This weekend’s opening of The Lion King is the first major test of a new partnership between the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and several local food and drink vendors. Before and during shows, the venue’s concession stand now offers foods with a local flavor in addition to the prepackaged snacks that have always been available.
After several years in New England, Nashville native Christi Goins took over the direction of TPAC’s concession business this summer. She says her time out of the area helped her appreciate the quality of food available here. So she says she approached several local vendors to see if they’d be interested in supplying TPAC.
“I wasn’t sure how the idea would go over and I’m a bit of a coffee freak myself, so I appealed to Bongo Java to see what their response would be to this, and was met with amazing response and amazing enthusiasm for the idea, which kind of spurred me on to start looking at some other vendors.”
In addition to locally roasted coffee, the stand now also sells sandwiches from local chain Bread and Company, beer from Nashville’s Yazoo brewery, and desserts made by East Nashville’s Sweet 16th bakery, Tennessee Cheesecakes, Nashville Toffee Company, and Bellevue-based confectioner Wanda’s Brownies.
Goins says she hopes the partnership will both enhance the experience of going to see a show at TPAC and increase awareness of local brands.
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