Exclusive: The Nationals reveal new local food and drink vendors for 2025 season

The starting lineup: New eats and drinks are among 30+ local vendors at the park.

Food

• Kam & 46 (Section 105): The food truck-turned-vendor makes fun riffs on Hawaiian and Filipino street fare (e.g. tuna tartare or sisig nachos).
• Taqueria Picoso (Section 117): Mexico City natives branch out from their Alexandria restaurant with homestyle tacos and tortas.
• Mush (Section 137): Look for veggie sandwiches, bowls and sides.
• Phowheels (Section 140): Vietnamese street eats from the OG food truck include banh mi, egg rolls and Vietnamese tacos.
• Lucky Danger (Section 238): Chef Tim Ma's popular American-Chinese takeout gets its place at the park for dumplings, lo mein and orange chicken bites.

Cocktails

• Cotton & Reed (Section 109): The Union Market rum distillery will mix tropical cocktails like strawberry daiquiris and dark 'n' stormies.
• Electric Cool-Aid (Sections 102 and 147): Boozy slushies, courtesy of Shaw's "frozen bar."

Little treats

• Grab-and-go items from the stadium's new marketplace stands include sweet treats from veteran-owned Dog Tag Bakery, Moore Crunch's flavor-dusted mini-pretzels, and Party Of Popcorn's Thai-flavored pops.
• Also, a Maracas Ice Pops bicycle for delicious Mexican fruit and cream popsicles.

How it works

The intrigue: This season's new vendors were chosen in a "Shark Tank"-style "Pitch Your Product" competition, in which 23 DMV businesses presented their specialty fare and ballpark dreams to a panel of judges — including yours truly, who got a behind-the-scenes look for Axios.

• It's the second time they've done it. The first, in 2015, yielded a bunch of cool new vendors including Haute Dogs & Fries, which you can still snag at the ballpark today.
• The mix of contenders mirrored D.C.'s food scene — decades-old businesses and young startups, global chefs creating everything from West African street eats to German schnitzel.

The ultimate question: Can small businesses go big? Serving fans at a 41,000-seat stadium is like its own endurance sport. Vendors are expected to supply top-quality fare over 81 games — kudos if it's Insta-worthy for those ballpark shots — plus during post-game concerts and events, all while running their established businesses.

• A lot of the specialty prep by local providers has to be done offsite, like when Medium Rare brewed its top-secret steak sauce for sandwiches.

Behind the scenes: Assembling the vendor roster is a lot like putting together a restaurant menu. My fellow judges and I looked for consistency, approachability, dietary needs and, of course, deliciousness (knowing there's the added obstacle of outdoor temps). Dishes also needed to be equally enticing from spring through fall.

• Scalability was a big question. Beef suya skewers or spaetzle bowls are delicious, but can a chef turn out thousands per game?
• Also, what are fans into right now? Cue more "plant-based" vendors at the park and specialty cocktails alongside non-alcoholic options.

What they're saying: "We're 100% paying attention to what D.C. is reacting to," Lisa Marie Czop, senior VP of ballpark operations, tells Axios. The mix has become as global as the city itself — Venezuelan arepas and Salvadoran pupusas alongside hot dogs and ice cream.

The big picture: Nats Park is increasingly about more than baseball, especially during the team's recent rebuilding years. Popular theme nights, post-game concerts and festivals are all designed to appeal to a broad audience. Same for the food.

• "We want to win a World Series every year, but we can't control that," says Czop. "We can make sure people come to D.C. and fall in love with the ballpark, regardless of what's happening."