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Hungry, Thirsty Crowd Keeps Vendors Busy

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By JEFF HOUCK

jhouck@tampatrib.com

Published: February 2, 2009

Just inside Gate A next to the escalator, vendor George Varnai was standing in front of a rolling cooler filled with ice, beer bottle caps and no beers. Forty minutes before the game, he was out of brewskis.

The Atlanta resident sold all 19 cases of beer allocated to him. One of his pockets was full with a 3-inch wad of cash from selling the $10 bottles.

This was the eighth Super Bowl for Varnai. Number of Super Bowls he's watched in person: zero. Beer vendors don't get a seat at the big game.

***

Stocking the Cardinals' bench with "Endurance Formula" Gatorade G before the game was Jeremy Yoder, a Buccaneers employee whose brother, Todd, once played for the Bucs.

Which flavor do players like best, the lemon-lime or the fruit punch?

"Both," he said. "Seriously, you pick one. It'll be right."

***

In the mezzanine level, John Cimmino and Melanie Grau were doing brisk business selling sausage sandwiches with peppers and onions.

Cimmino, of Saratoga, N.Y., has worked several Super Bowls, as well as a few NCAA basketball finals. Grau, from New Port Richey, often works Tampa Bay Lightning games.

By the middle of the first quarter, they figured they hadn't stopped serving the $8 sandwiches since the stadium opened at 2 p.m.

"I think they're the most popular sandwich here," Cimmino said.

***

The food was far more exotic in the posh club area. Adjacent to the luxury suites, you could buy giant cookies for $8, $6 chocolate caramel brownies as thick as a paperback dictionary and a plate of arroz con pollo for $15.

Elsewhere, you could get $25 bento boxes of Cyros Sushi rolls and nigiri. Washing it down with a glass of Gekkeikan sake put a $12 dent in the wallet.

Reporter Jeff Houck can be reached at (813) 259-7324.

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