Screaming at the top of your lungs and cheering on the Niners can definitely build up the appetite of the faithful. So who better to please their palates than Guam's own Alvin Kabiling? Kabiling, who was born and raised on island, is the executive chef for Levi's Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, and has been since 2018.

"This will be my sixth season with the 49ers, but with Levy's Restaurants, it will be nine years in November," he told KUAM News. 

In 2014, he was at the Oracle Arena, the home of the Golden State Warriors.

"I was there for their five championship runs," he said.  Those were good times crazy but good times and the year before they relieved me to go to San Francisco to move, my company Levy's Restaurants took over this building and that opportunity at the executive chef level opened up and I jumped right in, being a Niners fan my whole life, how do you say no?!"

Kabiling, who graduated from Father Duenas Memorial School in 1993, left shortly after to California for college.

"Went to San Jose City College for a couple of years, transferred to San Jose State, went there for a few years, decided at the time towards the end, I was a year from graduating, and I was doing environmental studies, it wasn't for me.," he said. 

He couldn't see himself just sitting at a desk and he wanted something more hands-on -- he wanted to cook.

"That summer I looked around and there was a culinary school in San Francisco, applied, got in, it's an 18-month program, graduated there in 1998," Kabiling said. 

He started his culinary career with Marriott and worked at several hotels in the Bay Area for 12 years before taking a break due to a back injury. When jumped back into the workforce he found himself at other hotels before landing Levy's.

"Cooking was something I always loved," Kabiling said. "I was doing it growing up. Of course, everyone says their parents and grandparents, their family is what influenced them but this is definitely true for me. I loved cooking since i was a young kid. I did it when I was in 6th or 7th grade, watched my grandmother, my aunties, they cooked and they were awesome cooks and still to this day I think they make the best Filipino food. Hands down. They are a heavy influence in my life and that's what started my career."

He says in the last few years, he has infused more of the flavors he grew up with into the menu and food options at the stadium.

"When I got here we were still running the course of what the fans liked but that all changed coming out of COVID," he said. 

"We bring in vendors, and in the last two years, I'm bringing more island flavors, Filipino flavors- because I'm Filipino by blood into our menus and not just here and there. I write the menus for all the premium clubs so I throw it in there...why not? Especially here in California, in San Francisco, it's such a foodie area. The normal stadium food that's out the window they want more."

With 10 home games this season, this executive chef says prep work for the game starts a week out.

"Day one we are receiving product," Kabiling said. " We receive thousands and thousands of dollars of product here," Kabiling said. "There's clubs, there is concessions, suites, and everything that goes on with it. Especially in the food area we receive the product, I'll go through talking with all my chefs, my supervisors, and leads what the gameplan is. Next day prepping...we prep for four days, 50 cooks in my kitchen prepping for that much. It is crazy. It takes that much work- testing recipes, walking through clubs, checking all these things, making sure we're on target. That is the next two days."

One day out.

"It's when we start pushing out all the stuff we prepped at two locations," he said. "There are nine floors here. I have four suite kitchens, four giant clubs, 5-600 people in each club....so we started pushing food out to the areas. In this stadium, we have the ability to cook. I have show kitchens in the clubs, it's restaurant style food, it's batch firing."

Game day? Well that's a different beast. For Kabiling, it is a 12 to 14-hour day.

"Around 9 o'clock is when I start walking into the premium areas like the clubs and suites, make sure that my staff are on target. Make sure their displays and tables are set," he said. "Gates open so the onslaught begins. First, it's premium, three hours before kick-off premium opens- so all the clubs, all the suites they are ready to go. Thirty minutes before kick-off that's when all the fans are grabbing the last of the food...we as a team try to get up top to the deck to watch the national anthem and the opening ceremonies, and the fly-by."

And like a player, does kabiling feed off the crowd's energy?

"I walk around here on game day and all our games are sold out. 68,000 fans," he said. "And to walk in a crowd of that many people, in a club, in the suites area, it is crowded, even general concessions, the energy is there and it's just crazy. You gotta be there to experience it it's just something special."

So the next time you're watching a Niners game and you see the faithful going crazy, it's not only because of the game its also because chances are, the tummies are full of great food courtesy of a Guam son.