The City of Penticton’s ‘Peach’ has been awarded a new tenant with the new operator continuing to run the concession as a peach. The peach is a popular summer destination on Okanagan Lake and will be opened by a local family, under the ownership of Family Squeezed Lemonade.
Family Squeezed Lemonade is a family run business with operations in several cities where their family members live, including the Okanagan. Their business has won many awards for their food and beverage options, including sourcing products and ingredients locally. The menu will include an assortment of fresh pressed fruit and herb lemonade, handmade family freezed iced pops, street bubble waffle sundaes, ice cream or cookie dough waffle cones and cookie dough ice cream burritos.
“We are excited to be in Penticton and bring all things local and peachy with our intentionally created Okanagan treats,” said company representative, Jennifer Andrews. “Hiring local people, using local ingredients, and supporting local businesses has always been our passion.”
The RFP Process
The decision to award the Peach concession to a new tenant for 2022 followed the City’s public Request for Proposal Process (RFP), which attracted a total of three bids, with the successful bid going to the highest bidder and best proposal. The process for renewing and selecting tenants for each of the City’s three seasonal concessions occurs every three years and is based on the principle of keeping opportunities for commercial use of City park land fair and transparent.
The 2022 renewal process opened Feb 24 and closed March 23. As the land where the buildings are located is dedicated parkland, the Park Land Protection and Use Policy requires any new agreements within parkland follow a step procedure and receive a Committee recommendation.
City staff completed the step procedures and presented a report to Council on Dec 7, 2021. A second report was presented to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee on Jan 17, 2022 followed by a final report to City Council on Feb 15, 2022 containing the committee recommendation to move forward with the RFP process. To ensure an open and competitive environment, the City’s practice is to issue a RFP for concession operators for all three concessions. As part of the policy, the maximum term for a license in these locations is three years.
For 2022, there were three submissions for the Peach concession, with each application evaluated by a committee, with a decision based on the following four criteria - business plan, experience, products and pricing and license fee. Based on these criteria, the successful proponent was Family Squeezed Lemonade.
“The City wishes to thank all interested proponents who submitted a bid to operate the Penticton’s Peach Concession,” said the City’s Director of Finance and Administration, Angela Campbell. “We look forward to an exciting and flavourful summer at the Peach.”
In addition to awarding the 2022 Peach concession contract, the City has also awarded a contract to run the Sudbury Beach concession to the Nauti Dog Café, to be operated by Randy and Karen Gallagher, May through September and offering cold beverages, baked goods, lunch options and ice cream.