Friday, April 16, 2010

Ketchum restaurateurs mobilize

Talk of allowing food vendors in Town Square draws heat


By TREVON MILLIARD
Express Staff Writer

Jan Hegewald of Cornerstone Bar and Grill said food vendors wouldn’t only hurt restaurant owners but employees. Coffee Grinder owner Nikki Potts argued that Ketchum’s Memory Park is highly used but doesn’t have food. Ketchum Grill proprietor Scott Mason said vendors charge less than restaurants, making competition even harder. Photo by David N. Seelig

Before the question "Who wants to go first?" could be finished, Jill Rubin raised her hand high in the air. When called on, she didn't sugarcoat her opinion of allowing food-vending stands at the Ketchum Town Square.

"I'm completely against it," said Rubin, owner of hot dog stand Irving's Red Hots in Ketchum. "I don't think it's fair to open it up to food when we're all starving."

The "we" Rubin's referring to are the town's restaurateurs, scraping to get by and not wanting additional competition from vendors offering cheap food. Rubin didn't have to speak for her fellow restaurant owners. She was surrounded by about 30 of them Wednesday in a packed Ketchum City Hall. And they all spoke in agreement during the public workshop arranged by the city to ascertain if a compromise could be had.

Currently, city ordinance doesn't allow vending on public property, city sidewalks or streets. The City Council would have to amend the ordinance to allow the four stands proposed at the square, and will discuss its action, if any, at an April 19 meeting. The square's construction is to start later this month, with an opening July 2.

Ketchum Planning Manager Stefanie Leif said the reasoning behind wanting vendors is to draw people to the square, located in the city's downtown core between Atkinsons' Market and the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau. The thought is that these people would then wander to nearby businesses.

"The square has aesthetic appeal," Leif said, "but food draws people there."

Restaurant owners gave the clear message Wednesday that they don't want any change.

"The ordinance was established for our protection," said Frank Zhang, owner of Osaka Sushi. "We still need protection."

<

The option of only allowing established restaurants to operate vendor stands was brought up, but not one restaurateur in the room strayed from his or her stance.

Dotty Sarchett, owner of Wrapcity, said building and operating a vending cart is a "pain in the ass" not worth taking on. Plus, she said, it's an extra cost not worth taking on in this economy when restaurants aren't making much money.

Leif said vendors would likely need to get a city permit costing $500 for six months or $725 for a year, which is what vendors now pay for operating on private land.

Several restaurant owners suggested other kinds of stands, such as T-shirt or merchandise, which wouldn't interfere with their businesses and still attract people to the square and, thereafter, restaurants in the area.

City Councilman Baird Gourlay sat in the room quietly listening to the heated comments. About an hour into it, he spoke up.

"You don't have to kick me that many times," he said, acknowledging their blunt remarks against food vending of any kind.

Gourlay said he'd recommend to council members that they hold off for at least a year.

"But it's clear that food works," he said. "We just want vitality. We're trying to get people out of their houses."

Gourlay suggested the restaurateurs work on solutions for the future.

But, Sarchett said, no one's going to feel different in a year. Several others reiterated this sentiment.

"It's like you're saying, 'We hear you, but we're not listening,'" Sarchett said.

Several members of the Ketchum Community Development Corp., which designed and raised funds to build the square, were in attendance and acknowledged concerns about further dividing an already small pie, but said food vending would increase the size of the pie. And excluding out-of-town vendors wouldn't interject any more competing players into the game.

"Unless you have food and drink, people don't come," said Marybeth Flower, fundraising chair for the Town Square project. "This was never intended to be in competition with restaurants."

Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.