Prospect Park Picnic House will get a food and beverage concession
The second-floor entrance to the Picnic House, photo by Prospect Park Alliance via Flickr cc
The 10 million visitors who walk through Prospect Park each year will have a new place to stop for food and drink very soon. The Prospect Park Alliance has issued an RFP for “the sale of food and beverage items from the ground floor Picnic House concession space.” Currently, the Picnic House’s second floor is a popular event and wedding venue, but the first floor is mainly unused.
The park-side entrance to the Picnic House; the first-floor concession space is on the far right. Photo by Prospect Park Alliance via Flickr cc
The Picnic House was built in 1927 in the Colonial Revival style (Prospect Park had opened in 1867). An earlier picnic house had been built on the site in 1876 to accommodate the throngs of New Yorkers setting up picnics in the adjacent Long Meadow, but it burned down in 1927. The new picnic house is two stories; its first floor has been used on and off as a seasonal cafe since 2008, and the building does offer restrooms.
The Prospect Park Alliance hopes a new concession operator, which must sign on for a three-year term, will expand “food options in the park, with a focus on interesting, affordable, seasonal and healthy food.” It’s important to note that the building has no kitchen, so any major prep work would have to be done off-site. Wine and beer are okay with the appropriate SLA license. The space itself is small at just 155 square feet with a total indoor occupancy of 14 customers and three employees, though there is an outdoor seating area and storage area.
RFPs must be submitted no later than Thursday, May 7, 2020; there will be a pre-proposal meeting at the Prospect Park Picnic House on Thursday, April 2 at 2pm. You can find all the info here >>
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