Wine and flatbreads, beer and brunch coming to ‘foodie-type’ Bolsa Chica concession stands.
SeaLegs Wine Bar owner Alicia Whitney recently entered into an agreement with California Parks to run four concession stands at Bolsa Chica State Beach. (Scott Smeltzer / HB Independent)
For two years, the four concession stands at Bolsa Chica State Park have sat empty.
The state has typically gone with 10-year deals with its concession stand vendors up and down the coast, said Kevin Pearsall, a public safety superintendent in Orange County for the California Department of Parks and Recreation. However, the local vendors who have operated the stands for the last 20 years have not been able to turn a profit just selling hamburgers, hot dogs and sodas to beachgoers, he said.
So state parks officials decided to go in another direction with a plan to attract vendors and visitors — leasing the four stands to different operators instead of having one handle all four, thus providing food variety.