When was the last time you enjoyed Cracker Jacks at the ballpark?

We’re struggling to remember the last time we felt like being liberating at the ballpark (both turning back the time and towards our diet) and enjoyed a box of good old Cracker Jacks. A New York Times article today gives you an insight into some statistics that will probably at least be something you never knew; or even wondered about for that matter.

Cracker Jack’s popularity seems to shift from park to park. In Philadelphia, 4 of the usual 60 hawkers sell Cracker Jack, said David Lippman, Aramark’s direction of concessions there.

In Anaheim, Calif., home of the Angels, about 20 of 60 hawkers carry combined loads of popcorn, peanuts and Cracker Jack. Roughly 750 packages of Cracker Jack are sold per game, about 60,000 per season, said Adrian Dishington, the resident district manager for Aramark.

At Coors Field in Denver, Al Wolfe, the concession general manager, said that a move a few years ago to pull Cracker Jack from every other stand drew the ire of fans and was quickly reversed.

Still, Cracker Jack averages about 240 units sold at Coors Field — less than a quarter of the average in Boston.


Interesting. For you market research majors out there: why are people in Colorado (newer fan base, newer stadium) not as interested in eating an old time ball park snack as the folks in Fenway Park? Could it be that they actually trick themselves into thinking that they’re being more ‘tradition based’ by eating the snack in Boston, where they consider themselves an MLB mecca?

Sure enough, it’s on our to-do list for next season. Eat Cracker Jacks at least once at the ballpark.