Molly McDonough doesn't quite know how cool her 6-year-old self really is.
First and foremost, Molly is a bubbly, charming first-grade student who lives in Beverly — a southwest Chicago neighborhood. But now, she is also an unofficial mac and cheese ambassador and star of one Soldier Field's new menu items for the 2025 season.
The Bears, in partnership with Levy Restaurants, debuted new concessions selections Thursday, which includes a Kids Club menu highlighted by "Molly's Mac and Cheese," inspired by Molly McDonough herself.
"It'll come with time to know that she had a dish at Soldier Field is just named after her," her father, Kevin, said. "But she's been telling all her friends, though. So she kind of knows it's cool."
It all started with an unexpected meeting between McDonough and Bears President & CEO Kevin Warren in February, shortly after the team hired Ben Johnson as the team's head coach. McDonough, a sales executive and second-generation Bears Season Ticket Holder, was meeting with a customer at a local steakhouse when he saw Warren come out of the elevator.
"I thought, 'you know what, I'm going to say hi,'" McDonough recalled. "And it was right after the Bears signed Ben Johnson as the new head coach, so I'm like, 'congrats on Ben Johnson.' I mentioned I'm a Season Ticket Holder, big Bears fan, and he was so energetic. He's like, 'how long have you been going to Soldier Field?'"
McDonough proceeded to explain that his father originally bought the tickets, so he had been attending Bears games for decades. Warren asked if McDonough had a few minutes to spare, saying, "I have a meeting going on upstairs and I think you could help us out."
The meeting, which McDonough didn't realize at the time, was between the Bears and Levy Restaurants as the organizations were in discussions about new ideas and changes to gameday hospitality at Soldier Field for the 2025 season.
"I sat down in the chair, and Kevin was just like, 'so this is food and beverage and hospitality at Soldier Field, what can we do to make the game day experience better? Go,'" McDonough said.
After providing some feedback, McDonough brought up his family of five — wife, Kellianne, sons Ryan and Liam and Molly.
"I just said that every single year I take the kids to a preseason game and Molly says the same thing to me," McDonough said. "Every time I go to a venue or a restaurant, it's, 'Dad, do they have mac and cheese here?' And I was like, 'unfortunately, I don't think they do.' I just mentioned that."
Two weeks later, McDonough received a call from an unknown number, so he silenced it, but later listened to the voicemail the caller left.
He thought for sure he was being pranked by one of his friends.
The call actually came from Bears senior vice president of fan/guest experience and stadium operations Lee Twarling, who was also present at the meeting. He wanted to give McDonough the news that they would be moving forward with Molly's Mac and Cheese.
"I almost fell over," McDonough said. "I was like, 'Are you kidding me?'"
Like her father, Molly nearly fell over when she finally got to try the dish she inspired Thursday at the Levy tasting event. She immediately rated it a 10/10.
"It was nice and cheesy," Molly said with a big smile.
When asked who makes the best mac and cheese, Molly confidently answered, "The Bears!"
Her brothers, Ryan and Liam, agreed – the dish was a perfect 10.
Surrounded by her family — all clad in Bears gear — Molly was also surprised by the club with a custom jersey, Bears teddy bear and recently-launched 2025 Monsters of the Midway Trading Cards, much to Ryan and Liam's delight.
Ryan, a fifth-grader, and Liam, a third-grader, are both huge Bears fans like their father and listed DJ Moore, Montez Sweat and Caleb Williams as their favorite players. Luckily, their Monsters of the Midway packs contained each of those players' cards, making Thursday for a special day not just for Molly, but her supportive siblings as well.
The entire story is one you couldn't really script if you tried. At least that's how Twarling saw it. He recalled how everyone at the dinner fell in love with McDonough's story because at the root, it was just a dad trying to grant his daughter's wish.
"When we were sitting on the table and Kevin left, we're sitting there and thinking about really how simple this can be, but how impactful it can be as well," Twarling said. "And sometimes the best concepts are simple, but they're impactful. We all agreed this one was a no brainer. To bring that to life with Levy is a dream come true, because those are the kind of experiences we are trying to provide.
"And then furthermore, to be able to call Kevin and say, 'listen, this is real, and we're bringing this to life. We want Molly to be at our media event,' was so much fun.
"We're super excited because we're also just so appreciative of him being a Season Ticket Holder. Our Season Ticket Holders are the foundation of our fan base, and without them, we don't have a full stadium."
As McDonough sat inside the Miller Lite Midway Thursday for the tasting event, about seven months after that initial meeting, he was still in shock — about the encounter with Warren in the elevator, and now, the fact that his family of five would be an integral part of this season's Soldier Field hospitality experience.
"It blew me away," McDonough said. "I mean, just the idea that this actually came to life. It's one thing to have a president of a professional football team like the Bears listen to you, but to actually implement what you say is beyond comprehension. It's so cool. The Bears are about the fans. I can tell that this whole organization from top down, they're listening, and as a fan, I can't ask for any more."
