Clockwise from top left: T-Mobile Park’s chapulines, Las Vegas Convention Center’s Meat Locker pizza, pork belly banh mi sliders, Vancouver Convention Centre’s Bliss Cake. (Courtesy Centerplate) Centerplate heads toward centennial by keeping concessions fresh for clients, fans In 1929, Nathaniel Leverone started a vending service in Chicago and called it the Automatic Canteen Company of America. Leverone got the idea to start the company when he got a handful of bad peanuts from a vending machine and he thought he could do better.  He founded the company on the idea that customers deserved a square deal: fairly priced high-quality food and beverage, served with professionalism and a smile. Leverone’s first real get turned out to be the historic World’s Fair in Chicago in 1933. He sold chocolate milk and concessions, and he even installed a few pop-up restaurants. The vending business eventually split off and the rest of the company… Continue Reading Active at 90

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