Levy’s New DBK Studio Is Focusing On Emerging Stadium Technology

Automated pours. Robotic food preparation. Amazon Just Walk Out. The ever-growing list of technological advancements coming to the stadium and arena hospitality sector has propelled Levy to launch DBK Studio, working with startups and emerging technology companies to pilot and scale new ideas. 

"We literally receive 100 inbound ideas a month from companies new and existing who feel they have created the magic elixir to our fan, guest or team member nirvana," says Andy Lansing, Levy president and CEO. "DBK Studio, through a team of experts from all areas of our business with an amazing advisory board, will formalize the process of which we use to bring this new technology to market." 

DBK Studio, a wholly owned subsidiary of Levy, which was founded in 1978 with a single D.B. Kaplan's Delicatessen and now serves at more than 250 venues and events across the world, has been in the works for over a year and officially goes operational on Jan. 20. DBK Studios will work alongside Levy's E15 analytics studio, launched in 2014, to sift through the countless ideas streaming into the sports and entertainment hospitality space and work to test the most promising across Levy's network of partners. 

"What is going to be fun for us, which I think will be the perfect way to see if a particular technology will actually work and is scalable, is to decide not only what our metrics of success will be, but where do we want the test to occur," Lansing says. "Do we want to try it in five NBA arenas at the same time, sample in 10 NBA arenas or in one arena, one baseball park, the Kentucky Derby, the U.S. Open? By having discipline to how and where we pilot these, we will be able to quickly determine how to roll it out."

DBK Studio won't focus on just one area, investigating technologies that help with the fan experience, venue and staff management, operational logistics, sustainability, product optimization and staff efficiency. But first and foremost, Lansing says, the focus on fans highlights a more frictionless environment. 

"Frictionless is just one small piece of this studio," says Sandeep Satish, DBK Studio managing director, noting that Levy has already employed four different frictionless checkout technologies—Amazon, Zippin, Aifi and Standard Cognition. "We are learning quickly and moving from pilot to scale, with many of our partners looking at 10 to 15 to 20 of these locations or building entire venues to incorporate this (technology)." 

Then there's robotics, drones and plenty of technologies DBK Studio sits on the verge of piloting. 

As the concept of in-venue hospitality continues to morph, Levy knows it needs to offer options. Whereas the word hospitality once meant eye contact and workers asking how they could help, treating the fan akin to a guest in a home, Lansing says many fans want hospitality that includes interacting with humans as little as possible. "We understand that and have to play to both of those kinds of folks," he says. "If you are in the category of 'please don't make me have any human interaction,' we can do that." 

Satish says that means exploring technologies on how to deliver product, both sustainably and efficiently.

Working alongside E15, DBK Studio will determine how to measure success and more easily pick out of the hundreds of fresh ideas the ones they think could work. Then comes creating a testing plan. "That is a big change from let's try this here and let's try this there," Lansing says. "It just adds a great deal of discipline and process to discovering what really, really good ideas are versus the flavor of the month." 

DBK Studio has also brought on an advisory board, starting with Larry Levy, Levy co-founder and chairman emeritus, who remains connected to hospitality innovation and Betsy Ziegler, CEO of 1871, another local to Chicago who through her work as a private incubator has already joined with Levy to help small technologies companies grow and scale. 

Through the process, Levy and DBK Studio won't invest in the companies, using DBK Studio not as a money maker, but a formal value-add for partners. "If we invest, we can't be truly agnostic and go to a partner and say this is the best thing," Lansing says, "I think it will demonstrate to our partners an increased capability."

Having partner teams and venues proves key in the process. With a diverse mix of leagues, events and teams, Lansing says they can test technologies across a range of areas. "Everyone has a different feeling on if they want to be first or a fast second," Lansing says. "Virtually every partner of ours want to be the most innovative and for some that means they are going to take big risks and try things first and others will let us see how these other buildings do. We think DBK Studio will take the wild swing and miss out of it."

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