The results of the survey weren't exactly a surprise. But the people at Aramark figured that before they finalized the menus for Heinz Field, they should make absolutely, positively sure what football fans want to eat.
"It confirmed a lot of our beliefs," said Kevin Kenney, Aramark general manager at Heinz Field. "People are looking for a good, cold beer and a great hot dog."
But this being the 21st century, the age of club seats and luxury boxes as well as people accustomed to a variety of choices, particularly after visiting the concession stands at PNC Park, the offerings at Heinz Field will be vast.
The beer-and-hot-dog survey also indicated that fans sitting in the club level are interested in pasta, crab cakes and tenderloin sandwiches, all of which will be available.
The options include everything from a carver's station in the ground-floor's Coca-Cola Great Hall, where any fan can buy a fresh hot roast beef sandwich and dress it at the giant condiments table, to chef stations in the premium seats where ticket-holders can watch cooks whip up stir-fry or waffles, depending on the time of the game.
No sushi, though.
There will be 10 varieties of draft beer (everything Rolling Rock to Iron City, from Budweiser and Coors to Guiness and Harp) and an equal number of bottled beers available. And the club level will feature a whisky bar where fans can choose from a full complement of beer, liquor and and wine.
No fan should go hungry or thirsty, not with 30 built-in concession stands, 43 portable stands and about 1,200 employees available to serve.
As far as Aramark is concerned, people will come to Heinz Field not only to watch the football game, but for entertainment.
"With a visit to a facility of this nature, it's more important to have these different amenities here for them," said Aramark regional manager Mike McDonald, who has responsibilities with both Heinz Field and PNC Park. "They come to be expected. PNC Park brought it a long way, and at Heinz Field we're going to have the same kind of operation."
As at PNC Park, some of the concessions will be provided by popular local companies -- Benkowitz Seafood, Quaker Steak and Lube, Primanti Brothers. And there will be plenty of places to purchase traditional stadium food -- nachos (No. 3 in the survey behind beer and hot dogs), foot-long hot dogs, sausages, popcorn, pizza, candy, pizza.
But the operation, by necessity, will be different than PNC Park's, primarily because the pace of the game changes the way fans eat.
"You have a shorter window of opportunity for football," McDonald said. "A half hour, 45 minutes before the game starts you have a really big crunch time, and then again at half time it's concentrated. In baseball, you have 18 half-innings where people get up and stroll and walk a little more around the ballpark."
That's why there will be 402 points of sale in Heinz Field, up from 250 in PNC Park and only 150 at Three Rivers Stadium.
The local eateries, the carver's station and a variety of portable stands selling traditional stadium will be located in the Great Hall, the ground-floor area on the east side of the stadium. The focal point for food sales in the Great Hall will be near the south end zone. Also located in the hall will be the Club 33 Pub, which will sell Guiness, Bass, Rolling Rock and other beverages.
Up one level, fans will find Harp's Pub, where black-and-tan specialized drinks will be served, as well as a specialty hot dog stand. In the north end zone, in addition to the concession stands, there will be a Hero's Pub, a Red Zone Express with nachos and hot dogs and a Gridiron Grill serving hamburgers, chicken, hot dogs. There also will be a stand selling the latest must-have item at sports stadiums, fresh-cut fries.
On either side of the upper deck, there will be grill operations at the 50-yard-line (an improvement over Three Rivers, which had no upper-deck grill stands) in addition to the usual concessions.
The club level will feature the same operations plus a few extras -- the Old Allegheny Cafe, which will serve Euro-bagettes, Southwestern chicken wraps, chicken Caesar salads and top-your-own hot dogs, and the Italian Market, which will feature a variety of gourmet pizzas.
Fans will also be able to choose among several chef stations, whose offerings will change depending on the time of the game and the season. Possibilities are pasta, omelets, beef or ham carving stations and sautee stations.
In the 129 private suites, fans will have an even bigger variety of food from which to choose -- homemade pizza, Maryland crab cakes, Quaker Steak wings, a build-your-own-sundae bar and a dessert bar that tours the suites and serves a signature chocolate turtle with nuts. Said Kenney, "It's to die for."
Each suite will be stocked with three quarts of Reinholds ice cream.
The suite menus include three dozen shrimp in a 12-inch martini glass with spicy remulaoude, chicken and steak wraps and strombolis.
There are five food packages available for the suites in which a chef comes into the suite and prepares food to order for 12 people -- an appetizer before the game, one of four entree choices and bananas Foster for dessert.
Will such choices cause fans to turn away from their traditional tailgates? Kenney thinks so.
"I think tailgating is begining to subside in some aspects," he said. "I think most people prefer to tailgate inside where it's climate-controlled. When people have the opportunity to entertain in air conditioning or heat, they choose to do that. It's a neat way of entertaining, with the suites."
There may be fewer than 57 varieties, but there will be plenty to choose from at Heinz Field 
E-mail this story 
