TORONTO – The City of Toronto is looking for a company that wants to feed and refresh the estimated 1.2 million people who visit Toronto Islands every year.
The lucrative contract currently belongs to William Beasley Enterprises Inc. and gives the company exclusive rights to sell food and drinks on the island.
Every restaurant, snack bar and food cart – from the Shopsy’s restaurant at the ferry dock to the Pizza Pizza at the foot of the south pier – is owned and operated by Beasley, which also has the exclusive right to cater special events on the island and owns the Centreville amusement park.
This lack of competition means visitors pay high prices for a relatively small selection of food choices. It’s also why a hot dog is $6 whether you buy it at Shopsy’s or the Carousel Café.
Steve Fry, president of Friends of the Toronto Islands, thinks it’s time the City put an end to the monopoly.
“It’s not working,” he says. “I’m surprised, and not happy, to hear they’re not going to open it up to competition.” Fry believes with the right mix of restaurants and bars the island could become a year-round destination.
Toronto residents surveyed by GlobalToronto.com at the ferry docks seem to agree that different operators should be allowed to do business on the island. “It might bring a little bit of variety and better food,” says Eric Williams.
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Tanya Ravlic, bound for the island with her daughter, agrees. “We always pack a lunch with us, mostly because I don’t like the food choices there,” she explains. “There aren’t really any healthy choices. And it’s a bit pricey.”
The cost is why Stephanie and David Robinson also pack their own food when they visit. “We never eat on the island,” says Stephanie. Her husband says competition would bring “more options at a better price.”
It’s a familiar sentiment. “We always bring our own food,” says Megan Price, “but the tourists probably can’t so it would be a good idea to open it up.”
Dan Hitchens visiting from upstate New York with his wife Carol, says they were surprised by the dearth of ethnic foods on the island. “It’s such a multicultural city and yet it seems all you can buy there are pizza slices and burgers,” he says.
According to City documents, Beasley pays a basic annual fee of about $375,000 plus a percentage of gross sales for the right to control food and drink service.
The new 10-year agreement will not include Olympic Island, in response to complaints from organizers of music festivals and other major events that abandoned the space because they had no option but to hire Beasley to provide food and drinks.
“The City wants to rent it out for more events,” Fry explains. “No one wants to use it.”
Company president Bill Beasley is confident he’ll be able to renew the agreement with the City. He also downplays the fact that, in the last year, Toronto Public Health inspectors have found 30 infractions at Beasley’s food outlets and issued a dozen Conditional Passes.
According to records, Shopsy’s restaurant was hit with a Conditional Pass following three inspections between June 30, 2011 and June 28, 2012. Inspectors noted a total of 13 infractions, including failure to maintain hazardous foods at proper temperatures and failure to ensure food safety.
The Carousel Café near Centreville amusement park has been issued with a Conditional Pass twice since June 20, 2011. The restaurant was cited on May 17 of this year for operating in a “manner adversely affecting sanitary condition” and for failing “to protect food from contamination or adulteration” as well as two other infractions.
The Beach House, a take-out restaurant, has earned a Conditional Pass three times in the last year after inspectors noted a total of nine infractions including several food safety violations.
Beasley says all the outlets passed follow-up inspections but he concedes there are challenges to operating in buildings and facilities that are, in some cases, more than 50 years old.
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