How AVI Foodsystems Fuels Thousands During Ride Weekend

Long before the first Rider rolls out, AVI Foodsystems is prepared for Ride Weekend and the thousands of mouths it’ll feed.  

Ride Week runs on a rhythm AVI has refined since taking over Pelotonia’s catering in 2013. Sunday starts with brisket, cleaned and rubbed by hand before three commercial smokers take over. The next few days bring the rest of the proteins: chipotle chicken and beef barbacoa. By midweek, the kitchen shifts to vegetables. Wednesday night is what the team calls “Herb Day:” 40 pounds of fresh basil and 30 pounds of thyme, all cut and minced by hand. And Thursday is just for watermelon, salads, and organization. 

AVI estimates five tons of food gets moved as many as 30 times over the course of Ride Week — from delivery, to prep, to the smoker, to the truck, to the site — before it ever reaches a buffet line. It takes a large team to pull this off: about 160 AVI team members work leading up to and during Ride Weekend. 

The commitment to freshness traces back to 2015, when its sustainability team introduced the research behind food additives and cancer risk. AVI overhauled its Pelotonia menu that year, building it around whole, local ingredients and later partnered with the OSUCCC – James to identify and highlight cancer-preventative foods across the Pelotonia menu. 

AVI’s resourcefulness shows up in the smallest details, too. To keep coffee hot at breakfast this year, AVI boiled water in new commercial fryers instead of urns, because fryers heat faster, resulting in 120 gallons of hot coffee on Saturday. 

AVI also caters Gravel Day in October and Night of Impact in November. 

This article appeared in the Summer 2026 issue of the Pelotonia Insider, which can be found here.