TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Plagued by a shortage of stadium workers and complaints about long concession lines at home football games during the pandemic, the University of Alabama has contracted with an online app.
The school is also making other changes in hopes of speeding up service during Saturday night's homecoming game against Tennessee.
With a capacity crowd of more than 101,000 expected for the matchup of longtime Southeastern Conference rivals, Alabama said fans can use the Waitr phone system to order food and drinks in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Fans will be notified when an order is ready, and they will be able to pick up items at windows in the stadium.
The Alabama deal is Waitr's first for a football stadium, although baseball fans have used the app in Louisiana and Mississippi this year, company spokesman Dean Turcol said. Turcol said it was used during LSU baseball games and for the Biloxi Shuckers, a Double-A South minor league team in Mississippi.
Other apps, including some specifically designed for such use, have been employed in stadiums for a variety of sports.
Alabama received complaints about long concession lines after its most recent home game, against Ole Miss on Oct. 2. Crimson Tide athletic director Greg Byrne said part of the problem was the difficulty finding workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Similar to staffing issues at the gates, an average of 40% of people who were supposed to work concessions on game days end up not showing up leaving them short-handed," he wrote in a weekly email to supporters at the time.
Besides offering online ordering, the athletic department announced it expects additional workers to show up this week after adding multiple outside groups to the mix. It said it is also streamlining menus and adding ordering technology to speed up sales.