Stadium Club at Caribe Royale Orlando built by RCC Associates
How Two Celebrity Chefs are Creating the Sports Bar of the Future
Article by Callie Evergreen
Stadium Club is combining the best of high-tech sports bars, night clubs, and chef-driven restaurants.
Over $140 million has been injected into reimagining and transforming the Disney-adjacent Caribe Royale Orlando, which has gone from a 20-year-old, three-star hotel to a buzzworthy and AAA Four-Diamond destination. The crowning jewel of the resort is Stadium Club—a high-tech NextGen Casual concept that’s poised for future growth in and outside of the hotel space.
“I recognized we needed a hangout spot. We needed a place with energy that would keep our customers and bring in locals that’s got energy at night,” says Amaury Piedra, Caribe Royale Orlando’s managing director, on a recent episode of THE RESTAURANT INNOVATOR PODCAST.
“It’s like a sports bar on steroids, because it’s got a very interactive component with the simulators. We wanted to make it an immersive experience that made you feel like you were at a game,” he adds.
Piedra partnered with former “Top Chef” contestants Janine Booth and Jeff McInnis, the husband-and-wife team responsible for Root & Bone. Together, the couple has modernized “Southern comfort food,” opening restaurants in New York City, Indianapolis, Puerto Rico, and Miami. Booth and McInnis developed the menu at Stadium Club, which is comprised of fun and elevated sports bar classics with twists. One offering in the “Pre-Game” section is called Winning Mac Carpaccio, which comes with thinly sliced wagyu beef, shredded lettuce, and Stadium Club sauce. “The ordinary sports bar you go in doesn’t have carpaccio made out of wagyu beef,” McInnis says.
Entertainment is ingrained in every part of the guest experience, from the state-of-the-art sports simulator suites featuring 13 sports and games (from soccer to zombie dodgeball) to the unique presentation of the cedar plank salmon with bright green rice and marcona almond romesco. “We take a really high-alcohol, high-proof rum and pour it over the salmon and light it on fire tableside,” Booth says. “So there’s theatrics in the food and that creates another level, another layer of entertainment.”
Stadium Club opened in January to “rave reviews,” Piedra touts. “I challenge any type of restaurant like this in Orlando to have better quality and a more innovative menu than what we have right now, which is kudos to Jeff and Janine.”
In the immediate future, Piedra is planning an outdoor extension of Stadium Club with a bar and a retractable roof that can seat about 100 people. “Very much in tune with the rest of Stadium Club, the flooring might be designed as an NFL football field, so ‘hey, your table’s at the 20-yard line,’ or whatever the case might be,” he says. A big projection screen and a stage for live events will hopefully attract snowbirds looking to maximize their outdoor time in the Sunshine State, as well as locals and people looking to host larger private events.
“Once we get that done and get this place running to where everybody is really happy with it, then we’ll take a look and see where the next location that we potentially open is,” Piedra says.
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