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“When you go to the spot where the playground used to be, you’ll see a fully functional new building,” said Councilman Richard Clinchy at last week's town board meeting. “Tom [Garrity] and I worked with the Parks and Recreation Board and we unanimously picked two people from Somers to run the concession. One of them used to own Mary Kate’s in Granite Springs.”
“You might think you’d just get French fries and cheeseburgers and chicken fingers in a park,” Clinchy said, “but there’ll also be a wide range of healthy alternatives. It’ll be more than a place to pick up a snack. It’ll be a place where you can spend some time."
The area will be provided with benches and tables and even a small terrace, Clinchy said. “We hope it’ll become a sort of destination.”
The caterers, LipOp, LLC, have agreed to pay the town an annual fee of $25,000, increasing incrementally. They plan to use locally harvested ingredients, such as salads and vegetables from Yorktown’s Hilltop Hanover Farm, and have agreed to hire local teens to work there. As experienced caterers, the owners are adamant about the proper training of employees.
“They both live in Somers,” Clinchy said. “Businesses generally run better when the owners live on site.”
“This is a win-win situation for our town and for them,” Garrity said. “People used to come to the park and run out for lunch and never come back. Our goal is to keep people in the park.”
The motion to award the concession stand contract to LipOp, LLC was unanimously approved.
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