Meet the man who feeds the Eagles — and the local chefs who help

It’s 2018. I’m serving bites of a chicken lu’au stew from my former restaurant Poi Dog to crowds of revelers at Philly Mag’s Best of Philly event at Dilworth Plaza. All of a sudden I hear: ”Here, try this on!”

I spin around, my jaw drops, and I immediately slide a ring roughly the size and at least double the weight of a golf ball onto the middle finger of my right hand. Encrusted with diamonds and engraved with the word “Champions,” the ring, of course, features a glittering Swoop snarling across its face. It’s the first and only time I’ve seen a Super Bowl ring in real life.

That’s how I met Christian Molnar, the owner of the ring, the Eagles’ director of team relationships and one of the Philly food scene’s biggest cheerleaders.

Molnar encounters a staggering number of people, from visiting teams to TV production crews, in his job who ask him for restaurant suggestions. He uses his position to be one of the Philly food scene’s most enthusiastic boosters, regularly tapping chefs and restaurant owners to come to Lincoln Financial Field and cook.

“I ask visitors what they’re looking for and if it’s sushi, I’ll send them over the bridge to Sagami. If it’s cheesesteaks, well, the roast pork sandwich is better, but I’ll send them to Reading Terminal Market to DiNic’s, tell them to order a roast pork and that they have cheesesteaks, too.”

Molnar, a Norristown native and lifelong Eagles fan, joined the Eagles after working for Penn State football and Nike. He’s been with the team for 25 years, before Lincoln Financial Field was even built. In that time, his work has evolved to the point where he now declares, “I’m a Swiss Army knife.” He works in marketing and development, on the Eagles’ Autism Challenge and Foundation, connecting people “wherever there’s a need,” and crucially, procuring catering from local chefs for the Eagles.

The Eagles are a much larger organization than the players you see on the field, and Molnar’s efforts in bringing in food from small Philly businesses is a treat for those who play less on-the-field roles, such as executives and sometimes coaches.

“We have three full-time nutritionists [for the players],” Molnar explains. “In season, the players’ food is all planned out and players take it really seriously.” They all have dietitians and highly personalized diets, integrating the latest in sports science with their individual needs. There was a bit of leeway during training camp, as Molnar says their dietitians had worked with former restaurant Mike’s BBQ to come up with post-training snacks for players.

Molnar’s zeal for ordering catering started sometime during the pandemic. “I walked everywhere, stumbled upon Second Daughter Baking Co. when they first opened at the Bok Building and was like, these are amazing!” Everybody at the Eagles knew the pandemic had been a struggle for the restaurant community. Unbeknown to Second Daughter, Molnar brought some of their goods to the president of the Eagles, and soon after, the Eagles placed an enormous order. “They were so small then, I didn’t know if they could handle it. This was before they got any press.”

Since then, the orders have kept coming, and Molnar has been spreading the Eagles’ wealth all over the city. (Yes, the Eagles pay catering chefs very well and place enormous orders). “I love Café Nhan and last year we ordered bánh mìs for Lunar New Year. Some employees didn’t even know what they were!” He’s enthusiastic about strong-arming everyone around him to try and fall in love with the food made by local chefs.

Molnar likes to organize his catering orders around holidays or dedicated months, from Lunar New Year to Hispanic Heritage Month, to expose the Eagles to Philly’s varied food culture. He also celebrates some lesser holidays, like National Popcorn Day, and some he invented, like Banana Pudding Day.

“[Cornerback] Darius Slay loves banana pudding,” he laughs. “And the best in the city in my opinion is Sweet Nina’s, so we had a day where we featured all their different types of banana pudding.”

Molnar also casts a net for recommendations (yes, he’s always looking for them), asking food scenesters like Roland Bui for tips. Bui knows what catering for the Eagles can mean to small businesses.

“I always try to think of small local operators that could really use these large orders. Some players [and diners] might fall in love with a new spot and develop a lasting relationship beyond this one order,” says Bui. “I’ve always wanted to highlight the depth and variety of food Philly has to offer. People aren’t always looking to try new things on their own, but if there’s a very large catering spread in front of you, you’re going to try it.” A sports fan himself, Bui understands the movement among teams. “Not everyone is like Jason Kelce and spends 13 years here. Lots of players are journeymen.”

Has Molnar encountered any pushback? “People will say to me, I don’t do curry.” And I’m like, ‘But have you had Sri Lankan curry?’” Molnar asked. “I found Melissa Fernando when she made a crab curry, announced it on Instagram, and me and my girlfriend decided we had to get it. Then we just started following her around. I put on 15 pounds for my ‘research.’”

Molnar brought Fernando and me in to cook at the stadium on the same day in 2022, and I followed up with her to refresh my memory. “I made three different curries — chicken curry, mutton curry, and cashew curry — and served them with hot basmati rice,” Fernando said. “The cashew curry was a pretty big hit, and it was cool to have folks try mutton for the first time!”

I was equally exhilarated to make my own hometown favorites like kalua pig and poke in the Eagles’ vast stadium kitchen. I had closed my restaurant, Poi Dog, in 2020 and hadn’t flexed my cooking muscles in some time. Poi Dog was also a place that attracted football and baseball players, since many have Pacific roots. I still miss the brief solar eclipse that Jordan Mailata would create when he came through our front door.

Fernando calls herself a “hard-core anything Philly” fan (though her sport of choice is cricket) and was over the moon to have this experience. “It was my first time catering an event for a Philly sports team, and it truly was an exhilarating experience. After lunch, Christian took us back to the Eagles’ locker room where we got to see the Super Bowl LII cup!”(Fernando still makes fun of me for struggling to take a selfie in front of the trophy and inadvertently blocking it with my head.)

“I think we’re lucky,” says Molnar. Not simply in terms of having so many small businesses to support and order from, but he’s convinced that cooking for the Eagles is good luck for the businesses themselves.

“We booked Miss Rachel’s Pantry and then she beat Bobby Flay! We ordered from Kalaya before Nok blew up! And Machine Shop Boulangerie!” he said. “But yes, they also do amazing stuff and anything we can do to highlight that and elevate them is great.”