KZ Provisioning, a celebrity chef backed hospitality company that offers performance focused meal programs designed for athletes, is expanding its reach. To that end, the company, which was co-founded by James Beard award winning chefs Gavin Kaysen and Andrew Zimmern, is teaming up with Aramark Sports + Entertainment in an effort to reach more professional and collegiate athletes.
KZ Provisioning was founded in 2017 with the goal of providing genuine hospitality, customized menus and performance driven meals to athletes, their coaches and their families. The company manages foodservice for the Minnesota Lynx, Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Wild.
The partnership aims to use KZ Provisioning’s culinary expertise in combination with Aramark’s extensive network and existing infrastructure to have a greater impact on athletes and others involved in the sports industry.
“At KZ Provisioning we offer best-in-class hospitality services to all our partner clients. We also believe in player happiness as a quantifiable metric that affects performance,” said Zimmern, co-founder of KZ Provisioning, in a statement. “Our emphasis on the extraordinary impact our culinary offerings have on players across all our teams is our daily work. So, when you combine all those areas of expertise with Aramark’s leadership and their ability to amplify our work via this new partnership, we have an offering that teams across the nation will find invaluable.”
KZ Provisioning’s team of chefs, led by Kaysen and Zimmern work on-site from pre-season to the playoffs crafting pre-game energy meals, post-training recovery dishes, and snacks that cater to athletes’ nutritional requirements.
“The partnership with KZ Provisioning is a natural extension of our nationally renowned work with sports owners, operators, athletes and stadiums across the country,” said Alison Birdwell, president and CEO of Aramark Sports + Entertainment. “The opportunity for us to have such dedicated and reputable partners as Andrew and Gavin is special. KZ Provisioning uniquely combines the culinary excellence and high attention to detail of two world renowned chefs, with a thoughtfulness of the athlete experience that is unlike anything we’ve seen before.”