Chris Bigelow of Bigelow Companies will be honored with the 2006 National Association of Concessionaires’ Mickey Warner Award. The award will be presented Monday, August 7 at the Membership Luncheon in the Hilton Palacio del Rio during the NAC Annual Convention in San Antonio.

The Mickey Warner Award is named for the originator of the NAC Concession Manager Certification program, and a great innovator and educator for the concessions industry. “We are pleased to honor Chris for his longevity and leadership in the industry as well as his steadfast support, commitment and work on behalf of NAC,” said NAC President Larry Etter, CCM, of Malco Theatres. Bigelow is the fifth person to be honored with this award; previous winners are Shelley Feldman, NAC director of education, Walter Dunn of The Coca-Cola Company, Frank Liberto of Ricos Products Company, and Jeremy M. Jacobs of Delaware North Companies.

Bigelow is a 30-year veteran of the food service industry, including positions at Canteen Recreation Services as vice president of sales & marketing, Volume Services, and ARA Services, now ARAMARK. In 1988, he formed Bigelow Companies, a Kansas City-based consulting firm to sports, entertainment and convention center facilities. The company provides design services for new and renovated facilities, operational audits of existing foodservice and merchandise operations, and RFP and contracting assistance for those facilities that contract their concession and catering services. The company has served over three hundred public assembly venues in the United States, Canada, Asia and the Middle East

Bigelow is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of NAC. He has served as a volunteer on the NAC Board since 1993, and completed a two-year term as president in 2005. He is the Chair of the IAAM Foundation Board of Trustees and is a Past Chair of the Board of Regents for the Public Assembly Facility Management School. He is active in the International Association of Assembly Managers, Association of Luxury Suite Directors, the Stadium Managers Association, the Missouri Restaurant Association and the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

He holds the title of Certified Food Service Professional (CFSP) from the National Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers, and is a Certified Consumer Arbitrator for the Better Business Bureau. He is also a professional member of Foodservice Consultants Society International (FCSI), and is a member of the Advisory Board of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Kansas City. Bigelow received his Bachelor's degree in Hotel and Restaurant Administration from University of Nevada - Las Vegas.

Bigelow is a well-known author and speaker for the recreational foodservice industry and his writings are included in several textbooks currently used by Sports Management majors at universities throughout the U.S. He has spoken at industry events and conferences across North America and as a guest lecturer and speaker for the Venue Management Association in Australia. He was named one of the Top Twenty Most Influential People in Sports Facility Design, Architecture and Development by Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal.

The inspiration for the award, Mickey Warner (1920-1995) had a passion to give recreational foodservice its professional place. His passion led to the innovation of certification programs, an industry textbook, and an NAC university chair. In the early 1980's, Warner discussed the idea of funding university-level research and teaching with then-NAC president Shelley Feldman. The NAC Board established a chair at Florida International University's, School of Hospitality Management.

In 1985, at the age of 65, Warner entered a doctorate program at the College of Education at FIU to perform research in recreational foodservice management. Within two years, he completed the entire required curriculum, passed the comprehensive examination and presented his research topics on the competencies of a recreational foodservice manager to the dissertation committee. He was turned down because of a lack of "body of knowledge."

Not to be defeated, Warner set out to establish a "body of knowledge" by producing an all-encompassing textbook, Recreational Foodservice Management, which is the cornerstone of the NAC certification program today. During the busy summer of 1988 Warner wrote the textbook, established an undergraduate course at FIU, and established a new, one-level certification program for NAC. The next fall Warner represented his request for research to the doctoral committee and was approved.

The National Association of Concessionaires was founded in 1944 to serve the recreational and leisure-time food and beverage concessions industry as a network and resource for operators, suppliers, manufacturers and distributors. Association services include publications, educational seminars and training programs, convention and trade shows and other programs for the concessions industry.