National Nutrition Month: Fueling the Field

March is National Nutrition Month and this year’s global theme is all about fueling for the future. At FLIK Hospitality Group, we certainly fuel for the future – whether in our sustainability practices or through nutrition education in our various divisions, RD-approved recipes and culinary practices are core to our overall wellness philosophy. In this exciting three-part series, we’re discussing FLIK’s approach to how we fuel for the future, kicking off with how FLIK fuels the field for athletes.

In a profession where 1-second or 1-inch can be the difference between winning and losing, more teams are turning toward dietitians and performance nutrition as a way for athletes find that extra edge. And that’s where FLIK comes in. According to the Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association, in 2017 there were 26 professional sports organizations in the United States with a full-time dietitian. By 2022 – just five years later – that number more than tripled to 80 full-time dietitians.

In those same years, FLIK has grown its professional athletics portfolio from feeding six NFL teams to fueling 22 professional clubs across eight different sports leagues including the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, MiLB, MLS, NWSL, and USL Championship. Our expertise and customized approach to performance nutrition allows us to understand the sport-specific needs of each athlete and their role on the field, pitch, and court.

We have seen rapid growth in this niche market alongside a growing body of research around food, nutrition, and its impact on performance. FLIK’s food philosophy across all areas of business has always focused on high-quality, fresh, local, seasonal, sustainable, and balanced meals. Our Director of Performance Nutrition, a Board-Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics, specifically works with each of our teams, their respective RDs or training teams, and our chefs to ensure FLIK’s food philosophy meets the needs for our athletics portfolio. And that’s a heck of a lot of customization!

Here are a few key areas where “Fueling the Field” deviates from FLIK’s other lines of business:

Nutrition

The athleticism required to play professional sports is unmatched. Yet, each sport requires unique workouts to increase and target endurance, speed, agility, and more. Nutrition is no different.

A soccer midfielder, a first baseman, a shooting guard, and a linebacker can certainly break bread together, but their plates may look completely different at each meal period.

We work hand-in-hand with the strength and conditioning coaches or team dietitians at each organization to understand the overall team nutrition goals and the nutrition goals of any individual players. We then tailor menus to the team’s training and competition schedule, ensuring that each and every player has enough carbohydrates to fuel their workouts, enough protein to build strength, and enough healthy fats and antioxidants to recover quickly.

We also tailor nutrition education to each team’s needs. Sometimes that means providing education at the training table to help players connect what they eat to how they feel and perform on the field. And other times, the education may be more skill-based. For those athletes who don’t know how to cook or don’t have time to head to the grocery store, our basic cooking classes, like our Rookie Cooking Class, can help fill a gap.

Variety is the Spice of Life

Our sports teams are a captive audience. In most of our business, guests choose whether to spend their lunch money in a FLIK café. At an athlete training table, we’re serving breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner anywhere from five to seven days per week.

We have lots of tools in our arsenal for keeping the menu fresh. Our performance chefs draw inspiration as a division to find creative themed menus and action stations that keeps things fresh and exciting for our players and teams. At some training tables, players even help select what’s on the menu by voting on their favorite dishes, especially when it’s time for a celebratory dinner. We also partner with local restaurants for guest pop-up experiences and even connect with the players and their own family recipes to find ways to incorporate “a taste of home” at work.

Prior to game day, our athletes love the “Devour the Competition” campaign where we recreate regional cuisine of an upcoming competitor. This allows us to introduce regional and global fare, while also helping amp up the players before game day.

Technology

Over the past several years, we’ve seen technology evolve in food service, medicine, and wellness sectors. The sports nutrition industry is not exempt.

Sports dietitians are using new software and applications like Notemeal to assign meal plans, track intake, and measure nutrition-related outcomes for individual players. FLIK uses the performance kitchen side of the app to manage recipes, develop menus, and even take player orders.

FLIK also partners with Nutrigenomix, which uses genetic testing to provide personalized nutrition recommendations to maximize player performance.

Ultimately meal composition is often dictated by practice schedule: building simple carbohydrate intake toward game day, easy-to-digest foods prior to a tough practice, a focus on lean proteins and colorful produce for recovery, and a more indulgent meal in the days following a match or game. We spend time developing and recipe testing nutrient-dense, performance foods that are delicious, nutritious and ensure our players love eating at the training table.

Interested in learning more about FLIK Athletics? Check out these Q&As with our performance culinarians about their respective teams.

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At FLIK Hospitality Group we believe in great food, great service, and great people. Our wellness first approach ensures our food supports healthy and delicious choices, specially curated by our team of culinary experts and registered dietitians. At FLIK, we believe in seasonality in sourcing our ingredients and providing a customized approach to the culinary and hospitality needs of each client. Our dedication to providing quality hospitality service is unparalleled in the industry.

Have feedback or questions for our team? Email us at flikblog@compass-usa.com.

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