Members recommend request for proposals for Creekside facility

By Sam Richards

Staff writer

Thursday, June 19 (8:30 a.m.): Along with formally accepting phase one of Synergy Restaurant Consultants’ food and beverage study analyzing Rossmoorians’ culinary hopes, the Planning Committee on Thursday approved recommending to the RWC Board that Rossmoor issue a request for proposals (RFP) by potential candidates to operate and manage the restaurant at Creekside.

Synergy, which over the past year has queried Rossmoor residents about what food services they want and studied Rossmoor kitchen facilities for their capabilities, is managing this RFP process. RWC would have final say on the ultimate choice of the operator.

This RFP covers the Creekside facility only. Though not included as part of the RFP, a staff report notes that any prospective operator of this grill and bar could apply to be part of other operations suggested in the Synergy report, including a fast casual restaurant and commissary, off-premises catering, and a portable/kiosk facilities, like a coffee cart.

The Planning Committee in March recommended to the Finance Committee spending $59,100 in capital funds for Synergy to do phase two of the Food and Beverage Study project, which – in addition to developing the RFP – will include an evaluation of the physical Creekside Grill and Bar site and how the facility could be part of any future food-related enterprise in Rossmoor.

In March, RWC officials stressed that the second phase of the Food and Beverage Study – including physical evaluation of the Creekside Grill facilities and issuing the RFP – is not a referendum on Creekside Grill itself as a business or its operator, but rather focused on the physical attributes of its facility, and how well it could work into a more inclusive food and beverage system under a contract operator rather than a lease agreement.

The Creekside Grill began operations in 2010, when the Creekside Clubhouse itself opened. From the beginning, Stan and Ann Gedeon have leased the space to operate the Creekside Grill.

Stan Gedeon could choose to respond to the RFP, Planning Committee members Dwight Walker and Ted Bentley said. Whoever is eventually selected, RWC Director of Community Services Ann Mottola told the committee, would be expected to take an “operating partner” role with RWC, which would be a more involved relationship than RWC and Gedeon now have.

“This positions us to really start transforming food and beverage services” in Rossmoor, Mottola said. Some of that transformation would be physical, committee members said. But such improvements wouldn’t be made until after an operating partner is selected, because most operators have their own favorite processes and design choices, Mottola said.

The RFP is expected to go out around July 1, and an operator selected late this year.

Among the most popular offerings among Rossmoorians surveyed by Synergy last year includes an “all-day customer-service restaurant with coffee, cocktails and hospitality” and a diverse menu blending classics, seasonal specialties and healthy menu items and portion sizes, preferably at a reasonable price. Other oft-mentioned desires include a walk-up window (at the above-described ideal eatery, or separate from it); an outdoor patio, a food-catering business that could serve large events or private parties, mobile food or beverage carts serving high-traffic areas like those adjacent to golf and pickleball, hyperlocal food delivery and, perhaps, limited convenience retail sales of “ingredients” for cooking at home.

Some love for Dollar Clubhouse

During a Thursday discussion about future goals for the Planning Committee, Janet Seldon – a few minutes earlier named the committee’s vice chair – asked why major renovations and maintenance of the Dollar Clubhouse haven’t been a higher priority in recent years. She said the Dollar Clubhouse is one of the most used facilities in Rossmoor, and “is in dire need of some love.”

Bentley noted landscaping is already part of the RWC capital budget, though a relatively low priority. Committee member Adrian Byram said a host of various capital needs must be evaluated and prioritized.

As for Dollar Clubhouse, Seldon said, “I would like to see it higher on the priority list.”