Santa Fe Concession Stand Turns Into Family Affair for Team and the Town
On the far end of Santa Fe High School’s football stadium, patties are thrown onto an eight-burner grill, and baskets of fries are dunked into fryers of oil as a fan sends smoke swirling through the air.
The man who equipped the kitchen, Beau Crevasse, stands in the middle with six pounds of shrimp at his disposal for that night’s special, a fried shrimp basket with fries. Wearing a red apron, he dredges the shrimp in seafood breading, then plops them into a mesh basket to shake off the excess before sending them over to a fryer. All six pounds of shrimp were gone before kickoff against Zarephath Academy on Aug. 28.
The concessions team strives for efficiency. As soon as a food runner shouted, “We’re low on fries,” they were met with an immediate, “Two minutes,” from the fryer. And they’ll need the efficiency Thursday when the Raiders take on Buchholz at home in front of a sellout crowd, capping ticket sales at 3,500.
“We try to run it like a restaurant,” Crevasse said, also crediting the team effort. “We’re here to make money because all the money goes to the booster club.”
In a white cooler to the right of Crevasse’s foot sit seven rotisserie Boston butts destined to disappear by the end of the night. The pork would be pulled and piled to make Raider Taters — nachos topped with pulled pork, one of the stand’s biggest money makers — and pulled pork sandwiches.
Beau and his wife, Christen Crevasse, the Santa Fe Booster Club President, started manning concessions about four years ago, aiming to impact more than game day by raising funds for the team while feeding the community. The Crevasses also cook meals for the team throughout the week and often provide visiting teams with postgame meals. They use pre-game meals as a way to fuel the Raiders, making pasta a staple of their pre-game routine.
“We like to cook,” Beau said. “We like to help out.”
When Beau and Christen started, the stand offered staples like hot dogs, pizza and hamburgers — and they saw an opportunity to do more. The couple upgraded the Friday night menu, bringing in french fries, pulled pork sandwiches, a popcorn machine and ever-changing weekly specials.
“We really have a passion for cooking and entertaining and food, so we just made it grow from there,” Christen said. “Just trying to give everybody a great variety when they come to the game, something different than what you would get at another football stadium.”
The funds raised pour back into the football program, covering transportation, food, team gear and special events costs, even helping send the team to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Aug. 22.
“It’s just great things that we can turn around and give back to our players and coaches,” Christen said.
The cooking doesn’t start or stop with Friday night lights, though, providing the team with around four meals a week for pregame, postgame meals, walkthroughs and morning practices. At the walkthrough ahead of the game against Zarephath, Beau helped arrange a taco bar for the team, complete with ground beef, chicken, tortillas, black beans and rice.
“They [take] care of us always,” Xavier Clarke, a Raiders senior varsity linebacker, said. “It means a lot because I know some of these schools are not getting the same treatment.”
The Raiders aren’t the only ones enjoying the Crevasses’ cooking at Santa Fe’s stadium. Beau often cooks meals for the visiting team. At the Zarephath Academy game, the Raiders welcomed kids from the local Pop Warner football program, and the concessions crew provided them with a hot dog, chips, cookies and a drink.
“There’s unfortunately a lot of underprivileged kids, and if we can provide [a meal] for them, that’s great,” Christian Cao, a concessions volunteer, said. “It’s giving back to the community.”
Beau emphasized the meals would not be possible without the parents, families and friends who sacrifice their time to help. The group has become a family, with many in their fifth year of concessions alongside the Crevasses, making the stand the place to be at the games.
“Parents come here, they’re friends, and even after the kids graduate, they still want to come back and hang out in the concessions,” Robyn Szabo, a parent of a Raiders player, said. “We have a lot of fun out here. You get to know the community, the teachers, the administration, the students, like who your kids are hanging out with all the time.”
Cao started volunteering with the concessions stand in 2022 to help the team because his son, a freshman at the time, joined the squad. He grew close with the other volunteers, keeping concessions part of his Friday night routine after his son graduated in 2026.
“October 16th, I know there’s a game, but I’m going to be at a conference,” Cao said. “I was trying to see if I could get a flight back on Thursday. All my friends rag on me, like ‘Dude, your kids don’t even play there anymore.’ I’m like, you don’t understand, it’s fun.”
On game days, the crew arrives around 2 1/2 hours early for set up. As the running clock ticked away Friday during the Raiders’ 51-6 win, Beau started prepping gator tail and chicken wings for the coaches.
Behind him, three volunteers assembled pulled pork sandwiches. One laid out the buns, passing them to the left to divvy up the pork before wrapping it in foil and adding it to sandwiches already wrapped and ready to feed both teams.
As Beau dumped the crisp gator tail into a foil pan, topping it with seasoning, the crew gathered round to snag a piece and decompress from the rush of the night.
“We love food,” Christen said. “It really brings us together, brings our friends together, and it brings people back to the concession stand every Friday night. It’s definitely a family.”
Category: High School Sports, Santa Fe High School
