nosh nook #153 - wednesday, october 14, 2009

cracker jack: the seventh-inning snack (link)
10.13.09 - the ny times - by john branch

it's been a few years since i've taken myself out to the ball game & it's been even longer since i've bought me some peanuts & cracker jack whilst in such a setting. apparently i didn't care if i ever got back...to a ball game that is. in recent times, i haven't picked up a box of cracker jack outside of a ballpark setting either. it may be "the original snack mix" & may have celebrated its 100th birthday last year, but i'm a crunch n munch guy all the way. i do have to give the snack credit though. it's sold at every major league baseball stadium & has remained a popular ball game snack for quite some time now, largely aided by its inclusion in the lyrics to "take me out to the ball game."

in yesterday's ny times, john branch took a look at the long time game time snack & examined where it is today, in an age where pretty much every year, a couple teams open a new, modern ballpark filled with quirky throwback junk & fancy new concession menus. branch notes that "baseball fans can buy rocky mountain oysters (bull testicles) in denver, crab cakes in baltimore, cheese steaks in philadelphia and fish tacos in san diego." you've been able to get an "ichi-roll" (named after the right fielder) at seattle's safeco field for years now. with options like that, why bother with stupid cracker jack?

kevin haggerty (the aramark guy who oversees fenway's concessions) puts it this way. "it does still have relevance. it's part of the ballpark experience. it is still a good snack. it sells well. it holds its place in the sales mix. and it's in the song." haggerty uses the word "it" a lot, but i guess he knows what he's talking about. fenway sells 1000 bags (bags? wha?) of cracker jack at each game. in the real world, cracker jack actually trails crunch n munch in terms of sales ($22.8M to $17.6M for the year ending 9/6), but for now, as long as they don't change the lyrics to "take me out to the ball game," i think they're going to be ok. they're owned by frito-lay after all & those dudes have a stranglehold on the sports snacking environment as it is, based on their promotion of doritos alone. plus, if a ballpark ever did something stupid like try to switch to crunch n munch, fans would rebel...well, at least the stupid yankees ones would.