Whet your appetite, Grinders is now serving up five of their signature items inside the Boulevard Members Club at Sporting Park. The popular local eatery, located in the heart of the Crossroads Arts District in downtown Kansas City, will be among the Boulevard Members Club food choices starting Saturday thanks to a new partnership with Sporting Kansas City for the 2013 season.
"We are always interested in doing things that surprise people and enhance our fan experience,” said John Moncke, Sporting Kansas City’s VP of Stadium and Brand Revenue. “It is very exciting for us to announce that Grinders will be opening a pop-up restaurant in the Boulevard Members Club. Grinders is cool and local. This fits extremely well with the Sporting Kansas City brand.”
In addition to the full food and beverage menu available inside the Boulevard Members Club, Grinders will now be offering up their tater tots, meatball sandwiches, philly cheesesteaks, chicken strips and chicken wings at Sporting Kansas City home games. The Boulevard Members Club is open to all Members Stand ticket holders before and during matches, then welcomes all ticket holders inside its doors for postgame festivities.
“We chose Sporting because of what Sporting is about. They're so much more about the community,” said STRETCH Rumaner, the founder and owner of Grinders. “Kansas City is a huge family. And partnering up with Sporting just extends the family that much further."
Rumaner, who goes by @STRETCHartist on Twitter, opened Grinders in November 2004 and expanded with Grinders West, an upscale delicatessen, next door four years later. Since, Grinders has become a widely popular eating, drinking and musical establishment in Kansas City that has been featured on the national scene with appearances on the Food Network and Spike TV.
Last October, Grinders hosted the Sporting Kansas City playoff rally and visitors have long seen Sporting Kansas City décor inside the restaurant.
“I was always a soccer player growing up,” Rumaner said. “I actually had soccer scholarships before I went to art school and it has always been my passion. My cousin is also a soccer guy, and half my crew are all soccer fans.”
The addition of Grinders in the Boulevard Members Club complements a growing list of well-known local businesses whose products are available at Sporting Park, including Boulevard Brewing Company, Weston Brewing Company and Blanc Burgers.
The Boulevard Members Club, open for watch parties throughout the season, is located in the northeast corner of Sporting Park adjacent to the Members Stand and is a one-of-a-kind space for the club’s most vocal supporters. Designed with the input of fans, the club features a glass exterior for a direct view of the playing field and the interior includes a scarf wall, DJ booth, 30 high-definition TV’s and two projector screens.
"Sporting has been very supportive of Grinders,” Rumaner said. “Not only has the company been really cool to work with, the players and everybody behind the scenes has been just fantastic. So, why not get out to the stadium? It's our demographic. It's what I love. And you know, they need good food to go with a good sport."
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