Sodexo This Way: Sign directing trainees to Sodexo restaurant in Luna Park, Coney Island. April 12, 2011. Photo © Mr Jones via Amusing the Zillion
Bringing in Miami Beach restaurateurs and French food services giant Sodexo to operate in Coney Island has turned out to be a fiasco for Luna Park developer Central Amusement International. We’re just glad some of the people in charge realized Coney Island is neither Miami Beach nor a corporate cafeteria before we lost all of our original, irreplaceable businesses and ended up with a shuttered Boardwalk.
After kicking out nine Coney Island Mom and Pops from City-owned property to make way for upscale eateries, the park division of Italian ride manufacturer Zamperla is now reported to be offering multi-year leases to at least two local favorites — Paul’s Daughter and Ruby’s Bar. The veteran businesses were supposed to pack up and get out by November 4th. Let’s hope they can negotiate a lease without too many onerous clauses and more of them get the invite. And if a spot becomes available, please, please bring in people who know and represent Coney Island and Brooklyn, New York.
Easter Brunch at Paul's Daughter on the Boardwalk. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr
One of the reasons for Zamperla’s about-face is that the Miami Beach restaurateurs who opened Coney Cones in July are pulling out of a $5 million deal that would have put new eateries on the Boardwalk from West 12th Street to Stillwell. According to yesterday’s New York Post story by Rich Calder, Coney Cones co-owner Michele Merlo said business at his new store had been “very disappointing” because of the bad weather and told other Boardwalk vendors “they can’t make money off Zamperla’s existing lease offer.”
Sources tell ATZ that Merlo and his partner Julio Gonzalez have offered to sell Coney Cones, which was a $200,000 investment for them and pays an annual rent of $75,000, to a veteran operator in Coney Island. The ice cream shop is located at the Boardwalk entrance to Luna Park and serves gelato, salads, panini, and Kobrick’s coffee. Currently open every day from 11am till around 7pm, it will close for the season at the end of the month.
Unmentioned in yesterday’s flurry of news reports was another newcomer to Coney Island also pulling back from the original plan. Sodexo, which has food and drink kiosks in Luna Park and operates the new Cyclone Cafe on Surf Avenue, was slated to take over Paul’s Daughter. Last December, Sodexo rep Sandy Boyd showed up at the 40-year-old Boardwalk establishment to pick up plans from the City’s architectural firm. As ATZ reported in “Paul’s Daughter Dishes on the Boardwalk Brawl” (ATZ, January 13, 2011), when one of the architects asked Boyd if Sodexo was going to be a year-round restaurant, she replied “oh no, it will be seasonal, there aren’t enough people here off season.” This was a remarkable admission since part of Zamperla’s rationale for bringing in new businesses to replace the veterans was that the Boardwalk eateries would be open year-round.
On the menu at Sodexo's Cyclone Cafe: Healthy Dining at Luna Park. Photo © Mr Jones via Amusing the Zillion
Sodexo, the world’s 21st largest corporation, has kept a low profile in Coney Island. The only sign we’ve seen with their name is the piece of paper at the top of this post. It was put up to direct trainees to their restaurant in the spring. ATZ broke the news last year that Sodexo has an exclusive contract with CAI to provide food within the parks and was investing $2.4M in Zamperla’s Coney Island. At the time Luna Park CEO Valerio Ferrari told ATZ that $1.4 million was being invested in the new sit-down restaurant. He said it would be open year-round and feature waiter service and a variety of food. As for the Boardwalk, Sodexo-run restaurants were set to take over “some but not all” of the Boardwalk locations, Ferrari said, including Paul’s Daughter and Pio Pio Riko, which flanked the Boardwalk entrance to Luna Park. Things changed.
Sodexo’s Cyclone Cafe opened this season on Surf Avenue at West 10th Street with a menu of burgers, salads, sushi and brick oven pizza, but it is neither a sit-down restaurant nor a year-round venue. It has been closed on sunny weekdays in recent weeks while the Boardwalk Mom and Pops were open. During Halloween Horror Nights at Luna Park, the cafe is open only to patrons of the ticketed event inside the park. While its Surf Avenue lights blaze, its shutters are closed to the public. When the spot was Gregory and Paul’s, the picnic tables on the sidewalk were one of our favorite spots to sit and have a bite to eat while friends rode the Cyclone.
Shuttered on Surf Avenue: Sodexo's Cyclone Cafe. Photo © Mr Jones via Amusing the Zillion
We’re happy to have officially suspended the Photo of the Day in ATZ’s “Countdown to Corporatization.” The sad goodbye to our Boardwalk friends began with “The Chief of the Coney Island Boardwalk” on October 8th. Rumors of another reprieve had been flying for a few days, which is why we stopped the series on Saturday.
One note of caution: The owners of Ruby’s Bar and Paul’s Daughter have not yet negotiated lease deals with Luna Park operator Central Amusement International, which holds a 10-year lease on the City-owned property. The specter of a dark Boardwalk puts the pressure on everyone for the deal to get done. But the Coney Island Rumor Mill has been abuzz about onerous terms in the leases that CAI has offered to the handful of operators who were previously invited to stay as well as to the Miami restaurateurs. The businesses are also expected to foot the bill for the rehab of the buildings as well as pay a higher rent and stay open year round.
Sodexo's Luna BBQ, Luna Park Coney Island. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i
One of the problems with a mandated year-round Coney season and hours is that unlike Luna Park, the restaurants are not subsidized businesses. Each of the Boardwalk Mom and Pops has been paying $100,000 per year rent, plus a $10,000 surcharge initiated this year to help keep the Boardwalk restrooms open later and for sanitation and fireworks. Believe it or not, $100,000 is also the base rent that CAI/Zamperla USA pays annually to the City. In addition, they also pay a small percentage of the gross receipts. For example, ten percent of gross receipts over $7 million. According to the NYC Economic Development Corporation’s lease with CAI (which ATZ obtained last year through the Freedom of Information Act), the City will receive 15% of the fixed rent paid by any subtenant. Zamperla gets to keep the other 85%. We think they have a pretty sweet deal with the City and should pass the sugar.
However, CAI/Zamperla USA has also invested nearly $30 million in building and operating Luna Park and Scream Zone. According to CAI’s contract with the City, Luna Park also received a subsidy of $5.7 million from the City for “among other things, facilitating the purchase of certain equipment necessary for the Tenant to operate the Premises as a first class amusement park.” CAI’s Luna Park and Scream Zone as well as the property occupied by the Boardwalk businesses are on City-owned land in Coney Island purchased from Thor Equities for $95.7 million in 2009 and leased to the amusement operator for a ten-year period that began in 2010.
Ruby's Bar, Coney Island. November 6, 2010. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i
Related posts on ATZ…
December 9, 2011: Paul’s Daughter Signs 8-Year Lease for Coney Island Boardwalk
March 3, 2011: The Lowdown on Sodexo’s Sweet Deal in Coney Island
November 1, 2010: Out With the Old in Coney Island: Only 2 of 11 Boardwalk Businesses Invited Back
January 26, 2010: Scoop: Zamperla’s $24M Coney Island Park to be Named Luna Park!
Amusing the Zillion 
very good article.
So we still need to keep our fingers crossed.
I’m using a rubber band until I can absolutely sure everything will be okay.
Good idea!
The “healthy dining @Luna Park”/Cyclone Cafe food image looks like a close up of a medical condition one might have picked up under the boardwalk.
It’s an inkblot test! Actually had a hard time finding photos of the Cyclone Cafe. it’s not popular with photographers
Excellent News!
There is nothing appealing for photographers or anyone with an appetite. If I’m going corporate, I’m sticking with the ‘mom and pops’ – otherwise, I’ll always stick to Nathan’s.
Even the godawful font used at the Luna Park concessions make me feel like I’m using Windows 95 again. Ugh. Even shooting DIGITAL, it’s not worth a shutter click. ;)
Thanks for always keeping Coney Island info and events documented, Tricia!
^^^ That SHOULD be “If I’m going corporate, I’ll stick with Nathan’s – otherwise, I’m going with the ‘mom & pops’.
See what happens when I don’t have my coffee on the boardwalk in the morning?!?
Dano, just recalled that we first met at Paul’s Daughter’s goodbye party and fell into conversation over my “last order” of french fries! I want to hold onto the hope that next weekend’s fries and coffee at Paul’s and “final last call” at Ruby’s won’t be the end after all. At the same time it’s hard to be optimistic. Hope to know more later in the week!
There’s still hope that some pieces of Coney won’t be Zamperla/Sodexo’s-ized.I believe that these outsiders are starting to re-think what Coney is all about. The bean-counters are starting to get a little bit about their investments and how people will react to the make-over of Coney. This is first of all the peoples beach and amusement area where the regular working stiffs can take their family for a day of sun & fun. Tourists will of course make up a percentage of the people enjoying Coney Island but the majority will be native New Yorkers. Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York is not Tivoli Gardens.
My oh my! Typical corporate baloney. Kick-out the mom and pop vendors so you can replace it with fewer menu options and higher prices.
Look at the menus for the corporate eateries! They want $8 for a salad!. Hey, my uncle runs a little deli. He sells 20 ounce bottled Coke and Pepsi products for $1.20. Most places (like Subway sandwich shops) sell a 20 ounce fountain drink for $1. And the price at Baloney…I mean Coney Island COPORATE eateries? $3 for the same drink!
Well written article, Tricia. The Sodexo sign was up for only one day, in the rain, they want to keep a low profile. I find no joy, no passion in taking photos of the corporization of Coney. That’s the problem, by going corporate, the soul, the passion of Coney is being zipped out.
Again, excellent article, well written, passionate, soulful, it’s Coney writing.
some information was right…..some was a million miles off. but who cares?
as long as you can do some bashing, bash on, bashy basher.
btw nicky italia, llike you said, he runs a little deli. if he paid 100k for rent, guess how much he’d charge for a soda? lets be real, not one place on the boardwalk is cheap. from what i see paul’s daughter ( everybody’s favorite place, including mine) has the cheapest soda on the
boardwalk ($2.00 for a twelve oz can) lets stop pretending that any of these places is inexpensive. if you pay a crapload of rent, you need to charge a crapload of money to survive.