During every job interview, Greg Awada, the owner of Zamboni’s on 7th across from the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, asks potential applicants a make-or-break question: Can you commit to working the weekend of the Minnesota State High School League hockey tournament?
For many restaurants and businesses in the orbit of the Xcel, where the tournament takes place, this is the biggest weekend of the year.
Every March, more than 100,000 people come through the arena’s doors for the tournament, a spokesperson said. That means an economic impact of about $1.8 million on local food and beverage establishments, retailers, hotels and more, according to Visit St. Paul, the city’s convention and visitors bureau
This year, the Class A tournament kicked off Wednesday and the Class AA contest started the next day. Both conclude with high-stakes championship rounds on Saturday.
And for nearby restaurants, that means butts in seats.
‘More than we had hoped’
Zamboni’s on 7th — which recently expanded into the larger next-door spot formerly held by Eagle Street Grille — opened early for breakfast during a few tournament days. On Thursday, the restaurant was full and buzzing for about 12 straight hours, starting at 9 a.m., Awada said.
“It’s our first time through in this bigger space, and the business has been phenomenal,” he said. “More than we had hoped.”
The Apostle Supper Club, on the other side of West Seventh Street, saw higher-than-expected reservations for both Thursday and Friday nights, owner and chef Brian Ingram said. He’s even noticed a bump this week at Hope Breakfast Bar, a restaurant Ingram owns about a half-mile down the road — probably helped by higher-than-normal temperatures that encourage walking, he said.
“It’s great for the St. Paul Grill, but it’s also great for the hotel,” said Gerry Goldfarb, the vice president of lodging for Morrissey Hospitality, the parent company of the St. Paul Hotel and St. Paul Grill. “I couldn’t believe how many people were coming down for breakfast.”
Restaurateurs know to plan for the hockey tournament weekend boost, of course. As restaurants become more established, managers come to know what factors to look for when predicting what event nights — both during the hockey tournament and year-round — will look like.
At Zamboni’s, Awada said, this weekend has been an all-hands-on-deck call for staff. And on other concert or game nights, he anticipates about two to three hours of increased business before an event starts and another wave of maybe an hour or two afterward.
Over at the Apostle Supper Club, which has been open about a year and a half, Ingram has found that the nature of the event has a significant impact on how his dining room looks.
“It’s been a learning curve for us,” he said. “Big concerts and Wild games, we do incredibly well. But some of the smaller events can actually hurt us.”
Often, during big events at the Xcel Energy Center, parking rates around the stadium tend to increase, and some of the Apostle’s regular customers stay away on those nights to avoid inflated fees, he said. Major concerts and games bring an influx of arena-goers that can offset or even out-earn those average nights, but the math doesn’t always work out during smaller sporting events like volleyball and wrestling, he said.
Ingram is working with the owners of the nearby parking ramp, as well as a couple local hotels and businesses, to try to come up with a solution to the parking issue, he said. But even so, he said, the arena’s impact is a net positive.
“All the growth you’ve seen on West Seventh has really been based on Xcel and what’s going on there,” Ingram said.
Hockey fans converge on the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul for semifinal games of the State Boys Hockey Tournament on Friday, March 8, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
The X factor
It’s not only this tournament weekend: Generally speaking, proximity to the Xcel Energy Center is good for business year-round, restaurant leaders said — an especially vital boost in the era of remote work.
Take Cossetta, for example. The Italian market and restaurant, started over a century ago, landed on West Seventh well before the stadium was built. And while its fortunes don’t necessarily rise and fall with hockey and concert schedules, owner Dave Cossetta said, the influence of the X has been critical in expanding the restaurant’s customer base during the past few years, when downtown St. Paul employees who previously worked nearby are no longer regular lunchtime customers.
“All the tournaments and events that come into the St. Paul area, I thank (former mayor) Norm Coleman every day for building the Xcel there,” he said. “This is nationally known, the high school hockey tournament. It’s a big deal.”
Lower downtown foot traffic is certainly felt along West Seventh, both Cossetta and Ingram said, making event evenings more important.
When Ingram was planning the Apostle, he wanted to serve lunch, but ultimately realized there wasn’t enough of a daytime customer base to sustain it, he said. And on West Seventh, Ingram sees people end their nights much earlier than they would before the pandemic.
Downtown
However, deeper into downtown itself, the situation may be reversed for some restaurants.
Tomme Beevas owns the Jamaican restaurant Pimento, whose St. Paul location opened a few months ago. He doesn’t see a ton of pregame business on hockey nights, he said — but certainly sees political types and other office workers eating lunch and holding happy hours.
This is a surprising contrast to Pimento’s Minneapolis location on Eat Street, Beevas said, which is frequented by folks who are “coming in to chill, or they’re grabbing Pimento on their way home.”
Another surprise: Pimento, open till 2 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, has become a late-night dancing hotspot.
“Our St. Paul party numbers are better than our Minneapolis party numbers!” he said.
Even so, Beevas sees the potential of the Xcel Energy Center and is actively working to bring hockey fans and concert-goers into downtown, he said. Because the restaurant is located adjacent to the Victory Ramp, he’s hoping people will park there and eat at Pimento before heading to the X or on their way back.
“We need to break into the hockey market a lot more,” he said. “Some folks are creatures of habit. I can guarantee, by changing your pregame ritual, it doesn’t bring bad luck to the Wild!”
Frederick Melo contributed to this report.
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