Chicken parm, lo mein, stuffies: You've never seen a concession stand like Middletown High's
MIDDLETOWN – If there were a Super Bowl for concession stand food, Middletown High School would be shooting for two banners this autumn.
Themed menus, as well as a football team that just won its first round playoff game, have been a big hit this season at the Gaudet Middle School field. Days in advance, students, parents, alumni and Islander grid fans in general have wanted to know what the Middletown Athletics Boosters will have up their culinary sleeves.
The Boosters, who operate the food concession, have been quiet cooperative, proudly posting their menus days in advance on their Facebook page.
While the football team has been kicking butt and taking names on the field, the concession army, headed by generals (and sisters) Tricia Cranson and Christa Robinson, have been, in the words of world-famous chef Emeril Lagasse, turning it up a notch with their menu.
The restauranting Boosters this season have, in order, held Carnival Night, Seafood Extravaganza, Down Home Cooking and International Night. For last Friday's home D-III playoff game against Moses Brown, it was Best of the Best, with the Boosters prepping and cooking and selling the most popular items from the first four weeks.
Looking ahead to Nov. 23 with a hopeful eye, the Boosters plan to serve Thanksgiving Breakfast of State Champions.
How did the menu come to have so many choices?
“It takes a lot of work,” said Cranson, who's Patrick Cranson, is a junior at MHS and a member of its football and basketball teams, and her daughter, Ciara Cranson, is a freshman and a MHS cheerleader. “I've worked in restaurants half my life. I enjoy it.”
Owner of the Gladding School of Dance in town, Cranson graduated from Rogers High of Newport in 1994, five years after her sister Christa, now a first-grade teacher at the Forest Avenue School in Middletown. Christa Robinson who's son Timmy Robinson, graduated with the MHS Class of 2023 and played on the football and basketball teams.
The sisters stepped into the concession stand leadership roles in September 2022, on the Tuesday before the Friday home opener against Rogers. “We said we'd do that game and see how it goes,” Christa said.
Learning on the job ... and then getting creative with the menu
It went not so well. They ran out of everything, right down to the last can of soda. But they didn't quit. They consulted with their extremely helpful predecessors/mentors, Shannon Marshall and Kim Botelho, and started to learn the ropes. Once they got the hang of concession life, Tricia decided to get creative. She held a theme menu night, the first Seafood Extravaganza. It was a hit.
During this past summer, the sisters huddled and started formulating a plan for a variety of theme menus for 2023. The creative juices were cooking.
Local business community helps out
Best snack shack: Hot dogs, nachos, apple crisp? Which high school has the best concession food in RI?
The food expert, Tricia handles the shopping. The sisters get to the concession building two hours before game time to start the prepping. They, along with other Boosters, don't leave until as long as two hours after the final whistle. Cleaning and sanitizing are chores.
Christa estimates she and her sister put in a combined 20-plus hours each week. They emphasize that they get great help from as many as 10 others Boosters who volunteer at the stand. And both sisters say the food crew has an awful lot of laughs.
The business community has also helped, with donations from McGrath Clambakes, Blount Soups, Sodexo (Salve Regina University dining service), and China Star II.
The food is very popular, even with Islander rivals
It's all made it possible for the Middletown Boosters to serve food (and raise money) by selling dishes not normally associated with high school snack shacks: BBQ pulled pork sandwich. Apple crisp. Chicken parmesan sandwiches. Lo mein. Chowder and stuffies.
It's been a huge hit. The eating.
Christa said that after a recent home win over North Smithfield, one of the opposing team's assistant coaches showed up at the concession building, saying he had been smelling the delectable food all night.
What's also been a big hit is the weekly anticipation. The mystery.
“People love it,” said Middletown Boosters President John Ceglarski. “People ask me, “When's the menu coming out?'”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Middletown High in spotlight, for football – and for concession stand
