New management to handle concessions at Grand Park

The concession stands at Grand Park in Westfield are set for a management change.

The city of Westfield’s contract with Carmel-based Urick Concessions, which has been operating the outdoor food concessions at the nearly 400-acre sports complex since it opened in 2014, ends Dec. 31.

City spokesperson Erin Murphy told IBJ that Westfield Restaurant Group will take over at the start of 2018.

Westfield Restaurant Group, operated by developer Birch Dalton, Jack Miller and Bob Taylor, also provides food service at the Grand Park Events Center. Taylor previously worked as the general manager at Charleston’s Restaurant in Westfield.

The group started managing food operations at the indoor soccer complex under a temporary agreement with Westfield after the city evicted Jonathan Byrd’s at the end of January for missing multiple rent payments.

“It is in the best interest of Grand Park to have one company service the indoor and outdoor food concessions, and the Westfield Restaurant Group eagerly stepped up,” Murphy said in an email.

Murphy said the city will have two contracts in place with Westfield Restaurant Group by the end of the year—one for the outdoor services and one for the Events Center.

The agreement with Urick Concessions provided Westfield with 32 percent of gross sales, according to previous IBJ reports.

In July, the IBJ filed a public records request for copies of the current contracts, leases and subleases the city has entered into for Grand Park, but the city has not yet provided those documents.

IBJ filed a formal complaint with the Office of the Public Access Counselor in September. On Nov. 15, the Office of the Public Access Counselor published an advisory opinion recommending the city fulfill the request posthaste because the reasonable amount of time public agencies are given to fulfill requests had expired.

Public Access Counselor Luke Britt wrote in the opinion that the reasonable time standard “is not a license to address public record requests leisurely. Moreover, a public agency’s unsystematic storage of documents must not be a barrier to access.”

IBJ asked the city for an update at the end of November and was told an employee who was gathering the documents was close to being finished.