Bids to operate the restaurant at the town golf course will be reviewed by the selectmen at a meeting Tuesday, Feb. 23, at 5 in the town hall’s lower level conference room.
The two finalists, both associated with local barbeque businesses, are Chris Sexton of Hoo Doo Brown Barbeque and Marshall Odeen of Odeen Barbeque.
The previous operator of the golf course restaurant, Henry Seemann, did not submit a bid, according to Tyrrell.
The two bids will reviewed by the Board of Selectmen, together with a recommendation from the town Golf Committee.
Initially the golf committee had three bidders, and narrowed them down to two, committee chairman Ed Tyrrell told the selectmen at their meeting Wednesday, Feb. 17.
“They’re both good in different ways, but neither is bad,” Tyrrell said.
“We’re going to get what we want from either of them.”
Thirty people from “13 different entities” attended a “walk through” at the golf course facility on Feb. 4, but only three had submitted proposals, Tyrrell said, and the committee had gotten that down to two through interviews.
Tyrrell told the selectmen that the committee was very straight with bidders about the expectations and limits of the golf course concession.
The concession went out to bid because the previous operator didn’t live up to committee expectations for being open early to offer fresh coffee and egg sandwiches starting a half hour before the first tee times — which vary through the season depending on daylight.
“They both know the morning is non-negotiable,” Tyrrell said of the bidders.
And because the golf course is in a residential zone in Ridgebury, there are zoning limits on when the golf course concession can be open — basically, only to serve golfers, during the season.
“We didn’t attempt to sugar-coat it,” Tyrrell told the selectmen. “It’s not a full restaurant. It’s not going to be a restaurant in January. It’s not going to be a restaurant in the evening.”
One of the bidders asked if the zoning might get changed, and the committee said, “You shouldn’t plan on that,” Tyrrell said.
In a previous discussion, the selectmen and Tyrrell had agreed that in reviewing bids the town’s goal wasn’t so much to make money from the arrangement with a food provider, but to protect the more than $1 million in annual revenue from the golf course by assuring there’s a food concession there that serves their needs well.
The food concession is expected to be up and running by April 1 when the course is projected to be open, and Tyrrell said both bidders could do that — although a liquor license might take a little longer.
The post Golf food concession down to two bidders appeared first on The Ridgefield Press.