Advertise Subscribe Food Food News Desserts Plant-Based Beverage Beverage News Wine Spirits Cocktails Beer Non-Alcoholic Hospitality Hospitality News Restaurants & Chefs Best Restaurants QSR Awards All Awards PROOF Awards CPG Awards Magazine Magazine Issue Articles Digizine Archive Covers Chef of the Month Editor Picks Digizine Distributors & Brokers Podcasts Contact Menu Home › HOSPITALITY NEWS HOSPITALITY NEWS Florida Panthers Tap Sodexo Live! to Reinvent Game-Day Hospitality at Amerant Bank Arena Aug 24, 2026 Advertisement Back-to-back Stanley Cup champions don't tend to settle. So it tracks that the Florida Panthers — winners of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 titles — are now aiming their next competitive push at something fans experience long before puck drop: the food, the drinks and the service in the concourse. The Panthers have named Sodexo Live! as their new food and beverage hospitality partner at Amerant Bank Arena under a multi-year agreement built around one goal: reimagining the guest experience from general concessions to premium clubs and suites. For anyone in foodservice and hospitality, this is a familiar and telling storyline. Championship venues are increasingly treating concessions not as an afterthought but as an extension of the brand — and a real revenue and loyalty lever. The deal pairs the Panthers' vision with Sodexo Live!'s global venue expertise and its longstanding South Florida presence. Across concessions and premium spaces, guests can expect three things: Crucially, the team isn't tearing up what works. Fan favorites — including the arena's beloved carved turkey sandwich — are staying on the menu, joined by refreshed selections that put a local spin on the classics. Sodexo Live! CEO Belinda Oakley framed the mandate around carrying the team's on-ice standard into every corner of the building. Sodexo Live! manages catering, sales and event services across 440 sites with 35,000 employees, spanning some of the world's most celebrated stadiums, arenas, convention centers and cultural attractions. Its portfolio includes Royal Ascot, the Tour de France, Roland-Garros, the Rugby World Cup and the Paris 2024 Games, plus marquee venues like the Eiffel Tower Restaurants, the Hard Rock Stadium, the Scottish National Gallery and the Hollywood Bowl. That combination — a global network layered over deep South Florida community ties — is exactly the pitch operators look for when the goal is menus that feel local but execute at scale. Behind every reimagined concourse is a team, and Sodexo Live! is building one now. A hiring event will take place at Amerant Bank Arena in the North Main Lobby: Attendees can learn about available positions and meet the team responsible for the next generation of guest experiences at the arena. For food and beverage operators, hospitality managers and foodservice executives, this deal is a clean case study in where sports and entertainment F&B is heading: The practical takeaway for buyers and operators: as premium venue contracts turn over, the winning bids increasingly blend global operational muscle with genuine local culinary credibility — and pair both with staffing and tech investment. It's a template worth watching. For more on how hospitality leaders are staffing and structuring their venue teams, see our coverage of Park Hyatt St. Kitts' new executive leadership , and for how technology is reshaping the foodservice front line, read about NRS's direct POS integration with Uber Eats . Will "distinctly local" concessions become the new baseline for championship venues — or is elevated arena hospitality still a premium play? Drop your take in the comments, and explore more food and beverage industry news and hospitality trends at Food & Beverage Magazine. Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1) , Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40” for founding American Wholesale Floral. Politz is also the founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector. The leading online resource for the food & beverage industry — signature celebrity features and a 20-year reputation, reaching 14 million readers monthly. Sections Editor Picks Distributors & Brokers INDUSTRY NEWS HOSPITALITY NEWS EVENTS IN MOTION FOOD NEWS Company Advertise About Contact Us Admin Stay Informed Weekly industry updates, straight to your inbox.
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