Press Releases
Louisville athletics joins Kentucky Proud team to offer local foods to Cardinals sports fans
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
For more information contact:
Ted Sloan
(502) 564-1138
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville sports fans and event guests can enjoy Kentucky Proud foods at UofL athletic events as well as concerts and shows at the KFC Yum! Center through the university’s exclusive hospitality provider thanks to a partnership that Agriculture Commissioner James Comer announced today.
“We appreciate the University of Louisville making this commitment to Kentucky Proud family farmers and small agribusinesses,” Commissioner Comer said. “This will create a wave of new Kentucky Proud fans who will demand fresh, local Kentucky Proud foods at UofL athletic events and at their favorite restaurants and groceries. We look forward to enjoying a long and fruitful relationship with UofL.”
Centerplate, the hospitality partner and exclusive provider of food and beverage services across all of UofL’s athletic venues, has agreed to purchase at least $50,000 of Kentucky Proud products in the inaugural year of the partnership, including Kentucky Proud popcorn, grown by western Kentucky farm families and processed by Preferred Popcorn; burgers from The Chop Shop of Wolfe County and Omni Meats of Bowling Green; meats from Brooks Meats of Walton; and Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese of Barren County. These products are agricultural goods bought, sold, grown, raised, manufactured, or processed with sources clearly linked to Kentucky farms.
“Centerplate is exceptionally happy to bring these Kentucky Proud farm impact products to fans and guests of the world-class athletic events here at the University of Louisville,” said Thomas Tazbaz, regional vice president for Centerplate. “There’s no better way to provide a true taste of Louisville than to share the best of what Kentucky has to offer.”
The products will be available at UofL athletic events at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, the KFC Yum! Center, Jim Patterson Baseball Stadium, and the University of Louisville Golf Club, all via food and beverage distributor Sysco. Patrons can look for Kentucky Proud items on menus with graphics and descriptions that highlight the local products.
Kentucky Proud is the official state farm marketing program. More than 4,000 farmers, processors, retailers, restaurants, school districts, colleges and universities, farmers’ markets, Kentucky state parks, and Kentucky Farm Bureau roadside markets are members of Kentucky Proud. The program is administered by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.
