Skip To Content
Filter search
Cal Poly Pomona
  • LIBRARY
  • ONLINE SERVICES
  • DIRECTORY
  • MAPS
  • CALENDAR
  • About Cal Poly Pomona
  • Cal Poly Pomona Overview
  • Visitor Information
  • Campus Maps & Tours
  • News
  • Events
  • Administration
  • Annual Security Report
  • Campus Safety Plan
  • Admissions
  • Undergraduate Admissions
  • Graduate Admissions
  • International Admissions
  • Continuing Education Admissions
  • Military & Veterans Admissions
  • Financial Aid & Scholarships
  • Student Accounts & Fees
  • Outreach, Recruitment, & Educational Partnerships
  • Academics
  • Colleges & Departments
  • Majors & Degrees
  • University Catalog & Academic Schedules
  • University Library
  • Research
  • Academic Resources
  • Registrar
  • Campus Life
  • Student Services
  • Student Activities
  • Recreation & Fitness
  • Health & Wellness
  • Housing & Dining
  • Diversity
  • Calendars & Events
  • Campus Safety & Emergency Info
  • Athletics
  • Visit Athletics Website
  • Alumni
  • Visit Alumni Website
  • Giving
  • Why Give
  • Ways to Give
  • Where to Give

PolyCentric University News Center

Main Menu
  • About Our University
  • Admissions
  • Academics
  • Campus Life
  • Athletics
  • Giving
  • Expand/Collapse Menu
Browse: Home / 2017 / August / At the Top of Their Game

PolyCentric

University News Center

Menu

Skip to content
  • About
    • Submissions
    • Contact
    • Department of Strategic Communications
    • PolyCentric
  • News
    • Browse by Topic
    • View All Stories
    • In Memoriam
    • Archives
  • Achievements
  • Announcements
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Photos
  • Social Media Directory
  • Events
  • For the Media

At the Top of Their Game

Posted on August 23, 2017

Claudia Cruz ('13 Hospitality Management).
Claudia Cruz (’13 Hospitality Management).

Download PDF Version Hospitality Management Alumni Score Big-League Roles in Sports Entertainment

By Diana Garcia

Hospitality management students are typically drawn to careers in hotels or restaurants, but job opportunities can be found in any business, including professional sports venues. Three Collins College alumni have found their niche in the booming sports entertainment industry, which is expected to generate $73.5 billion by 2019. Here are snapshots of their experiences.

Staples Center

During her senior year, CLAUDIA CRUZ (’13, hospitality management) was fresh out of class in  her culinary attire when chef Ernie Briones (’92, hospitality management) encouraged her to check out The Collins College’s Hospitality Career Fair. The event set her on her future career path.

Today, she is the manager of event suites for Levy Restaurants at the Staples Center.

She oversees 16 catering-style suites that accommodate anywhere from 12 to 150 people alongside 11 other supervisors, and she also manages staff schedules, day-of-event orders and any
issues that arise.

The catering team oversees about 230 events each year at Staples and Microsoft Theater, sometimes three in one day, including all Clippers, Lakers and Kings games. Plus, the staff works
concerts and special events, such as the Grammy Awards, Emmys, the eight sold-out Adele concerts this past summer and the 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend.

During the Grammys, for example, Cruz says they served 6,900 pieces of sushi, more than 800 pounds of New York strip loin and 1,200 bottles of wine.

“Working at the Staples Center is like working in a restaurant catering department, times 100,” Cruz says. “Though some events can be small, others such as basketball games or the Grammys are huge.”

Dodger Stadium

Manolo Licardie ('15, Hospitality Management).
Manolo Licardie (’15, Hospitality Management).

For MANOLO LICARDIE (’15, hospitality management), one sport has been a lifelong passion.

“I am a baseball fanatic. Becoming a professional baseball player was always a dream, but the older I got, the more I realized that it wasn’t going to happen. Then I fell in love with cooking and never looked back,” Licardie says. “When I was at Cal Poly Pomona, I realized I may be able to do the two things I love most and cook for a MLB stadium.”

Licardie is the culinary supervisor for Levy Restaurants at Dodger Stadium and is in charge of ensuring that all food is prepared and distributed on schedule, recipes are followed properly and portions are the same size. He oversees food safety standards and sanitation, visiting every concession during games.

“I never knew how big of a role hospitality played in a sporting event until working at Dodger Stadium,” he says. “It’s very similar to a restaurant or hotel in the sense that you are there to make sure your customer enjoys his or her time there and would come back.”

Angel Stadium

Thomas Mendez ('09, Hospitality Management).
Thomas Mendez (’09, Hospitality Management).

According to THOMAS MENDEZ (’09, hospitality management), hospitality careers in sports have become a major part of the industry.

He is the director of concessions for LEGENDS at Angel Stadium of Anaheim and supervises all food and beverage service, analyzes financial data, and manages staffing, budget and guest satisfaction on a daily basis. He trains and certifies over 500 associates annually and is responsible for four managers with two layers of management to oversee all hourly staff during events.

“What I think is impressive is that on any given day, we serve high-end clients in a fine-dining restaurant and cater to season-long suite holders, as well as the players on the field in the clubhouse. Taking into account all of our demographics, volume on a day-to-day basis, and keeping in line with the team’s nutritionist, we have our plates full every day.

“We hire about 200 to 400 people every year. There’s about $60,000 to $80,000 of labor on any given day,” Mendez adds. “People spend a lot of money in sports, and the food and beverage experience is a big part of it.”

Dining at Angel Stadium is more than hot dogs, peanuts and a box of Cracker Jack. Mendez also manages high-end events with full-service catering and plated meals, with menus consisting of filet mignon, porterhouse steaks, pan-roasted salmon and more than 70 varietals of wine.

“A chef at a fine-dining restaurant can do all of these things. Did you know we have five-star chefs on board at Angel Stadium?” Mendez says Cal Poly Pomona’s learn-by-doing approach prepared him for his job, especially his training in The Collins College’s professional cooking course and its restaurant operations series.

“I love that every day is different. I have the ability to be innovative in new menu items and concepts. The fact that my office is inside a baseball stadium is still a huge thrill for me that keeps me excited to come to work,” he says. “My education prepared me to not be afraid or intimidated by my job in the real world.””

Diana Garcia (’12, communication) is the communications and external relations specialist for The Collins College of Hospitality Management.

Posted in Magazine | Tags alumni, angel stadium, Collins College of Hospitality Management, dodger stadium, sports, staples center

POPULAR

  • COVID-19 Mass Vaccination Hub Opening at Cal Poly Pomona

    10149 views / Posted February 4, 2021
  • Newly Launched Vaccination Hub at CPP to Serve Thousands in the Region

    2748 views / Posted February 5, 2021
  • Inclusive Campus Survey Launches: Share Your View, We’ll Follow Through

    1287 views / Posted February 25, 2021
  • Budget Brief: Early Exit Program Helps Fill Budget Gap, Prompts Reimagining Work

    891 views / Posted February 23, 2021
  • CLASS Dean Iris Levine

    CLASS Act: Dean Levine Sets High Bar for Herself and Others

    800 views / Posted January 11, 2021

Picture of the Day »

Lettuce Research

Lettuce Research

Cal Poly Pomona in the News »

Olivia Chilcote, a Native American, recognized for her work on indigenous cultures

San Diego State Assistant Professor Olivia Chilcote (’11, ethnic and women’s studies) was honored as an “Emerging Scholar” by Diverse Issues in Higher Education, a national magazine. At SDSU, she…

NASA Engineer Luis Dominguez Shares His Upbringing from South Central LA to Working on the Mars Rover!


Do Students Feel Heard on Campus?


Experts Voice: Can extended-stay hotels sustain growth beyond Covid?


Throughline: Octavia Butler


Tags
alumni, angel stadium, Collins College of Hospitality Management, dodger stadium, sports, staples center
About Cal Poly Pomona Feedback Privacy Accessibility Document Readers

3801 West Temple Avenue,Pomona, CA 91768

©2018 California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

All Rights Reserved