The Garden at AT&T Park

San Francisco Giants and Bon Appétit Open Garden at AT&T Park

The edible garden is the first of its kind in an American sports facility

Read media coverage of the Garden >

San Francisco, CA (June 24, 2014) – The San Francisco Giants and their award-winning food service partner, Bon Appétit Management Company, today opened The Garden at AT&T Park. The Garden will supply fresh-picked greens, vegetables and fruit for Bon Appétit’s ballpark menus and serve as a culinary and nutritional classroom for children in the community. It will also serve as another unique gathering place for fans to enjoy AT&T Park before and during games.

The Garden at AT&T Park was designed by Blasen Landscape Architecture and EDG in consultation with Bon Appétit Management Company

The Garden at AT&T Park was designed by Blasen Landscape Architecture and EDG in consultation with Bon Appétit Management Company

Giants partner Peet’s Coffee & Tea will serve as a sponsor of The Garden and will provide coffee grounds to continually fertilize the planter beds. Bon Appétit will also serve Peet’s Gaia Organic Blend Coffee from The Garden’s concessions.

“Last year, during our visit to the White House in honor of our 2012 World Series title, President Obama announced our plans to create an edible garden at AT&T Park,” said Giants President and CEO Larry Baer.  “For the past year, our partner Bon Appétit has worked tirelessly under the leadership of its CEO and Cofounder Fedele Bauccio to make this vision a reality. As usual, Bon Appétit has exceeded our expectations and has created a special place in the ballpark which will certainly become a popular place for our fans to gather and an outdoor classroom where our children can learn.”

The Garden will offer bountiful summer fruits and vegetables. (Click picture to enlarge.)

The Garden will offer bountiful summer fruits and vegetables. (Click picture to enlarge.)

“We believe strongly that fresh, delicious food is a powerful teaching tool. All over the country, at the universities and corporations Bon Appétit serves, we’ve been excited to create and support kitchen gardens and campus farms,” said Bauccio. “This particular one has been a dream of mine for a long time, and I am so proud to see it finally blooming.”

Located behind the centerfield wall, just under the scoreboard, this 4,320 square-foot space offers a bounty of fruits, vegetables, greens and flowers grown sustainably that will be harvested at peak ripeness year round.  Blueberries, strawberries, avocados, tomatoes, peppers, squash, lettuces, lemons, watercress, kale and lemongrass will be available for Bon Appétit and guest chefs to pluck fresh for salads and other special dishes for ballpark guests. The produce will also be used in community-focused programs about healthy eating.

Aeroponic towers

Aeroponic towers

The landscape design, by Blasen Landscape Architecture and EDG under Bauccio’s direction, integrates cutting-edge vertical aeroponic towers made by Future Growing with traditional raised beds atop the concrete plaza. Each tower, made of FDA-compliant, food-grade plastic, can grow up to 44 plants on a tiny footprint. The aeroponic towers use up to 95 percent less water than conventional farming by recycling 100 percent of the growing solution. They are most commonly found in urban farms and in rooftop and restaurant gardens.

The Garden will serve as an outdoor classroom where Bay Area youth will gather to learn about sustainability, urban farming and healthy eating. The goal of The Garden is to introduce and educate the community about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. The Giants and Bon Appétit will work closely with local chefs, farmers and wellness organizations to teach children about how to plant their own urban garden and how to prepare healthy meals. Local Peet’s Coffee & Tea locations will offer the community free coffee grounds to use as fertilizer in their personal gardens.

Fans can get a field-level peek at the action from inside the Garden

Fans can get a field-level peek at the action from inside the Garden

The Garden will also feature a bar, dining tables, benches and fire pits for fans to use during their visit to AT&T Park. Fans will also have the opportunity to picnic on the sod farm, which is harvested for use on the playing field. The Garden’s centerfield wall will include small cutout slits with ground-level views of the field.

Contacts:
Shana Daum /415-972-2496, [email protected]
Laura Braley/650-520-9704, [email protected]

High resolution video/photos/media materials: https://sfgiants.box.com/s/r296rwlb3nryqijs7oyv

 

About Bon Appétit Management Company

Bon Appétit Management Company (@bamco) is an on-site restaurant company offering full food-service management to corporations, universities, and specialty venues. Based in Palo Alto, CA, Bon Appétit has more than 500 cafés in 32 states. Its local clients include Google, Electronic Arts, the University of San Francisco, and the Exploratorium. All Bon Appétit food is cooked from scratch, including sauces, stocks, and soups. A pioneer in environmentally sound sourcing policies, Bon Appétit has developed programs addressing local purchasing, the overuse of antibiotics, sustainable seafood, the food and climate change connection, humanely raised meat and eggs, and farmworker welfare. It has received numerous awards for its work, from organizations including the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year program, International Association of Culinary Professionals, the James Beard Foundation, Chefs Collaborative, Natural Resources Defense Council, Seafood Choices Alliance, The Humane Society of the United States, and Food Alliance.

 

About the San Francisco Giants

One of the oldest franchises in Major League Baseball, the 132-year old franchise moved to San Francisco from New York in 1958.  After playing a total of 42 years in Seals Stadium and Candlestick Park, the team moved to the privately constructed AT&T Park in 2000. The organization is widely recognized for its innovative business practices and baseball excellence. In 2010, the franchise was named the Sports Organization of the Year by Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal and in 2012 was named Organization of the Year by Baseball America. Since opening its gates, AT&T Park has become internationally-renowned as a premier venue in the world of both sports and entertainment. On the diamond, more than 43 million spectators have witnessed a number of magical moments, including two World Series Championships (2010 & 2012) and five playoff appearances.  On June 13, 2012, the first-ever Perfect Game was thrown by Giants ace Matt Cain.  In 2008, the Giants celebrated the team’s 50th year in San Francisco and it was the center of the baseball universe when it hosted the 78th Major League Baseball All-Star Game on July 10, 2007.  AT&T Park has also played host to some of music’s biggest acts, including the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band and Green Day. Off the field, the Giants have one of the premier community outreach programs in professional sports, becoming the first team to implement a 100 percent participation program, involving every player, coach and uniformed staff member in at least one community project throughout the season. Through its community outreach programs, the Giants and the Giants Community Fund work with corporate and non-profit partners to raise awareness, educate and generate interest in a variety of issues important to both their fans and community including education/literacy, violence prevention, health and youth recreation and fitness.

 

About Peet’s Coffee & Tea

Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Inc. is the premier specialty coffee and tea company in the United States. The company was founded in 1966 in Berkeley, Calif. by Alfred Peet. Peet was an early tea authority who later became widely recognized as the grandfather of specialty coffee in the U.S. Today, Peet’s Coffee & Tea offers superior quality coffees and teas in multiple forms, by sourcing the best quality coffee beans and tea leaves in the world, adhering to strict high-quality and taste standards, and controlling product quality through its unique direct store delivery, selling and merchandising system. Peet’s is committed to strategically growing its business through many channels while maintaining the extraordinary quality of its coffees and teas. For more information about Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Inc., visit www.peets.com. Connect with Peet’s on Facebook at www.facebook.com/peets, on Twitter at twitter.com/peets_tweets and on Instagram at instagram.com/peetscoffee.