The Dallas Mavericks have completely redesigned their Champions Performance Kitchen as part of the organization’s extensive offseason renovation of its practice facility.
The dining space is now three times larger, with custom seating, a 100-square-foot skylight, a preserved-moss mural and an 11-foot Ficus tree. More than 70 pieces of restaurant-grade equipment were also installed as Dallas looks to make nutrition a larger part of the players’ daily experience.
“This is our opportunity to where it’s literally where we break bread together,” said Khalia Collier, the Mavs’ vice president and chief of staff of basketball operations. “The café has expanded triple in size. I’ve never seen people eat good food badly.
“So, it doesn’t matter if we’re on a long winning streak or we’re having a little bit of a slump, when you come in, this environment is curated to make sure that you’re put in the best situation again to have the nutrients you need, the recovery, but an incredibly thoughtfully curated menu. And what better way to do it than with 50 Eggs and John Kunkel.”
The kitchen is part of the Mavericks’ 7,500-square-foot renovation project, which also includes upgraded dining, player lounge and wellness areas.
50 Eggs Hospitality Group founder John Kunkel is helping oversee the culinary program, which will continue changing throughout the season and could feature chefs from restaurants around the country.
“We’re very excited to bring this kitchen online in the next couple of weeks,” Kunkel said as media members from the Dallas/Fort Worth area took a tour of the renovated facilities on Monday. “The program is meant to be evolving and in-season.
“We’re even doing guest chefs from other surrounding restaurants not only in Texas, but around the United States, which is really, really unusual.”
Culinary director John Bauer will lead the Mavericks’ daily food operation. Rather than treating the space as a traditional team cafeteria, Bauer wants it to function more like a restaurant using carefully sourced ingredients.
“The whole idea is that we want to produce the most appealing food for the NBA players, but also add something that we know that’s going into it,” Bauer said. “So, everything is made in-house, scratch made.
“We make our own bread, we’re making our own sauces, we know exactly where our proteins are coming from. Even the wheat is milled to order. Every element of our single items that we’re producing, we know where it’s coming from and we’re making it ourselves from scratch.”
Players, coaches and trainers will have access to breakfast and lunch, along with food they can take with them later in the day.
“If you’re one of the players, the coaches or one of the trainers, you can really live off the food that we produce here,” he said. “It’s really breakfast and lunch, but we also do some grab and go items that if they missed lunch and they’re still hungry, they can take those with them as well.”
Bauer’s staff will also prepare pregame meals and food for team flights. Individual preferences will be accommodated while the culinary and nutrition staffs work together to prioritize player health.
“The biggest challenge would be making food that you know that the players would all want to eat, but also really keeping their best interest in terms of their health in mind,” Bauer said. “There are some things you have to consider, because you want to make sure that they’re always physically ready for everything, and there are other things that are very inflammatory – different oils and so on can be very inflammatory.
“So, working with the dieticians, these are all things that we really make sure that we’re watching. And that can be difficult, and it can be a challenge, but we take on the challenge and figure it out.”
Bauer developed his culinary career after first entering the restaurant industry as a teenager before later studying and working in Europe.
“When I was 15, I played football and my coach owned two restaurants,” he said. “I started washing dishes for him and then I rose through the ranks playing football, and then working for him as well.
“I moved to Europe and lived there for two years, and I came back and went to culinary school. It’s not an easy industry for sure, but it’s a good one.”
The Mavericks also want the renovated area to become a place where players spend more time away from the court. Plans include an outdoor patio for cookouts and activities involving players’ families.
“What we don’t want (the players) to do is go elsewhere,” Kunkel said. “We want them to be able to come here for anything they want.
“We don’t want them to go to a local restaurant and get chicken fingers. You want chicken fingers? I’ll make you the healthiest best chicken fingers you ever wanted to order.”
