DePaul Students Consult on Chicago Cubs Grab & Go Concessions

By Alyssa Gillespie

From July 26^th to August 18^th, I was a part of a group of 9 DePaul undergrads and 6 DePaul graduate students who were assigned a consulting project for a special client, The Chicago Cubs. We were tasked with looking at the new Grab & Go concessions at Wrigley Field through both our own observations and data provided to us by the Cubs and making improvement recommendations based on those.

We started off our class at the DePaul Center in the Loop with Professor Clark, meeting on Zoom with three members of the Cubs Organization: Brad Johnson, Director of Hospitality and Retail, Brad Nagel, Director of Talent, and Vanessa Ward, former Project Manager.  They gave us an overview of the Cubs as a business organization as well as a brief introduction as to what they were looking for from us in this project. We learned about how the Cubs are aiming for a “frictionless experience” from before a guest even arrives at the ballpark until the moment they arrive back home. That was going to be the goal moving forward with our projects, helping to make the Grab & Go concessions a frictionless experience.

One of the Grab & Go concession stands at Wrigley Field

We also met with Maria Sapienza, Assistant Director of Analysis and Planning Operations, over Zoom. Maria and Brad Johnson were our main points of contact during this project and who we would be presenting to at the end.

The next week we got to actually go to Wrigley Field, and before getting the official tour we learned more in-depth about what the Cubs were looking for from us, as well as a set of goals for the next couple steps in our process. First, we were going to be given data from post-game and in-game surveys completed by guests during this season. Our class had a dedicated three-person team to comb through all the data and pick out what they found was important from it.  Next, we would each be attending a Cubs game over the weekend’s home stand and acting as secret shoppers. This gave us the opportunity to experience the Grab & Go concessions firsthand, along with all other aspects of the fan experience. Finally, we would be attending one more game as a class where we would be surveying the various Grab & Go stands in the park to collect more data.

After that, we were into the home stretch with only a week left until presentations. Each of the three groups met with Brad and Maria to explain some of their initial ideas to see if they were both on the right track and within the realm of possibility for the organization to commit to.

Before we knew it, it was Thursday the 18^th which meant it was presentation day. The class met at the Cubs’ Offices for the final time ready with our ideas and slideshows. The three groups got up and presented recommendations ranging from reconfiguring the set-up of the line and actual concession stand, to different types of signage, and lights similar to those you see at grocery store self-checkouts that indicate a machine is open for the next guest. We made these recommendations based on what we were able to glean from the data and our own observations we had being at the park.

Overall, this was an invaluable experience for myself and my classmates getting an inside look into the business operations of a professional team, as well as being challenged to give a consultation and recommendation on an area none of us were experts in and in a relatively short period of time. Not only that, but we got to connect and network with members of the Cubs organization, as well as our classmates who will end up in a wide variety of organizations and industries in the future.

Photo Credits: Kathy Hillegonds