Palm Springs City Council Takes Up New Food and Beverage Deal Tonight

Palm Springs City Council is holding a special public meeting tonight, Tuesday, at 5 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall to decide on a new food and beverage contract for the Palm Springs Convention Center.

Council members will vote on whether to approve a five-year agreement with Ovations Fanfare L.P., doing business as OVG Hospitality, part of Oak View Group. Oak View Group already operates the Convention Center at large, along with the Palm Springs Plaza Theatre and Acrisure Arena.

This isn't the first time council has looked at the deal. Council considered the same contract on June 24 but continued the item instead of voting, asking the city manager to extend the current vendor's agreement and directing staff to keep negotiating with both companies. The current provider, Savoury's Good Earth Cuisine, has been running food and beverage service at the Convention Center on a temporary basis since last September, after the city took over the contract during the transition from former operator ASM Global to Oak View Group.

Since that June 24 meeting, the city's negotiating team, made up of the city manager, the city's outside law firm, the city's consultant Conventional Wisdom, and council liaisons, met with both Savoury's and Ovations multiple times between June 25 and June 29. Those talks led to several changes in the contract now in front of council, including new requirements for the use of local Coachella Valley restaurants and vendors inside the convention center, and a separate process for letting local nonprofit groups serve their own food at events below a certain dollar threshold, both of which still need to be worked out and brought back to council within 30 days if approved.

Financially, the city says the new structure would change how it gets paid. Under the proposed deal, the city would manage food and beverage revenue directly instead of just collecting a cut, with Ovations earning a management fee plus a smaller commission. The city is guaranteed at least $750,000 a year if the contract is approved, something the current commission-based agreement does not include. Staff estimates the new deal could bring in more than $17 million over five years, compared to about $13.6 million under the old commission model, according to figures included in the staff report.

The public is invited to attend tonight's meeting.