Feeding the Masses -- Behind the Scenes at the WSOP

“We need backup!” he screams into his radio. “We’re not going to make it. There’s just too many of them…”

The animals, attempting to satisfy their hunger, descend upon his men and their withering supplies.

But then, as if from above, backup appears — in the form of 20 Supremes, 15 pepperonis, and 10 cheese pizzas.

All was safe for the WSOP food services staff, at least for another day…

All right, perhaps it’s not that dramatic of a scene that unfolds every dinner break. But at times, it certainly isn’t easy.

“This is like nothing else we do all year,” said Brendon Cheney, the executive banquet chef for the Rio. “We do anything from tastings for two people to plated dinners for thousands of people, but this is completely different.”

Cheney says that the sheer speed that his staff, which consists of about 25 people during the summer, needs to get the food cooked, packaged, and delivered is what makes the World Series of Poker such a unique and sometimes chaotic time.

“We’re watching the clocks, finding out when their breaks are, how many people entered into the tournament, and how many people are going to be on their break because those Pizza Hut pizzas only have a 30-minute shelf life,” said Cheney. “So I need to get them through my oven, boxed up, into the kiosk, and I need to time it right as the break is coming through.”

The 20-minute breaks and the dinner hours are understandably the most stressful time.

“On the dinner break, there’s a mad, mad rush,” said Cheney. “Speed is definitely the factor.”

Each year since moving to the Rio, the World Series has expanded its food offerings.

“Before, it was just burgers, hot dogs, chicken, and maybe pizza. Those were the previous options,” said Cheney. “This year, we wanted to really have a range of different options, so we added a Mexican station…we had our resident Mexican chef come down and create some authentic recipes. We also did the Mah Jong Express, which is our Chinese kitchen from the main casino. We brought them down here and set them up.”

Players looking for a quick bite to eat can find an assortment of food in the Poker Kitchen this year, such as chicken burritos, beef tacos, hot dogs, Chinese food, quesadillas, Caesar salads, fruit salads, and fresh sandwiches, courtesy of Capriotti’s.

But then, of course, there is the Holy Grail of food items—the personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut.

The World Series is licensed to sell Pizza Hut pizzas, so it doesn’t need the company to come in to make the food. In order to be licensed, the WSOP needed to go through a Pizza Hut training course, buy their equipment, and use all their brands to make sure they were following the exact recipes.

Cheney admits that he’s both “impressed” and “amazed” with poker players’ ability to scarf down food.

“Over 45 days, we’ll serve about 30,000 personal pan pizza hut pizzas,” said Cheney. “That’s a lot. It outsells everything five-to-one.”

Just to give some perspective, 31,146 people played in World Series bracelet events in 2008. Besides the plethora of pizzas, Cheney reports that during the World Series, “We’ll probably sell around 7,000 hamburgers, 5,000 chicken sandwiches, and 2,000 hot dogs.”

On a busy day, the WSOP will rake in about $30,000 in revenue from food — and that doesn’t include revenue from beverages, whether that be water, soda, or beer. On an average day, they’ll make close about $20,000, according to Cheney.

Quite a lot of effort — and exercise — go into creating that revenue. Beware of fast-moving chefs hustling back and forth from the tent to the kitchen to the kiosks.

“One chef put on a pedometer on one time and he clocked in seven miles in a given 12-hour shift,” said Cheney, who says that he and the other salaried chefs do most of the running around to try to create as close to a stress-free environment as possible.

WSOP cashier Curtis Watson, who works in the Poker Kitchen, agrees that it usually isn’t too stressful for the staff.

“Sometimes it can be when the players are on a 15-minute break and there’s like 300 people in here,” said Watson. “But overall, it’s fine.”

Watson said that on the whole, poker players are polite and just “everyday people,” but every now and then, the staff has to deal with slightly obnoxious customers.

“There are some that come through who feel like they’re privileged. Because they’re winning in there, they feel like they’re privileged out here,” said Watson. “As if we know who they are, or something like that.”

But Watson says that those people are the exception to the rule, and that most poker players who come through are fine.

Overall, most people who come into the kitchen seem satisfied.

“What I like about it is that you can get something that’s quick and pretty good,” said Frank Lomanno, who is here for his second World Series from Medina, Ohio. “Having the food here in the building itself makes it nice.”

His friend and fellow Ohio resident Mark Wilson is also satisfied, although he wishes they didn’t charge so much for some of the items. Still, he says it’s not too big of a deal.

“$4 a soda is fairly heavy, especially when you sit there (in the casino) and get them for free all day long and then you walk outside and pay $4, that’s kind of weird,” said Wilson. “But when you’re playing in a (big buy-in) tournament, you’re not going to complain about $4.”

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