Manco & Manco Pizza and Phillies slugger Ryan Howard’s Colbie’s are opening at Citizens Bank Park

“You know how the Phillies signed some huge free agents?” asked Kevin Tedesco, Aramark’s general manager at the ballpark. “Well, so did we.”

Marking the beginning of the 2022 baseball season, Citizens Bank Park is tapping some new and familiar names to join the food lineup.

First up is Manco & Manco, the celebrated Ocean City, N.J., boardwalk pizzeria that traces its roots to 1956.

Also this season, retired Phillies slugger Ryan Howard will make a homecoming in time for Friday’s home opener. Howard is an investor in Colbie’s Southern Kissed Chicken, a Mount Holly-based eatery that will sell three sandwiches and a dessert.

Blue Bell-based KLYR Rum, a new brand, will be featured at various locations around the ballpark.

Here’s what to expect from these new spots, plus details on new menu items throughout the park.

Manco & Manco owner Chuck Bangle said he was honored to have been approached by the team and Aramark last fall. He signed a four-year agreement for the location in Ashburn Alley next to Campo’s, previously occupied by Seasons Pizza.

Manco & Manco’s thin-crust pizzas will be made just as they are at the locations in Ocean City and Somers Point: Workers hand-toss the dough, lay it on the peel, sprinkle on cheese, use a pedal-operated pump attached to a red hose to swirl on the sauce, and bake the pies in a Roto-Flex oven.

“Same sauce, same cheese, and you’ll see a lot of the friendly faces from Ocean City, including mine, up here, at least initially,” said Bangle, whose staff trained the Aramark workers, first at Ninth Street and the Boardwalk and later at Citizens Bank Park.

Manco & Manco’s will sell 12-inch personal pies to fans at the stand and will make whole 18-inch pies for patrons in the suites. It’s a practical matter. “You bring an 18-inch back to the stands, and it’s not fair to the person in the next seat,” Bangle said.

The pizzeria, known as Mack & Manco’s before a partnership split in 2012, will sell cheese, pepperoni, sausage, and gluten-free pizzas. A white pizza is being considered.

Colbie’s Southern Kissed Chicken will have a stand behind the Phillies dugout on the concourse level at Section 120.

Colbie’s founders, twin brothers Michael and Craig Colby — yes, they spell their surname differently — opened their restaurant just outside of Mount Holly about a year ago, after many years of operating Burger King and Red Robin franchises. Last fall, they added a second Colbie’s location, in Newark, Del. The menu, created by the Colbys and celebrity chef Fabio Viviani, is Southern-based, but chicken sandwiches built on sweet Hawaiian buns are the signature item.

Their secret sauce for cinching the Citizens Bank Park deal is one of its investors, Ryan Howard, who said he met the Colbys through former Phillies pitcher Chad Durbin.

Howard said that he leaves the recipe development to the others, but “I’ll throw in my palate,” when it comes to adding or subtracting menu items. Howard and Michael Colby, incidentally, declined to specify the ingredients in the crunchy breading. (Asked if it’s cornmeal, as is speculated among chicken connoisseurs, Michael Colby gave an emphatic no.)

Howard lends his nickname, The Big Piece, to one of the sandwiches. It is served with garlic aioli, pickles, mild American cheese, thick-sliced bacon, lettuce, and tomato. Colbie’s will also sell its original topped with garlic aioli and pickles; a Nashville Hot (with hot sauce, spicy aioli, pickles, lettuce, tomato, and pepper jack cheese); and peach spoon pie.

At the Colbie’s restaurants, Howard recommends the PBJ Kiss, which has peanut sauce, grape jelly, and frizzled onions. “Like that doesn’t even sound right,” Howard said. “It throws different types of things and awakens your taste buds.” (One new burger from Aramark coincidentally uses this flavor profile. Details below.)

“We wanted to create a drink that … doesn’t exist,” said Amish Patel, a sports fanatic from Blue Bell, who is starting his affiliation with the Phillies and Aramark this season. “I didn’t want to create another vodka or another tequila or another bourbon because there’s a million of them. I said to myself, ‘There are no good clear rums out there. Let’s make our own.’”

Distilled 12 times and filtered 18 times, KLYR Rum is made at its distillery near Harrisburg, run by master distiller Lexi Close. It hit the market about nine months ago and for now is sold mainly in Central Pennsylvania and the Bethlehem area.

PJ Whelihan’s Wicked Chicken Nachos, at the PJ Whelihan’s stand in Ashburn Alley.

Pass & Stow Sausage Sandwich, with a house-made sausage, pepper-shooter mayo, and arugula, at Pass & Stow, Third Base Plaza.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Burger #Dare to Pair topped with peanut butter, jalapeño jelly, American cheese, and bacon on a brioche bun, at Boardwalk Eats, Section 142.

Burnt Ends Cheesesteak with house-smoked brisket ends served on an Amoroso roll topped with smoked Gouda cheese sauce and caramelized onions, available at Bull’s BBQ, Left Field Plaza.

Impossible Cheesesteak topped with smoked Gouda cheese sauce, tomato jam, and crispy onions on an Amoroso roll, available at Aramark’s Garden Grill location, Section 125.

Street Nachos topped with pickled red onions, jalapeños, cheese sauce, corn salsa, and a choice of adobo chicken or Impossible meat, at Aramark’s Street Nachos stand in Section 139.