Connecticut-born Colony Grill has formalized a multi-year official pizza partnership with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, placing its bar-style thin-crust pizza inside Raymond James Stadium through the 2030 season — a move that signals how regional pizza chains are increasingly competing for high-volume sports venue concession contracts alongside national brands.
The Footprint
The agreement gives Colony Grill four concession stand locations at Raymond James Stadium, in Sections 109, 134, 311, and 336, covering both the 100 level and the 300 level. Fans in club-level seats can receive in-seat delivery served in co-branded Colony Grill and Tampa Bay Buccaneers personal-sized pizza boxes. Suites, the Champions Club, and the Hall of Fame Club will carry larger-format pizzas. The menu at the stadium centers on three items: plain cheese, pepperoni, and Colony Grill's signature Original Hot Oil Pizza — a bar-pie format that has been the chain's calling card since its founding in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1935.
Fan Promotion and Off-Site Impact
The partnership extends beyond the stadium gates with a Buy One, Get One Free pizza offer redeemable at Colony Grill's Tampa Midtown and St. Petersburg restaurants. Fans can present a game ticket or Krewe Card at those locations either before the game or within seven days after, covering all eight remaining Buccaneers home games this season. That structure is a practical case study in how sports venue partnerships can drive traffic back to brick-and-mortar restaurant locations — an increasingly common playbook for regional chains looking to maximize the marketing value of a stadium deal.
"Buccaneers fans have made Colony Grill part of their game days over the years — now, we're excited to meet them both at our restaurants and at Raymond James Stadium," said Paul Coniglio, Co-Owner and CEO of Colony Grill. Buccaneers Chief Commercial Officer Atul Khosla framed the deal as part of a broader effort to elevate the in-stadium food experience, noting that Colony Grill is "already a fan-favorite."
Broader Context
Colony Grill had been operating concession service at Raymond James Stadium during the summer concert series before the Buccaneers partnership made its official debut at this season's home opener — meaning the chain had effectively been building operational infrastructure at the venue ahead of the formal deal. That staging approach reduces execution risk when a full-season contract launches and is worth noting for foodservice operators weighing venue concession bids.
For a chain that currently operates locations across Connecticut, New York, Virginia, and Florida, the Buccaneers deal represents meaningful brand extension in a competitive Florida market. Sports venue concessions remain one of the faster-growing segments in restaurant operations and foodservice strategy, as franchises and venue operators increasingly treat food and beverage as a key driver of the fan experience rather than an afterthought. Regional concepts with strong local identity — like Colony Grill's bar-pie heritage — are proving competitive against national QSR brands for these contracts.
The deal also reflects a wider trend tracked across the beverage and food concession industry: stadium operators are diversifying their concession portfolios to include regional and independent-style brands that resonate with local fan bases, rather than defaulting exclusively to legacy national accounts. For Colony Grill, Raymond James Stadium now functions as both a revenue channel and a marketing platform reaching tens of thousands of consumers per home game.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
