ST. LOUIS — St. Louis City SC is launching the first phase of its food program by announcing St. Louis chef and James Beard Award-winner Gerard Craft as the club’s “flavor officer.”
As flavor officer, Craft will work with key members of the culinary community and the soccer fan base to help discover and create the team’s stadium food experience, the soccer club announced Wednesday.
“I’m always looking for new opportunities to unite my passions for both culinary expression and uplifting the community,” Craft said. “It’s going to be an exciting couple of years working with St. Louis CITY to find unique local flavors to celebrate as a part of the gameday experience while helping to bring together St. Louis’ diverse communities around food outside of the stadium as well.”
St. Louis City SC is inviting fans to help map out potential future offerings by submitting their favorite STLMade restaurants or menu items from around the region. The team’s “CITY Flavors” program is designed to “inspire pride in the region’s authentic tastes and original flavors, while encouraging both soccer and non-soccer fans to identify the hidden culinary gems in St. Louis’ diverse neighborhoods.”
“We truly have an incredible opportunity to create our very own STLMade stadium food experience from scratch,” said Carolyn Kindle Betz, CEO of St. Louis City SC. “By working with Chef Gerard and soliciting input from our fans early in the process, we are looking at ways to celebrate and support St. Louis’ amazing culinary scene.”
St. Louis City SC will work with Levy as their stadium hospitality partner. Levy will work with Craft to “operationalize” St. Louis flavors into the gameday experience. Levy is known for creating many of the most acclaimed food experiences in sports and entertainment, a news release stated.
Craft is one of St. Louis’ most respected chefs and has created some of the city’s favorite food experiences through his company, Niche Food Group.