The direct-to-consumer industry is making its way into sports venues as Postmates announced its newest foray into Yankee Stadium.
The partnership with the New York Yankees will allow fans to order concessions ahead and skip the lines, building on an announcement last month of a partnership with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The company targeted the two stadiums as they’re “the most iconic teams in baseball” and “major cities with food delivery already a part of everyday life.”
It’s a further rollout of the on-demand delivery and pick-up service’s Postmates Live, for skip-the-line services at festivals like Coachella and Stagecoach, in partnership with AEG.
“We couldn’t be more excited to expand the Postmates Live offering to New York,” Postmates CEO and co-founder Bastian Lehmann said. “The historic moments created at Yankee Stadium make it one of the most well-known venues in the country and we look forward to providing Yankees fans with an easier and faster way to get their favorite food and drinks on-demand.”
To use the service, users open the Postmates app to browse and place their order, then head to the designated Postmates Pickup points. A company spokesperson said the pick-up program helps teams and venues avoid investing “in the complex and potentially costly process of building their own order-ahead technology.”
The rollout at Yankee Stadium began Tuesday, with pickup points in Sections 113 and 116 and the launch includes a $5 promotional code. Additional stations will open in 2020.
This season at Dodger Stadium, the points were limited to the top deck but will roll out into the full stadium next season.
“At Dodger Stadium, we’re always looking for ways to enhance the game-day experience,” said Michael Wandell, Dodgers senior vice president of global partnerships. “In partnership with Postmates, we have co-authored the most dynamic and innovative mobile ordering platform in professional sports.”
The endeavor into sports and entertainment venues is a play to likely help expand Postmate’s user base, as the company currently has an 11.5% market share, according to a Forbes article this month. Its primary competitors are DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats.
The Yankee Stadium partnership is a major step into the NYC market that is dominated by Grubhub – 72% of the market share. Postmates is already the favored delivery service in Los Angeles, with a 40% share and plenty of celebrity fans on social. The company noted there’s been an uptick in new customers since the Dodger Stadium launch.
A Postmates spokesperson said the company will continue to rollout Postmates Live in sports and entertainment venues in the near future.
READ MORE: Cleveland Cavaliers and Aramark Launch In-Seat Ordering
The Postmates’ rollout has been in partnership with Levy at Dodgers Stadium and Legends at Yankee Stadium, and most concessions companies seem to be thinking with fan convenience in a similar priority. Carl Mittleman, Aramark president of sports and entertainment, said creating quick and frictionless transactions to get fans back to their seats quickly. Aramark launched in-seat ordering with the Cleveland Cavaliers at the end of the last NBA season.
“Identifying, developing and adapting innovative ways to engage fans and enhance the guest experience will always be a core tenet of what we do as a team’s food and beverage partner,” Mittleman said. “From self-order kiosks to Artificial Intelligence self-checkout to mobile ordering and pick-up/delivery and self-service beverage stations, we’re currently piloting and expanding a number of options to determine viability and scalability.
“At the end of the day, today’s fan is more tech-savvy than ever before and we need to deliver solutions that meet the needs and preferences of our clients and consumers.”
