Trill Burgers and Trill Tenders Are Coming to TDECU Stadium For University of Houston Football Games — Inside a Major Food Win

Bun B’s beloved Trill Burgers are coming to TDECU Stadium for University of Houston football games this fall with a new permanent stand in the concourse, PaperCity has learned. While the official contract still needs to be signed, sources tell PaperCity that is considered a formality with the agreement in place and Trill is expected to be serving UH fans at the first game of the Willie Fritz era this Saturday night. A formal release will be sent out in a matter of days.

Adding Trill Burgers to the selection of food available for UH football games is a major win, helping boost concession stand offerings that many Cougar fans criticized as less than inspiring for years. It also continues the University of Houston athletics department’s push to add more local restaurants to the in-game food offerings. This is a Houston Made offering in every sense.

An extra does of excitement comes in the fact Trill Tenders — the Trill team’s take on chicken tenders — also will be available at this TDECU Stadium stand. The distinctive yellow signage for both Trill Burgers and Trill Tenders is already up at UH’s football stadium.

Trill Tenders only made their debut at festivals last October and having this new Trill sensation at UH’s stadium is no small coup. This will be the first time Trill Tenders are offered inside a stadium or any permanent, non festival or pop-up situation.

Bun B’s Trill Tenders Chicken Move

Chefs Mike Pham and Fernando Valladares worked for hours and hours to come up with the right recipe for Trill Tenders, which are brined using a technique that French chefs first employed to keep the chicken tenders crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Pham and Valladares both bring Nashville hot chicken experience as well, with that expertise contributing to the Trill Tenders’ distinctive taste.

The work and precision seems to have paid off with Trill Tenders already winning top honors at California’s annual Tenderfest — touted as the world’s largest chicken tenders festival — in their debut last October.

Of course, Bun B’s Trill Burgers have quickly become a Houston institution already, winning Best Burger in America honors from Good Morning America and drawing more celebrities than the hottest night clubs in the city. Andre Johnson even served Trill Burgers at his official Hall of Fame induction after party in Canton, with No. 80 reaching out to Bun B, Nick Scurfield and the rest of the Trill Burgers ownership team to make sure it could happen.

Yes, Trill Burgers are a big deal — and the University of Houston having them at TDECU means something. Trill Burgers only has stands in two other sports stadiums — the Houston Texans’ NRG Stadium and the Houston Dynamo’s Shell Energy Stadium. And Trill Tenders have hardly been anywhere. This marks the first time they’ll be available in a location on a regular basis rather than just a one-off. The tenders will be served with Trill’s distinctive sauces at UH football games.

With Bun B a sports nut who makes regular appearances at UH games and Scurfield having previously worked in sports (for the Houston Texans as a content producer and website managing editor), this new partnership with Houston’s largest university seems like a natural. Bun B, whose real name is Bernard Freeman, makes it a point to be out front and visible with anything Trill Burgers and Trill Tenders. So you can expect to see Bun B at TDECU Stadium at times this fall too.

“This is an experience built brand,” Bun B told PaperCity earlier this summer. “A lot of people that come to like these celebrity driven brands, in the back of their mind they’re always wondering, “I wonder if he’s going to be there. I wonder if he or she’s going to be there today.’

“. . .  I like to meet and greet the people that come. I think it’s the least we can do.”

The University of Houston athletics is certainly doing more than the least by adding Trill Burgers and the still new Trill Tenders to its roster of food offerings at TDECU Stadium. This high-profile addition is another sign of an athletic department that is trying to listen to its fans. That push started under former athletic director Chris Pezman, with Garrett Klassy, the deputy athletic director who left to become the AD at Fresno State, largely orchestrating the deal with Trill Burgers. Klassy first reached out to Bun B’s business reps to get things rolling and Bun B embraced the chance to link up with the University of Houston and its football game days, with a deal eventually getting laid out.

The season does not start till 6 pm Saturday night, but this is already one off-field win.