Like an Uber Eats for sports and entertainment venues, the concessions and vending partner Eats2Seats (E2S) allows fans to order food and beverages right to their seats. It started as a class project at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and now operates in more than 50 venues across the country – but the business recently celebrated the decision to keep its headquarters local.
From alumni, current students, teachers, mentors, and community members, a sea of Carolina blue decorated the sidewalk outside of The PITCH on Franklin Street for Monday’s ribbon-cutting — just blocks away from where E2S founder and 2021 UNC alumna Mary Laci Motley developed the idea for the service eight years ago.
Today, the business employs more than 38,000 people, also working to staff event venues and provide fundraising opportunities for nonprofits. It has most recently operated out of the Carolina Innovate Junction building on East Franklin Street, and needing a bigger space, Motley said the decision to relocate downtown was an easy one.
“With all that growth and all that change, it was pretty clear: the one thing that shouldn’t change is our dedication to Chapel Hill,” Motley told Monday’s crowd.
“And this space is our chance to really build a legacy,” she continued. “We hope there’s going to be thousands of more stories like ours, plenty of more founders that come through. And this building isn’t just our office space, but hopefully a really cool third space that brings excellent people together.”
The PITCH often serves as an entrepreneurial hub and event space for the community, so Motley said it was “serendipitous” when its owner Mike Griffin reached out offering an ownership stake in the building. With its main office on the top floor, E2S will help strengthen the Franklin Street spot as a place for students, entrepreneurs, and community members to gather, collaborate, and build real-world experience.
According to a Griffin Brothers Companies release, a multi-phase vision representing more than $3 million in planned investment is set to enhance The PITCH’s main-level experience. With Eats2Seats, the space aims to foster collaboration and community engagement.
That reimagining will include improvements to the space over the next two years, targeting accessibility, connectivity, and adding additional uses for community engagement opportunities, according to a release from Griffin Brothers Companies. Reflecting on her time as a student, Motley said the partnership will help support early entrepreneurial ideas like hers with mentorship and guidance.
“We always say we’re trying to scale culture and scale community, and why not try to create that right here, where we’re planted?” Motley said. “The main event space, we’re really trying to get great programming here and not just make it a place to party, but really create programming that has great networking opportunities. [A] podcast series, think run clubs, think everything outside of just what exists currently, [and] how do we lean on Chapel Hill to build that together?”
Mike Griffin, Mary Laci Motley, Jess Anderson, and the E2S corporate team celebrate outside The PITCH on March 9.
During the event, Chapel Hill Mayor Jess Anderson said young, entrepreneurial people are what make the town special, and she said finding ways to keep their ideas here is important for making downtown the innovative place she thinks it can be. To help retain E2S, that included the town council taking a vote to allow for some parking credits.
“This was a competitive process,” Chapel Hill Mayor Jess Anderson also told 97.9 The Hill. “[E2S was] looking at other places, including Austin and Nashville. So to keep them here, the town will be providing them with 10 parking spaces, and those are underutilized spaces anyway, so it really doesn’t take a lot from us, and it’s a win for them.”
In exchange for the parking credits, E2S will create 41 new jobs in town paying an average of more than $122,000 per year, according to a town release. The Chapel Hill Town Council approved the economic development incentive on March 4, and Anderson said it is a decision that benefits the community as a whole. More people working downtown means more foot traffic to local food, shops, and gathering spots, she explained.
“This is the long-term plan,” Anderson said. “This is exactly what we wanted to happen. This is why we have our incentive packages, we have the policy there. And so this is exactly what we were hoping for instead of people growing or starting in Chapel Hill and then leaving, that we’re able to stay and contribute to the innovation, the vibrancy, and excitement downtown.”
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