Air curtains prevent flying insects and discourage seagulls from concession areas at the Pensacola Bay Front Stadium to help maintain high standard for food sanitation.
Pensacola, Fla. – It’s now a fact: air curtains at baseball stadiums are for the birds. That was the local health inspectors’ philosophy when they mandated air curtains to deter pesky seagulls at the Florida Panhandle’s $15 million Pensacola Bayfront Stadium, which sits just 50 yards from the ocean.
Air curtains are designed to conserve energy and prevent flying insect and dust infiltration, not to discourage three-pound birds flying at 20 mph. However, after several months and more than 60 ballgames, the inspectors were proven correct. Not one seagull ventured past the eight air curtains protecting two separate 3,600-square-foot food preparation and service concession areas at the home of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, then the Cincinnati Reds’ new AA Southern League affiliate.
No one was more thrilled about the local code than the concession areas’ designer, Matt Morel, FCSI, who has designed renowned outdoor sports venues such as Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Major League Soccer’s PPL Park in Chester, Pa. Morel, a project manager for Ovations Food Services, Lutz, Fla., a foodservice design and management company specializing in convention, fair, gaming and sports venues, routinely specifies air curtains for flying insect prevention when budgets permit. Pensacola’s health code ruling, which mandates bird deterrents for any oceanfront foodservice venue, guaranteed Morel could budget air curtains to maintain sanitation in his foodservice design.
Read the full case study in the PDF below to see how air curtains keep the Blue Wahoos’ concession areas sanitary all season.
