Athletic Dept. offers mobile ordering for concessions
FAIRMOUNT — A recurring donor recently visited Madison-Grant and gave the corporation a portion of funds raised throughout the year.
Tom Bannon from Community Hospital in Anderson presented a $2,910 check to Madison-Grant Athletic Director T.J. Herniak at the school board’s Oct. 21 meeting.
Bannon is part of Community Chefs, an organization within the hospital that raises money throughout the year and donates a portion of the funds to Madison County schools, along with Madison-Grant United School Corp.
Madison-Grant has received $30,000 in donations throughout its years of collaboration with the organization.
“It’s my pleasure to come here every year around this time to present the check from Community Chefs, and I’m glad T.J. is here,” Bannon said.
The Community Chefs event runs the third Saturday in September at the Anderson Country Club. This year, nearly 400 people attended the fundraiser.
“Chefs are everywhere,” Bannon said. “This year, we raised $112,000 during the night. And 50 percent of what is raised goes to school systems in Madison County, plus Madison-Grant, even though you’re just a little over the Madison County line.”
Community Chefs distributes the funds to local schools based on enrollment, he added.
“You have to have a high school part of your system that’s based on enrollment, so it can be public or private, and it’s proportional,” he explained.
According to its website, Community Chefs launched in 2013. “Since its beginning, Community Chefs has been a night of delicious food, lighthearted competition and most importantly, fundraising for valuable programs out in our community,” the organization stated on its website. “Men from organizations throughout Madison County come together to don a “celebrity chef” hat for the evening, and attendees are presented with an evening of delicious food and entertainment.” To date, Community Chefs has raised nearly $1.2 million from the annual September fundraising event, Bannon said. Along with donating to Madison County schools, 25 percent of funds raised from the September event go toward oncology services to help the needs of cancer patients at Community Hospital. The remaining money is rotated between donations to other hospital programs. ”This year was to raise money for the AED program, the paddles we put on,” Bannon said. “We put a lot of those out in the community, and that helps pay for those. “
Herniak served as the chef on behalf of Madison-Grant last month. According to Bannon, Herniak was the chef for last year’s fundraiser as well.
“I appreciate your support of it and T.J., everybody that’s a part of it,” Bannon told the school board. “Without the chefs and the schools, it’s just not going to be successful.”
Embracing the 21st Century through mobile ordering
Argyll sports fans can now order their game-night snacks using mobile devices at Madison-Grant athletic events.
Herniak explained the process to the school board and said the service launched this fall. He contacted a company in March called BlazeBite, which offers mobile ordering for high school concessions. According to Herniak, the program costs less than $500 per year, something he said was a reasonable expense for the athletic department and worth the investment.
Spectators now receive programs at Madison-Grant games that include a QR code. Scanning this will take them to a website where they can download the mobile ordering app. After accessing the app, people can select their school of choice and choose concessions from the menu options listed.
Herniak pointed out this option can shorten wait times at the concession stand and give people time to place orders without missing the game.
“That’s the best part about it,” Herniak said. “There’s always that fear that you’re going to get stuck in a half time concession line, and miss the third half, or the third quarter because you’re in the long line. Well, now you can order from your seat. Once it gets that alert that it’s ready, you just simply go down, pick it up, and you’re right back in your seat.”
Using the mobile ordering option also means items are purchased before coming to the concession booth for order pickup.
“You skip the line, save some time, and you never have to get out cash or anything like that,” Herniak continued. “You pay all through the app and receive an alert when your food is ready. Then the money from the app, all the purchases, gets directly deposited in our account. It’s a very seamless thing.”
Madison-Grant began offering mobile ordering for concessions during football season. Since the launch, Herniak said the department has identified ways to improve the ordering and pickup procedure.
“We had some bumps and lumps with it during football season, but I’m hoping as we transition to basketball here in the winter, we’ll be able to get it rocking and rolling,” he said. “The only thing I have to figure out is where we’re going to have that pickup area down the Hallway of Champions. We’re a little confined there, but we’ll figure something out. Madison-Grant concessions is in the 21st Century.”
Board member Wendy Longacre commended Herniak and the athletic department for bringing this service to Madison-Grant. Longacre said a woman stopped her to talk during the recent James Dean Days festival and voiced how much she loved ordering her concessions online at games.
”They were raving on and on about how that system just punched all the buttons,” Longacre said. “This is a really good thing. This is amazing.”
Next meeting details
The next public school board meeting will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4 in the conference room at the high school, 11700 E. 00 W., Fairmount.
The board will conduct its executive session following the public meeting.
The school board now livestreams its public board meetings. These can be viewed on the corporation’s YouTube channel by visiting https://www.youtube .com/@MadGrantUSC Board.