Booming business
Washington businesses dish up food, goodwill at NFL Draft
无毛视频淭here is no other place in the world where you could have had more exposure,无毛视频� said James Bendel, owner of Crazy Horse Coffee, a veteran-owned Washington County coffee shop that was among the Washington County businesses selected by the NFL as vendors for last weekend无毛视频檚 NFL Draft held in Pittsburgh.
According to the NFL, an estimated 805,000 people attended the April 23-25 event. (The NFL无毛视频檚 count of people is an aggregate, so if a single person attends the draft all three days, they are counted three times.)
While small business owners in the city reported mixed results from the influx of football fans, the lines were long and the atmosphere was festive for vendors set up inside Point State Park and inside the NFL Draft area adjacent to Acrisure Stadium.
Crazy Horse Coffee teamed up with up Pretzels Plus at the a spot at the Stage AE parking next to Acrisure Stadium to offer coffee, cold brews, pretzel bites and muffins, and P无毛视频檚 Bird Wagon cooked up chicken tenders and sides at Point State Park.
无毛视频淚t couldn无毛视频檛 have been any more successful than I had planned it. I was happy with how everything went,无毛视频� said Bendel, operates shops in Washington, McMurray, and Southpointe. 无毛视频淲e had a lot of people get hooked on Crazy Horse cold brew. We went through a lot of it. We got to put our name out in front of a lot of people who had never heard of us before.无毛视频�
Anastasia Barr-Whiteman, co-owner of Preztels Plus, said the excitement from being a part of the NFL Draft hasn无毛视频檛 worn off yet, and she is optimistic the exposure her store received during the draft will result in long-term benefits.
Earlier this week, she received a call from a company in Cincinnati that is hosting a conference and wants to place an order for pretzels for attendees.
无毛视频�(The draft) was the biggest thing we无毛视频檝e ever done, and you hope you do OK, that you do a good job. It was definitely an eye-opening experience, and there were opportunities for us,无毛视频� said Barr-Whitman. 无毛视频淎nd it无毛视频檚 already had a lot of local impact because everyone is walking in asking, 无毛视频楬ow was the draft?无毛视频� and saying they saw us in the newspaper or on Facebook. It无毛视频檚 been a fun talking point. We无毛视频檙e seeing people we never saw before.无毛视频�
Jeff Patterson, co-owner of P无毛视频檚 Bird Wagon, a family-run soul food truck based in Washington, called the event 无毛视频渁 great experience.无毛视频�
无毛视频淚 was in the back cooking, so I didn无毛视频檛 get to see much, but just being a part of it was a great opportunity,无毛视频� said Patterson. 无毛视频淢y family and crew stepped it up and handled everything. I was proud of them.无毛视频�
Jeff Kotula, president of the Washington County Tourism and Promotion Agency, sees the success of the draft as an opportunity to increase the number of people who visit the region long-term.
无毛视频淥verall, the positive media coverage the NFL Draft provided the Greater Pittsburgh region was immeasurable. It showcased a vibrant, growing, and transformed area much to the contrary of how the region is typically portrayed by national media outlets or even the perception of the U.S. population,无毛视频� said Kotula. 无毛视频淲ashington County will certainly benefit from the positive coverage in terms of future business investment and tourism attraction as well as the desirability of our county as a great place to live and raise a family.无毛视频�
He said hotels in Washington County, especially those along the Interstate 79 corridor, reported an increase in stays over those days, averaging a healthy 75% to 80% occupancy.
But, he noted, it will be hard to determine if those numbers are directly attributable to the draft.
无毛视频淭hrough our research last year of similarly located counties around Green Bay and Detroit 无毛视频� the sites of the last two NFL drafts 无毛视频� we knew going in that visitors to our county were here to experience the events in downtown Pittsburgh. We positioned ourselves to take advantage of their time away from the festivities, provided a welcoming stay for them, and encouraged them to explore our county while they were here,无毛视频� said Kotula.
The local businesses who took part in the draft are continuing to reflect on the event, what they did well, and what they can learn from it.
Patterson said challenges included keeping up with the orders placed by hungry fans who packed into Point State Park, and making sure he did not run out of food and supplies.
无毛视频淓very once in a while, when lines were long, some people didn无毛视频檛 have such a good vibe, but people understood that there were a lot of people, lines were going to be long, and most people were very nice,无毛视频� said Patterson.
Preparation was important for such a large-scale event, and Patterson said he was ready.
无毛视频淭hings had to be done beforehand that most events don无毛视频檛 require. We really had to step up preparation. We had plenty of food; we didn无毛视频檛 run out. It was satisfying to know that we could all come together, my family and crew, and do something of this size. We worked together, we handled it,无毛视频� said Patterson.
He said other vendors were supportive of each other, and he even gave a vendor one of his extra propane tanks when the vendor ran out and didn无毛视频檛 have a spare.
Bendel and Barr-Whiteman said collaboration among small businesses is a good model to follow.
无毛视频淗onestly, it was a cool collaborative effort between small businesses that we took to a big crowd. One of the best things to come out of this was working with Crazy Horse. We really were small businesses doing big business,无毛视频� said Barr-Whiteman, who plans to offer Crazy Horse cold brew in her downtown Washington store. 无毛视频淭his is something we will never forget. It无毛视频檚 something we will take with us in our business life and our lives.无毛视频�