The City of New Westminster thinks it’s found the right ingredient for food services at Westminster Pier Park.
The city has given notice that it intends to lease a portion of the concession amenity building in Westminster Pier Park to Wally’s Burgers Inc. from June 1 to Oct. 15, with an option to renew the seasonal operation for four terms. Wally’s Burgers has operations in River Market, as well as Vancouver and North Vancouver.
“We wanted to have a destination type operation at the park itself, and one that certainly is focused on helping to support the brand that Westminster Pier Park is developing in terms of being contemporary, modern and leading edge,” said Dean Gibson, the city’s director of parks, culture and recreation. “Having a tenant in that space that is recognizable, both in the community and around the region, we thought has brought some value to that.”
Because Wally’s Burgers operates the concession at Cates Park in North Vancouver, Gibson said it’s familiar with working in an outdoor park setting.
“One of the things it gives us the opportunity to do is, we can’t sell ice cream in River Market which is a big part of our business. In our other stores, ice cream is a big percentage of our business,” said Gord Bemister, owner of Wally’s Burgers. “When the opportunity presents itself, you have to jump on them. They don’t come around that often.”
Bemister said the new operation won’t affect Wally’s Burgers' location in River Market. While he had explored the possibility of serving fish and chips at the Westminster Pier Park location, Bemister said it’s not possible because of the capacity of fryers in the facility.
“It will be hamburgers, hotdogs, coffee, tea, milkshakes, ice cream, slushies for the kids, those kinds of things,” he said.
Bemister anticipates his staff will be scooping out a lot of ice cream at the new location, which is opening in June.
“At Cates Park, we are scooping ice cream from the minute that we open until the second we close, all day long. It’s crazy,” he said. “We serve hard ice cream. We will make the waffle cones right there at the park. That’s at least our plan. We will sell milkshakes, floats and that sort of thing.”
Wally’s Burgers was one of two applicants that submitted proposals to the city for food concession services at Westminster Pier Park. The other applicant expressed interest in the project but later withdrew their proposal from the process.
“Wally’s Burgers is who we are going with,” Gibson said. “We expect that they will be operational in the middle of June and will run through to sometime in late September – basically until the summer weather leaves.”
Westminster Pier Park opened on New Westminster’s waterfront in June 2012. This year will be the first time full concession services will be available to park visitors.
“As a commercial entity, the park is still an unproven element in the city. So this year is going to very much be a learning year for both the operator as well as the city, just in terms of what it takes to make that type of operation viable and provide a level of service that the public are going to expect,” Gibson said. “We think we have the right ingredients to give this a really good go.”
Gibson said the public has expressed an interest in having food and beverage sales at the waterfront park.
“We think, in terms of providing that full experience of a destination place to go, a gathering place for people to come together – having food is integral for that,” he said. “That’s why sidewalk cafes in urban cores are so popular. I think this will help augment people’s experiences down along the park.”
Wally’s Burgers is looking forward to getting staff trained and opening at Westminster Pier Park.
“We think it’s going to be a really good spot for us,” Bemister said. “We have friends that live right there at the Quay, at the very far end where the overpass is. It’s going to be a perfect walk, honestly. In the evening in the summer, you can take a nice walk all the way into the park, grab an ice cream or grab a milkshake and then walk back.”
