World series champs Red Sox eye eatery startups around legendary stadium

Nation's Restaurant News,  Nov 5, 2007  

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BOSTON -- The 2007 World Series champion Boston Red Sox are coming to bat in the restaurant game. The team plans to open several eateries in and around its home field, Fenway Park, in collaboration with operators of independent restaurants in the area, according to a spokesman.

"Details are being finalized, and we will have more information and be able to comment later in the fall," said John Blake, vice president of media relations for the team. He confirmed that the team is turning a space behind the centerfield wall into a bar and grill called Bleacher Bar.

An architect and development executive for the team also are said to be scouting three street-side sites near the landmark ballpark, with those places likely to be operated by local restaurateurs. The Red Sox have hired a brokerage firm to scout out operators interested in running restaurants at two of the sites. In addition, team executives have been quoted as saying there is interest in purchasing a parking garage on Lansdowne Street and turning that site into a restaurant. The Red Sox team, which is principally owned by commodities-trading veteran John Henry, is already the landlord of a Boylston Street establishment in Boston called Baseball Tavern.

Philadelphia-based contract feeder Aramark Corp., the foodservice operator at Fenway Park, said it was not aware of any plans for the addition of a restaurant inside the venue.

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