at a ballgame, you think hot dogs,

Cracker Jacks, peanuts, pretzels,

and, of course, grasshoppers.

Okay, maybe you don't, but the

Seattle Mariners and their fans sure do.

(playful music)

So, how did this crunchy critter

get a spot next to your everyday

concession snacks at Safeco field?

It all starts at this restaurant with this guy.

- My name's Manny Arce.

I'm the executive chef here at Poquito's.

The grasshoppers are grasshoppers.

You know, they're a delicacy, but they're also a snack.

I put them on the menu here as a novelty

when we opened, and we kind of just, it's been on the menu

for almost six and a half years.

I describe them, crunchy like a sunflower seed,

um, salty, a little bit spicy.

Uh, every once in a while, you get one

that's a little squishier than you'd like.

We just toast them and then we put salt

and some lime and some chili on them.

That's about all that we do to them.

- [Narrator] It's one thing to see

restaurant success, but Manny's grasshoppers

became the highlight of going to Mariners' games.

- [Manny] When Mariners were saying that

we'd be a fit for them, I sent some out.

- [Narrator] The response was unreal.

As in 300,000 plus grasshoppers sold.

- [Manny] We were selling out, you know, before even the first inning,

and I started off with 50 pounds,

thinking like, oh, this'll last us, you know, a month or two.

It lasted us one day.

To date, we've probably gone through

about a thousand pounds.

People want more than, you know, hot dogs and popcorn,

and nobody else had been doing it at the stadium,

so it's kind of one of these things

that I think people just really latched onto

and the popularity far exceeded my expectations.