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Feed 'Em Up: Curbing The Bucs' Appetites

Tribune photo by JEFF HOUCK

Mike Beadles (inset), executive chef of the Bucs, says his job is "to make the players fat and happy." His Huli Huli Chicken is a hit with the team.

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By JEFF HOUCK

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 9, 2008

TAMPA - The first thing that tips you off that this is no ordinary dining room is the chairs.

Simply put: They're enormous. Padded in red leather, they're wide enough between the armrests to fit two regular-size diners hip to hip. The back, where the chairs are adorned with the outline of a red pirate flag with a skull, confirms why: They are used by the generally outsized keisters of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As a result, the large, circular wooden tables that normally seat 11 instead accommodate eight wide-body athletes.

Across the room, over by the serving line near the kitchen, there's another visual cue. Perched in a serving bin are tall stacks of white china, again with the Bucs helmet logo on the rim. The plates are 133/4 inches in diameter and weigh 21/2 pounds each before any food is piled on. The reason they exceed the norm by a good three inches: More food per plate means fewer trips for players to the food line. That results in more time spent on football.

"Most restaurants want to limit how much time people spend so that they can get them in and out," says Bucs executive chef Mike Beadles. "My job is to make the players fat and happy. The trainers can bring them back in shape."

Beadles and his staff of 12 have been feeding the Bucs since 2006, when the team moved into its lavish, pirate-ship-themed One Buccaneer Place headquarters and training facility on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

A Showpiece For Free Agents, Too

Including the cafeteria was important to team officials from an efficiency standpoint, Bucs spokesman Jeff Kamis says. Not only did it mean that more time could be spent on football operations instead of hunting and gathering food at locations off-property, but it also gave the Bucs a showpiece for free agents who more than likely didn't have a similar amenity at the headquarters of their previous team.

"This kind of facility is rare," says Bill Muir, offensive line coach and offensive coordinator. "When I started coaching in the National Football League 30 years ago, it was nonexistent. Over time we've begun to provide meals, but very few places are as elaborate as this. This is equivalent to going to a high-end restaurant in Tampa."

The contrast to the team's previous bare-bones offices adjacent to Tampa International Airport is stark. Worrying about what players ate wasn't foremost in the mind of former team owner - and legendary penny pincher - Hugh Culverhouse, who sold the team to Malcolm Glazer in 1995.

"We didn't have a formal cafeteria," says Shelton Quarles, former Bucs linebacker and currently a personnel scout for the team. "They had this food that they would truck in, and they had these tables that they unfolded in the hallway. On Saturdays before the game, the guys who worked for us would cater for us, or the rookies would have to buy lunch for the team. They'd alternate through the course of the season. We had a lot of Cuban food."

The goal with the dining room is to "make it more of a home feeling, where you can relax and enjoy yourself," Beadles says. "Some restaurants make you feel cramped because they want you to hurry up. Here's it's just the opposite."

Football personnel - players, coaches, equipment and medical personnel, team scouts - number about 125. Another 100 employees work on the organization's administrative side. That adds up to about 7,000 breakfasts, lunches and dinners a month.

An adjacent 16-seat executive dining room acts as a place for team officials to entertain business partners and other important backers.

With thick-padded chairs, multiple flat-screen TVs and wood-paneled dining room walls that mimic the wood tones of a pirate ship echoed elsewhere in the building, the end result is a room that is comfortably functional.

Bucs General Manager Bruce Allen says the opportunity to have a full kitchen and dining room in the facility has been invaluable.

"It gives us the ability to ensure that our players are receiving proper nutrition throughout a physically demanding season while also providing our coaching staff a convenient source of meals during their long hours," Allen says. "It also serves as an excellent recruiting tool while hosting NFL free agents."

Breakfast is served six days a week. Lunch is Monday through Friday for both the football team and administration workers (they eat in shifts; team first, staff second). Coaches have dinners Monday through Thursday evenings. A Saturday night snack is available on weekends when the team plays in Tampa. A pre-game meal also might be available, depending on the time of the game.

In addition to offering lots of fruit, healthy proteins and low-fat dishes, along with starches for those who need extra bulk, Beadles says his guidelines are simple.

"We know if they have an afternoon practice that nothing should be too spicy," he says. "Nothing should be too heavy in cream. We don't want to hurt them if they go back out in 90-degree weather with 100 percent humidity. They and the coaches know the players are going to get healthy and fresh food in-house and be able to go back out to practice."

Oh, and another thing: To keep the facility as pristine as possible, food is only allowed to be eaten in the cafeteria.

"The dining room is where you eat," Beadles says. "If you have a weight room, you don't want a plate of food there."

Hawaiian-Style Chicken Is A Hit

Some of the flavors on the Bucs' menus are influenced by the staff's background. A few kitchen workers from Vietnam taught Beadles how to make spring rolls. (The dish is a favorite among the coaches.) A Colombian staffer's empanadas are another crowd pleaser.

If Beadles makes jambalaya, he sometimes has his dish criticized by players and coaches who have lived in Louisiana.

"Their mothers and grandmothers and fathers and grandfathers made the best, so they're critiquing me on it," he says.

A former tight ends coach who grew up in Alabama taught Beadles how to make collard greens.

"He'd taste it and say, 'This is good; you just need a little bit of this,'" Beadles says.

"One day he walked by and he didn't ask for a taste. I asked why and he said, 'You know what you're doing. It's right. Last time was perfect. Just duplicate it.'"

Muir says he's partial to a Manhattan clam chowder Beadles makes.

"It's very spicy and loaded with potatoes," Muir says. "It helps that the general manager likes it, too."

Beadles says the most popular dish is the Hawaiian-style Huli Huli Chicken. (He also makes it with salmon and pork.)

"Most people ask where they can buy the sauce, and I tell them we make it from scratch," he says. "That's probably the most common recipe I've given out to staff and players."

BUCS BY THE BITE

Each regular workday, the team consumes on average:

• 2 cases of strawberries

• 8 pineapples

• 11 pounds of grapes

• 1 1/2 gallons of egg whites

• 10 pounds of regular bacon

• 4 pounds of turkey bacon

• 2 pounds of pork sausage

• 5 pounds of turkey sausage

HULI HULI CHICKEN (OR SALMON OR PORK)

1 pound chicken breast (or 1 pound salmon fillet or 4-ounce portions of pork loin)

2 ounces olive oil

1/4 teaspoon paprika

Salt and pepper to taste

Huli Huli Sauce (recipe below)

Mix olive oil, paprika, salt and pepper. Add meat and coat with marinade.

Grill or broil meat and baste with half the Huli Huli Sauce halfway through the cooking process. Coat the meat with the rest of the sauce when serve.

HULI HULI SAUCE (HAWAIIAN-STYLE BARBECUE SAUCE)

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

1/4 cup ketchup

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sherry wine

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

In saucepan, heat olive and sesame oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and sweat for 30 seconds.

Add ketchup, soy sauce and sherry, and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes.

Stir in brown sugar and continue cooking until sugar is completely dissolved.

Adjust seasoning if needed. If it is too sweet, add more soy sauce; if too salty, add more brown sugar.

Remove from heat.

Note: Sauce can be kept in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

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