During Taylor Swift’s 2023-2024 “Eras” tour, you may have heard that some loyal Taylor Swift fans were willing to skip bathroom breaks so they didn’t miss a second of her performance, but before the show was a whole different story.
Pilar Triguero, the Director of Housekeeping at SoFi Stadium, knew that better than most.
“For Taylor Swift, we saw over 150,000 people who were visiting the restrooms,” said Triguero. “When she was on stage, no one was at the restroom, but before her being on stage, it was lines forever.”
As far as big shows go, Taylor Swift was only the tip of the iceberg for SoFi Stadium, one of the most recognizable names of any sports and entertainment venue. The award-winning SoFi Stadium is home to both Los Angeles NFL teams, the Rams and Chargers, and has hosted other premier events, such as WWE, Beyoncé, College Football Championship games, Metallica, and many more. SoFi is also scheduled to host eight World Cup games this year, the Super Bowl in 2027, and the Summer Olympics in 2028.
That’s why the SoFi facility care team needs to be prepared for large crowds and high demand well in advance of the big shows.
In 2022, Triguero went straight to his trusted consultants at BradyPLUS for supplies + support, including smart restroom technology, inventory management, and waste diversion.
“It’s truly a partnership from day one,” said Triguero.
Before BradyPLUS got involved, SoFi Stadium struggled to identify how much it was spending on products per event. When regularly hosting events of more than 70,000 fans, those costs can quickly add up.
To ensure proper inventory management, BradyPLUS took a consultative approach to help SoFi Stadium build and design a space for custodial closets and racks throughout the entire facility. “You really want to order exactly what you're going to need for an event,” said Duncan. “The challenge before was the stadium would either overorder or underorder, which are both problematic.”
Our team also installed innovative technology that enables the stadium’s operations team to scan a QR code in each closet to receive an inventory update. The data analytics program is preset based on the PAR (Periodic Automatic Replacement) levels at each location.
“Before every event, someone on the facility care team scans the QR code, and then that will give them the PAR levels for different items that are needed for the specific event. Then, they simply count what's on those shelves, and an automatic order will be tabulated,” said Duncan. “It really solves the problem of how you accurately count what you need per event as opposed to just guessing,” said Duncan.
“We were able to reduce supply costs by 50% off the bat,” said Triguero. “BradyPLUS helped us tremendously by saying, ‘Hey, we suggest new shelving in this area or this closet; let’s condense this one, or get rid of it because we don’t need it.’ We went through each floor and identified that we had a backstock for each floor.”
As sustainability has become a major global theme in the 21st century, state governments across the U.S. are asking, what do we do with our trash? It is especially relevant to stadiums with the tremendous amount of trash they generate.
SoFi Stadium began looking at new waste diversion strategies following the passage of California Senate Bill 1383. Since January 1, 2022, residences and businesses are required to sort and separately collect food scraps, yard debris, and food-soiled paper from trash and recycling and subscribe to an organic waste collection service, according to Waste Management2.
After listening to the stadium’s business objectives, our team helped the facility become more sustainable with its two waste streams: recycling and organics. A successful waste diversion operation starts with having the right public-facing receptacle for customers to use before the waste is taken to the hauler.
“We deployed thousands of receptacles when SoFi opened to help them move closer toward their sustainability goals,” said Duncan. “The stadium is eliminating the landfill stream, so that's the stream that we don't want to continue to put trash into. In a lot of their public areas, they now just have blue recycling and green organics or food waste streams.”
Over the past few years, SoFi has dramatically increased its waste diversion rate:
“We’re moving that trajectory in the right direction,” said Triguero.
Triguero says BradyPLUS has been a game-changer for the facility care operations at SoFi Stadium with a combination of supplies + support.
“If you’re looking for a change, then definitely switch over to BradyPLUS and WAXIE products because they are a key player in the industry,” said Triguero.
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