In a space where everyone wants to provide food reviews, many fail. However, Oxford resident Tyler Siskey has brought a unique approach to it and has created a fan base for his food review segment. Siskey has done this by following Oxford High School baseball and reviewing the concession stands of each team they play.
“Between my son that is in high school and my nine year old son, we are spending between four to five nights a week at a ballpark,” Siskey said. “This forces us to eat a lot of concession stand food.”
Being around baseball and concession stands this much helps build Siskey’s credibility to score the food. He grades concession stands based on taste, cost and presentation. Siskey also has plans to venture away from just reviewing baseball concession stands.
“We will expand it to other sports etc,” Siskey said. “If we are somewhere that provides concessions, it will get a review if possible.”
Siskey’s most recent review was on The Masters concession stand. The Masters is one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world. Siskey gave The Masters concessions the highest score yet with a 9.9. Sophomore Ford Wade follows the series, but he thinks high school concession stands do not stand a chance against bigger colleges and professional teams or events like The Masters.
“My favorite part about following the series is going and trying the foods that he reviews,” Wade said. “The food at high school concession stands can be questionable so I always watch his reviews to see what to get.”
Like most content creators, along with the good comes the bad. While many love the series, some take the scores too seriously. Siskey’s only goal of these concession stand reviews is to have fun with it and make his viewers laugh.
“My favorite part of the concession stand review is that we are doing it as a parody and to be funny,” Siskey said.
Siskey retired from a long coaching career and has since started many other entrepreneurships. He has a software recruiting business which helps organize high school football players film or camp numbers for college football programs. He has also started a podcast with his friend Neal McCready going over a wide variety of sports. He started this series off of his podcast to try and put out more content.
“The interest has far exceeded any expectation I ever had,” Siskey said. “It was originally started to give our social media easy content.”
When comparing Siskey’s reviews to other food creators, Wade liked how local it was.
“It is a lot easier to watch and relate to when you go to those concession stands after watching his review,” Wade said.
Many concession stands have tried to elevate their food and expand their options for Siskey to come review. Each concession stand competes to be better than their school rivals. Lewisburg High School even gifted Siskey a t-shirt with the slogan “The Cadillac of Concession Stands.” Siskey’s ideal concession stand would contain a wide variety of options.
“All burgers and hot dogs must be from the grill and cooked to order,” Siskey said. “I would smoke brisket and wings. Besides the basics of candy, nachos and drinks, I would have a salad and grilled chicken for those trying to watch what they eat.”
