No baseball, but Kernels give fans ballpark food experience

We're supposed to be about five weeks into the baseball season, but no one knows when or if that'll happen in 2020. The Cedar Rapids Kernels decided to give fans some sort of stadium experience.

"We feel a little more like we prepped for a game day," said Kernels General Manager Scott Wilson.

There wasn't an actual baseball game happening, but staff members decided to give fans a little taste of baseball on Friday by handing out food orders from their own Hot Corner Grill.

"We sort of let a couple of other teams in the league be the test market," said Wilson. "On that success, some are doing full family meals where you take it home and prep it. Some are doing individuals, like we are with the baskets."

The Kernels took in the orders on Tuesday and Wednesday, but kept a limit of 100 sandwiches -- they still sold out. The food was prepared on Friday afternoon before fans picked up their orders in the parking lot.

"This is outside our box" Wilson said. "We're really good inside these gates at what we do."

The Kernels plan to continue the carry-out service over the next few weeks and the menu will change each week. They'll also take in more orders now that they've figured out a system.

It's a small step of hope that there will be baseball again.

"We came in today and the first thing everybody said is we get to see some of our fans tonight," Wilson said. "We're excited about that, too; we haven't seen our fans in forever."