16,000 beers and 2,000 hot dogs: These B.C. Place concert food stats may surprise you

At the AC/DC concert at B.C. Place, 16,000 cans of beer, over 14,000 cans of White Claw, 2,000 hot dogs, 15,000 chicken tenders, 3,000 servings of popcorn and over 1,200 bags of candy were sold to fans. Photo by Bing Guan /Bloomberg

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At the AC/DC concert at B.C. Place in Vancouver on Aug. 13, I saw more people doing repeat two cans-per-person trips to the concessions than at any other recent concert.

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Just how much food and drink passed hands through the PavCo. vendors during the music event? According to general manager Chris May, a lot.

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“We sold 16,000 cans of beer, over 14,000 cans of White Claw, 2,000 hot dogs, 15,000 chicken tenders, 3,000 servings of popcorn and over 1,200 bags of candy,” he said. “The volume is enormous, but still didn’t match our previous record of 19,000 cans of White Claw.”

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Different artists and fans call for “wildly different” food and drink trends, May says.

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“Younger audiences are definitely drinking less, so we have to think about how to meet their needs,” says May.

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While alcohol consumption figures are trending lower across all age groups, according to recent Government of Canada surveys, it appears that legal drinking-age fans of the Aussie hard rock band took the lyrics of the hit Have A Drink On Me to heart. Anticipating that interest in alcohol fell to the food and beverage team.

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“We have a great food and beverage partner in Sodexo Live, which looks at everything from the demographics of the audience and what we hear from the promoter of the tour to their own statistics of other shows and venues,” said May. “For example, for the final five shows of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, they ran the food and beverage in four of the five stadiums, which really helped planning out the selection. Other factors include past sales at previous concerts, what we are hearing in reaching out to everyone from our premium suites to the general public, and other information to craft a custom menu for the show.”

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For the AC/DC show, the premium menu included a selection of Australian pies and lamingtons, a popular Australian cake made of sponge cake coated in an outer layer of chocolate sauce and rolled in coconut. The regular concessions carried the standard selection of tried-and-true arena fare.

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“The core offering, from chicken fingers and fries to hot dogs, will never change,” he said. “But when you can pulse in those cool extras to enhance the experience, our chefs are experts at doing it. One of the things about running a venue where you want to make money 365 days a year is that you need to be able to craft what works for a concert as well as a large private dinner on the playing field and have it all be great.”

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In advance of back-to-back shows at the Vancouver arena by sensitive singer and songwriter Noah Kahan and legendary Sunset Strip rockers Guns N’ Roses this weekend, May said a similar approach will be considered putting together the venue menu.

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Kahan’s large under-19 demographic means some custom non-alcoholic beverages are more likely, where the Guns N’ Roses crowd will likely have different demands for thirst quenching.

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“Taking the lead from our sold-out Ed Sheeran show a few years ago, it’s quite possible that people will want to stay in their seats and watch rather than get up to get anything at the concession,” said May. “What really makes a difference at those types of shows is if there is an intermission or not, which is great from a venue stance.”

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Increasingly, artists have their own proprietary alcohol brands that they often bring into venues to sell. May says accommodating this depends on availability in local markets for supply, but the venue tries to meet performer requests. It’s unlikely that Kahan’s preferred probiotic Culture Pop Soda’s Sparkling Black Cherry flavour will be on sale as the brand is difficult to find on sale in Canada.

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