Live! Market at Indiana Live! Casino in Shelbyville, Ind.

Live! Market at the new, $300 million, 223,000-square-foot Indiana Live! Casino in Shelbyville, Ind., conveys abundance, creativity, fresh ingredients and fun in an interactive atmosphere. The marketplace is one of several foodservice outlets at the casino, which also houses Maker's Mark Bourbon House & Lounge, NASCAR Sports Grille, Angels Rock Bar, Mosaic Nightclub and Lounge, and Center Bar.

"We didn't want to create a buffet similar to others you see in many casinos," says Bob Zitto, vice president of food and beverage for The Cordish Company, which developed and manages the casino. "We wanted something different that would attract guests not only to the gaming but also the dining establishments. This is a combination farmers' market and restaurant."

The $7 million, 14,400-square-foot, 280-seat Live! Market has six stations: Bakery with grab-and-go sandwiches, desserts and coffee; Mediterranean, with a hearth oven; Fire, featuring a charbroiler and rotisserie; Asian, set up with woks and a sushi counter; Salad/Fruit/Smoothies; and Adult Beverage, which includes a soda fountain.

"Flexibility is a very important part of the marketplace," says Jennifer Safran, director of business development for Las Vegas-based JEM Consulting Group, the foodservice design firm for the project. "Each station is designed with equipment that can be used for many different menu items."

Customers enter Live! Market, the casino's 24-hour dining outlet, via the casino floor. "We balance 24-hour stations with daypart-specific stations and accessibility to the casino," says Zitto.

"When stations aren't open for service, staff is often prepping at these areas," Safran says. "The stations don't look empty when they aren't in use because they are designed with so many different materials and have retail components. This is a credit to the interior designers' creativity."

A pay-at-the-end POS system encourages sales and speeds lines. Entering customers are handed plastic cards with which to shop; servers punch the cards according to items selected, and one, total payment is made at the end of the shopping experience. Zitto believes this system will control food costs because customers will choose only what they know they will eat.

The Market's Asian, Fire and Mediterranean stations feature "pods," sections containing meal components that allow customers to buy a complete meal rather than having to visit several stations. The Fire station, for example, offers salads and sides as well as burgers and other proteins.

Each station has a retail component. The Fire station offers barbecue sauces and marinades; the Mediterranean station sells imported pastas, sauces and packaged antipasto; and the Adult Beverage area offers coffees, teas, sodas and bottled wine and beer.

Bright colors, bold signage and hundreds of textures and shapes combine to produce the lively marketplace. "We wanted customers to feel as though they were no longer inside of a casino, but rather wandering through an eclectic market where they can order and purchase food to their hearts' delight, similar to what you might find at Pike's Market in Seattle," says Lora Hunsaker, interior design project manager at WESTAR Architectural Group.

"We also wanted customers to feel their way through the space using their senses, particularly sight and smell," she says. "The natural woods and stones are merely a backdrop to enhance the food experience. We added splashes of color here and there with fun acrylics and resins from South America and other regions. The signage was a lot of fun to create | and the colors are all about freshness. We wanted the idea of everything being organic and 'of the earth' to ring true."

The Fire station features red metal, split-face limestone, walnut and cherry veneers and glass tile. Checkerboard resin, blue man-made quartz and walnut and oak veneer set the mood at the Mediterranean station. The Asian station incorporates bamboo laminate, green ceramic tile, acrylic panels, satin brass metal and coconut veneer. Backlit green glass tiles and panels, suspended bottle caps, red quartz, teak veneer and cork penny round tiles are highlighted at the Adult Beverage station. The Bakery station brings together wheat-colored acrylic panels, ceramic tile, wood veneer and red- and white-striped resin panels. Oak wood veneer, natural stone countertops and tagua seeds suspended in red and yellow resin contribute to the Salad station's aesthetic appeal.

Seating areas are accented with brick, split-face limestone, and oak, walnut, and zebrawood veneers. Tables are made from solid redwood, coconut veneer and sorghum. Colorful fabric covers chairs. The dining room's ceiling was lowered and an added soffit serves as a buffer between the dining room and the marketplace, Hunsaker says.

Much of the equipment was specially fabricated because nothing was available to fit the design, Safran says. "We selected high-end equipment that appeals to the eye but would also hold up in a high-volume scenario," she says. The exhibition-cooking areas, refrigerated and ambient display cases allow guests know the food they see is fresh, she adds.

The Bakery is Zitto's favorite. "This is similar to the pastry shop in the Paris hotel in Las Vegas where guests can find just about every baked item and sweets that they can imagine," he says. "Michael Volpe, the executive pastry chef, joined us from the Borgata in Atlantic City."

Cold rails and refrigerators keep sandwich and panini ingredients ready for preparation, crepe and waffle machines operate throughout the day, and a rotating gelato case displays a variety of flavors. Breads, baked in the station's combi oven, as well as pastries, individual cakes, chocolates, specialty coffee drinks, sodas and juices are available for purchase. The Mediterranean station's two air-screen cases hold 60 antipasto items, including an olive bar with Italian and Mediterranean cheeses, house-made sausages and prosciutto. Wheels of cheese, legs of beef, sausages and a hanging pot rack contribute to decor and highlight the use of fresh products.

"Each section is its own contained area with its own equipment and vertical food shields," Geckeler says. "This presentation creates the ambiance of a farmers' market."

Sushi and other fish items are continuously prepared at the Asian station, which includes a rice warmer, hot-sake dispenser, a steam table for six types of Chinese dumplings, and a barbecue section featuring carved ribs, duck and pork. Salads are prepared in a separate area. 

The Salad/Fruit/Smoothies station offers self-serve and composed salads, sliced and whole hand fruits, juice, soup and hot cereal. Three refrigerated self-serve air-screen counters allow guests easy and safe access to items. Built-in blenders and undercounter ice-bin space support service, as does a range for breakfast eggs, omelets, frittatas, quiche and pomme frites.

The Adult Beverage station offers coffee drinks, tea, 30 boutique sodas, cocktails, and beer and wine by the glass or bottle. Staff use a mojito machine to make the popular drinks, with ground sugar cane and fresh mint. A soda jerk prepares soda floats and milkshakes to order.

Design Capsule

Opened March 13, 2009, Indiana Live! Casino is located 20 minutes from downtown Indianapolis in Shelbyville, Ind. The facility, adjacent to the Indiana Downs racetrack, is the largest land-based casino in the Midwest. The $300 million, 223,000-square-foot project offers gaming and dining, including the 14,400-square-foot, 280-seat Live! Market; 8,900-square-foot, 160-seat Maker's Mark Bourbon House & Lounge; 8,250-square-foot, 260-seat NASCAR Sports Grille; 6,000-square-foot 30-seat Angels Rock Bar and 75-seat Mosaic Nightclub and Lounge; 2,600-square-foot, 55-seat Center Bar on the casino floor; and a 2,900-square-foot, 84-seat employee dining room. Two private clubs occupy 6,500 square feet. Live! Market conveys abundance, creativity, fresh ingredients and fun in an interactive atmosphere.