BroBible
The Los Angeles Chargers eat a lot of protein. It is fascinating to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into the day-to-day operations of an NFL organization when it comes to food, diet and nutrition.
There is a full team of full-time chefs who work around the clock to feed more than 300 players, coaches and staffers three square meals a day, seven days a week, 30+ weeks a year.
These kinds of things have a direct impact on success in the NFL and professional sports in general. We often forget just how important it is to fuel the athletes and just how much fuel they actually need.
Executive Chef Joel Ramirez and Director of Performance Nutrition Grant Harris work closely together to create a menu that suits their players’ needs. The goal is to obviously provide them with the highest-quality food possible to keep them in peak physical form and to help them perform at their best, even if it’s just one or two percent better each day.
Menus are planned on 6-8 week cycles, about two months ahead, through the use of data systems like Teamworks Nutrition to track food popularity and portion size in an effort to reduce food waste. They put a heavy focus on organic, local ingredients.
Ramirez and his staff put the menu together. It must then be reviewed and approved by the nutrition team based on dietary and performance needs.
Fresh produce is ordered daily. Proteins are stocked in advance.
The kitchen staff gets approximately one hour to prep before service. Food must then go from the kitchen to the floor in under five minutes. One tray of food feeds less than 10 players so it is a nonstop carousel. 10 players can wipe out an entire buffet in under three minutes.
Various food offerings include a breakfast station (with more than 50 hard-boiled eggs), a salad bar, a clean eating bar for lighter foods, an international station, a cold line for fruit and quick carbs and a grab-and-go for players on short time. There are plenty of options from which to choose.
Every single meal is tailored to support athletes who burn 3,000-5,000+ calories a day. Linemen obviously eat more and skill players eat less but they all eat 1,000-2,000 calories more than a typical diet, so roughly 3,500 calories per day at minimum.
A large portion of those calories are from protein. The Los Angeles Chargers eat no less than 600 pounds of protein per day.
Admittedly, I don’t know if that includes the coaching staff or the business staff. Lets do the math.
If we include all 300 people, that is about two pounds of protein per person— which is still a lot. It gets even crazier if we go only based on the athletes.
The Chargers have a 53-man roster and a 17-man practice squad for a total of 70 players. 70 players...
