Parks department to run YFAC concessions after split with Beanstalk; staff projects smaller operating shortfall

Jay Solson, Norman parks and recreation director, told the council the parks department will operate the Young Family Athletic Center (YFAC) concession stand after the city and Beanstalk Coffee and Snow mutually agreed to separate. “We plan on as a parks department to operate the new concession stand, which will reopen in October,” Solson said.

Solson said Beanstalk received a 60-day written notice on June 23 as provided by the contract, and staff view the separation as mutual and not indicative of a failed partnership. He described the YFAC’s first full fiscal year of operations and presented preliminary financial estimates: a reported operating loss in the first full year of about $290,000, a projected total revenue of roughly $400,000 from concession and related sources if the city operates the stand, and an estimated $235,000 in operating costs — yielding a projected net revenue of about $165,000 in the city’s model.

On staffing, Solson said the parks department will request three permanent part-time positions and rely on seasonal part-time workers for additional shifts. He said pay would be “somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 to $14 an hour” for permanent part-time positions and that “Seasonal is about $10 an hour.”

Solson discussed existing contracts and revenue opportunities. He said the city has a beverage contract with Coca-Cola that provides a rebate on product purchases. Solson also noted discussions with local food vendors — including Ray’s Barbecue and Chick-fil-A — to supply some prepared items for tournaments and events.

Councilors and staff discussed how the facility contributes to local economic activity. Solson said a preliminary analysis showed about 200,000 people had entered the facility in its first six months, with an average dwell time of more than two hours, and that many tournament weekends produce hotel stays and sales tax revenue in the area. Staff said they plan to create a separate cost center in the accounting system to track concession revenue and expenditures and will provide more detailed financial breakdowns to the council.

Questions from council members touched on parking, tournament-host fees and long-term capacity to recruit larger regional tournaments. Solson said the city has explored rental-fee-plus-gate-share models used elsewhere but that regional comparators in Oklahoma have not widely adopted percentage gate models. He described the city’s competitive position on court rental rates and the challenge of assembling many contiguous courts in one location for very large national events.

No formal council vote on the concession-operation plan is recorded in the transcript; staff presented it as an operational direction and said they would return with specific budget requests if needed.