Food for thought?

Through my mentally exhausted haze yesterday, I somehow managed to catch an interesting bit of information from Barry Svrluga's Washington Post chat.

Barry Svrluga: . . . Also: Aramark, I'm told, is out as concessionaire next year. Not sure who's going to win.

If true, this would be fabulous news!!! Aramark has been the food vendor at RFK since (I think) the Nats' inaugural season—and in all that time, service has been anything but smooth. During the first season alone, concessions frequently ran out of food within the first few innings (though at the time, I think we all blamed it on MLB's lack of managerial willingness), and I think matters came to a head this year when people had to wait in line for an hour on Opening Day, just to get a hot dog.

I think food service at RFK improved greatly last season with the opening of the food court above the main entrance (though I wish Hard Times had remained), but given the prices on most items ($6 for nachos or beer, $8.25 for a chicken tender platter), my strategy of late is to buy a hot dog at one of the street vendors outside the stadium. A much better hot dog, for maybe a quarter of the asking price inside RFK.

But if Aramark is indeed out as food vendor next year, I'm sure that'll earn the Lerners some strong points—though with the strong PR campaign they've been pushing for the new ballpark, hopefully the Lerners will be smart and hire a food vendor that's competent, capable, and able to fulfill their promised new-and-improved-night-at-the-ballpark experience. Because after three years at dank, rundown, outdated RFK, fans are going to want to step upward in a big way. So let's keep our fingers crossed that replacing Aramark is a major step in the right direction.

For my part, I'm also crossing my fingers for a Five Guys stand at the new ballpark.