The Kent City Council unanimously approved a contract Dec. 9 to pay Savor, a Philadelphia-based concessionaire, a fixed fee of $110,000 per year to handle the food and beverage services at the city’s new ShoWare Center.
The three-year contract between the city and Savor ends in January 2011. The agreement includes a two-year extension option.
City officials announced in September that a city panel had chosen Savor over Ovations Food Services of Florida and Centerplate of South Carolina.
The city also will pay Savor a pre-opening fee of $35,000 for all services to the city prior to the Jan. 2 opening.
Savor is the food service division of SMG, the operator of the events center.
Savor agreed to invest $700,000 to buy food and beverage equipment for the ShoWare Center for use by the city during the length of the contract.
That investment includes about $200,000 for kitchen equipment, $150,000 for cash registers and $100,000 for portable food carts, said Ben Wolters, city economic development director.
The $84.5 million events center is slated to open Jan. 2, with a opening party for the public. The 6,025-seat arena is under construction at West James Street and Fifth Avenue North.City officials will host the free party from 4-9 p.m. that day at the center.
Savor has food and beverage service contracts with 35 stadiums and arenas, 30 convention centers and 22 theaters across the nation and in Europe, Mexico and Canada. In the Pacific Northwest, the company provides food services at McCaw Hall at Seattle Center as well as the Lynnwood Convention Center.
The Seattle Thunderbirds hockey team will be the anchor tenant of the events center. The T-birds play their first game at the arena at 7:05 p.m. Jan. 3 against the Everett Silvertips.
Besides 40 or so Thunderbirds games per year, Disney on Ice, Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus and the Harlem Globetrotters have made reservations for shows in 2009 at the events center. High school graduations next year for Kent schools also will be at the arena.
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