BANFF – The Town of Banff is close to serving up a new food and beverage operator for the Fenlands recreation centre.
Town of Banff officials say the current five-year term with Oh Bento & Pizza was coming to an end and a request for proposals (RFP) went out on Feb. 24, with an initial March 24 deadline extended until last Friday (April 7).
“Any submissions to the RFP are to be reviewed this week and a proponent will be selected from top submissions,” said Jason Darrah, communications and marketing director for the Town of Banff.
The family running Oh Bento & Pizza – Asuka, Toshi and Yuum Usui – posted a message on Facebook on Sunday (April 9) thanking the community for all of the support over their tenancy.
Asuka said they have been working hard for more than seven years as tenant of the Fenlands.
“Under our experience, we noticed it will be very challenging to keep our business under the new conditions the Town offered the bidders for new tenancy,” she said.
“Unfortunately, we could not bid, and it was the heartbreaking decision for us.”
The Outlook could not reach Oh Bento before print deadline, including to clarify what aspects of the RFP or parts of the rent or conditions could not be met, while the Town of Banff referred these questions to Oh Bento.
But Asuka’s Facebook post said they got into debt for the business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“But we cannot repay from this business, and it will be big life obstacles for our family,” Asuka said.
“We will love this community and locals forever and come back to serve you again.”
According to the RFP, the successful business must pay $3,600 per month plus GST in rent to the Town of Banff. However, an increase will be applied to the rent each year that is equal to the average of the province of Alberta Consumer Price Index ending on May 31 of the previous year.
Menu pricing must stay the same for the first year of operation, although annual CPI inflationary costs plus an additional two per cent in each year of operation will be allowed, unless otherwise mutually agreed upon by the municipality and the business.
The business must also adhere to the food charter values including offering a variety of ethnocultural meals and Indigenous traditional foods; affordable, fresh, nutritious, healthy meals and snacks; locally purchased, sustainable and ethically sourced products; and fair trade products, such as coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa products and bananas.
As part of the agreement for a food and beverage operation run out of the concession at the Fenlands, takeout food service is permitted, while delivery and offsite catering are not allowed under the land use bylaw.
The successful business would also have to donate a percentage of its annual net income to the Town of Banff’s community grants program each year.
