bdc3ed5914928324e202f21f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cody Rivers"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}