Should Eats at the Pier include Drinks at the Pier?
During council’s consideration of a staff report about the food services provided at Westminster Pier Park, Coun. Mary Trentadue put forward a motion to have staff investigate potential liquor sales at the park’s concession. Staff will report back to council on the request.
While ice cream cones, Pier Park burgers and twisted potatoes are the signature items at Eats at the Pier, Trentadue thinks it’s worth exploring whether beer and wine can be served at the concession.
“I can see that staff is trying to create something there that will pay for the services and the staff, and are trying to increase the services at the park,” she told the Record. “I thought, this is an award-winning park, there are amazing things going on down there, maybe we should look at trying something completely different.”
The provincial government has introduced a number of changes to liquor laws, so Trendatue thinks the city should investigate whether that includes the sale of liquor at concession stands in city parks.
“It’s just a way to make the park more animated, more exciting to go down there, it’s something different. It’s not just French fries and hotdogs,” she said. “I also asked staff to look into different menu options, healthier options, not just the same old fried food that we get at a concession stand.”
Last year was the first year the city offered a full season of Eats at the Pier from May to September on fair-weather days.
The concession opened 119 out of a possible 135 days in 2015.
Eats at the Pier sells a variety of foods and beverages, including fish and chips, burgers, hotdogs, fries, chicken strips, twisted potatoes, ice cream and cold and hot drinks.
Hot foods were the top seller, accounting for 43 per cent of last season’s sales, followed by ice cream (26 per cent), cold drinks (26 per cent), hot drinks (two per cent), with healthier items (bottle water, 100 per cent juice slush, and veggie burgers and hotdogs) accounting for 13 per cent of total sales.
“The service has been well received. We expect that that business will continue to grow down there,” said Mayor Jonathan Cote. “At this point in time there is still a little bit of a subsidy for the concession stand, but given the numbers and the people using the park, we are definitely anticipating that that gap is slowly going to be narrowed and at one point that concession might be a profitable concession for the city.”
The city has been gathering information about the number of visitors to Pier Park since last September, when attendance peaked at 41,337. In the following months, the park attracted 28,302 visitors in October, 20,598 in November and 13,993 in December. In January 2016, 18,358 people visited the park, with 24,473 visiting in February and 26,835 dropping by in March.
Cote noted the city is also discussing the possibility of bringing food trucks to the site in the future as a way of providing more food options at Pier Park.
“It really took a couple of years for the community to really discover the new community asset we have down on the river, but you go down there on a sunny evening, especially as we get into spring, summer and fall, it’s absolutely packed down there,” Cote said. “I expect the number we got in September, that is probably going to be smashed over the summer months.”
With some interesting components included in Westminster Pier Park, such as the urban beach, and more development in the area and more people coming to the park, Trentadue believes the city needs to consider ways to make the park more interesting to visitors.
“We need to absolutely know what the risks are. I would like to hear from the police,” she said. “Beer gardens happen all over the place. It is done. There are occasionally people who will go overboard, but a lot of people won’t.”
