More than 215,000 people are expected
to flock to Miami for America's biggest sporting event.
And all of those fans come with big appetites.
Dayanny De La Cruz: We do two things here:
We play, and we eat.
Narrator: That's Dayanny De La Cruz, or Chef D,
the executive chef of the Super Bowl.
She's in charge of feeding everyone,
from the fans to the players and performers.
She runs an army of 3,000 culinary professionals,
hustling day and night leading up to the big game.
But they're not just serving up stadium nachos.
They're also whipping up complex dishes
like porchetta and seafood paella.
And they're doing it all against the clock,
delivering meals across a stadium
the size of, well, a football field.
De La Cruz: We are living in this amazing adrenaline rush.
And it's like a bomb just
blown in the middle of the kitchen.
It feels like we all go to war.
We all fight our own battles.
And at the end of the run, we come back
and we tell the stories about how they made it.
Narrator: So how do they feed all
of football's biggest fans?
This year, Miami's Hard Rock Stadium
is hosting the big game.
The stadium and its caterer, Centerplate,
are no stranger to big events.
But for Super Bowl 54, things are taken up a notch.
De La Cruz: We are doubling the building and everything
that we're doing so far.
Narrator: 50% more staff was brought in
just for Super Bowl Sunday,
including dishwashers, line cooks,
inventory staff, and 35 chefs,
flown in from all over North America.
But the staff has to think beyond the game.
There are also press events, NFL executive dinners,
and the fan experience at Miami Beach Convention Center.
Which means on top of the 65,000 fans
squeezing into the stadium,
the chefs are responsible for feeding an extra
150,000 people in just one week.
While it wouldn't share an exact number,
Centerplate does expect millions of dollars
in sales for the Super Bowl alone.
To get it all done, the culinary team began planning
for this event nearly four years ago.
But it all comes down to the 24 hours before the Super Bowl.
De La Cruz: There is a system to the madness.
I know people don't believe that, but there is.
There is something behind it.
So, this is how we work Super Bowl.
Everything is in order.
We kinda have a system.
We have orders.
We have labels.
Narrator: Inventory staff receives all incoming produce
starting 36 hours before game day.
It's hustled into storage
or divided into kitchen fridges.
Chefs typically do most of the cooking
from seven kitchens in the stadium.
But for Super Bowl Sunday,
they had to wheel in three extra mobile kitchens
and outsource cooking to local vendors
in the Miami Beach Convention Center.
Main kitchens crank out food for lounges,
suites, and concession stands.
And in those stands, the staff aims to keep the time
between ordering your food and getting it in your hand
at 45 seconds.
Narrator: Kitchens are divided up into
cold and hot sections.
In the cold kitchen, they're throwing together dishes
like wedge salads and ceviche.
In hot, they're frying up heaps of plantains
and chicken wings.
Chefs line up rows of turkey sandwiches,
labor over vats of lamb curry,
and dish out gallons and gallons of baked beans
for the suites.
Here they'll be cooking 10,000 hot dogs alone.
Spruill: A little bit weary.
Tons of fun, though.
I'm a football fan, so, go 49ers! [laughs]
Narrator: Once cooked, all the food is rushed
down the stadium's secret highway under the stands.
De La Cruz: Sorry, I walk fast.
Tell me if you want me to slow down.
We call this the belly of the beast.
We are walking through what we call our area
when it comes to food and beverage.
I'm having a coffee macaron
so I can continue going. [laughs]
Anybody who walks on game day
should have between six to 11 miles.
Narrator: All this is in preparation
for the biggest food rush:
right before kickoff.
Food heads up to one of the 85 concession stands
and carts in the concourse.
While some stands have small grills to finish up cooking,
most rely on deliveries from downstairs
whenever they get close to running out.
De La Cruz: Let's just say, that doesn't happen often,
but if it does, then somebody calls the radio
and then somebody runs really fast.
Narrator: But with the stadium's massive size
and thousands of people clogging up the concourse,
deliveries can be tough.
De La Cruz: It's a big giant that moves
on its own sometimes.
Today, you might be selling all the flat-pie pizza.
Tomorrow, you might be selling all the burgers.
So it's all about readjusting and making sure
that we manage the expectation.
Narrator: Upstairs, they're handling smaller tasks
but the same amount of food.
De La Cruz: We are in what we call
the cold-side area for suites.
Out of these two kitchens, we feed about 157 suites.
Imagine 157 small restaurants.
We are in the best kitchen at Hard Rock Stadium.
[cheering]
Who is the second Super Bowl?
We got two pioneers.
Three.
Narrator: Here, they're slicing up cheese
and roasting racks on racks of mushrooms.
De La Cruz: Imagine what you see here,
and cook for 1,600 people for me.
The team cranks out 400 different menu items
on Super Bowl Sunday alone.
And if one thing breaks, well...
De La Cruz: If one oven breaks, it's like a domino effect.
Something is gonna fall behind.
So you can't take anybody for granted.
Especially in such a large operation like what we have here.
Narrator: And in this game,
the size is the biggest hurdle.
At a regular restaurant, for a regular day,
you might order just two cases of lobster tails.
De La Cruz: Instead of receiving two cases of lobster tail,
you're receiving 3,000.
We just smoked about 4,500, 4,400,
almost 5,000 pounds of pork butts.
Right now, actually, I'm bringing about 9,000 cookies.
Which is crazy. I just called my vendor,
and I say, you know, "I need more cookies."
Narrator: Luckily, Chef D can rely on others
to help make the magic happen.
She's hired 40 local vendors
to churn out everything from 4,000 popsicles
within a week
to cake pops, cookies, and Bundt cakes for the suites.
Jenny Rissone: Working 24 hours a day.
I have four shifts right now.
I have to rent extra refrigeration.
Narrator: This is the founder of Pastry Is Art,
a family-owned bakery in charge of
all the desserts for the Super Bowl.
And, yes, she did get that call for those 9,000 cookies.
Rissone: Chef D is super funny.
We plan and get organized, and then she said,
"Oh, by the way, mama, just so you know,
I may order a little bit more cookies."
I'm like: "OK, sure, no problem.
How many more?"
"I don't know, about 2,500 more."
You know, I say, "Sure, sure, no problem.
I got it, I got it."
And then when I hang up the phone, I'm like,
"Oh, my God, we have 2,500 more cookies!"
Narrator: It's Centerplate's 15th Super Bowl,
but it's Chef D's first.
De La Cruz: We are, all of us,
baring ourselves to thousands of fans out there.
I always tell everybody, on game day,
find a little moment and, you know,
look down into the bowl,
and find yourself thinking, you know,
pat yourself on the back and say, "I did that."