Mark William Johnson, co-owner of Tiny Tapp & Cafe on the Chicago Riverwalk, works behind the counter Sept., 7, 2018. The business is currently the riverwalk's only minority-owned concessions vendor.
A new program on the Chicago Riverwalk could bring up to a dozen new vendors to the bustling promenade next summer, many of them possibly women- and minority-owned businesses.
The city’s goal in this latest chapter of commerce on the river is to increase the diversity of vendors in a way that reflects the flavors and textures of Chicago’s neighborhoods. To accommodate the newcomers, the city is making available three new areas previously unused by vendors that will require a mix of vendor- and city-funded upgrades. The work will be part of the $10 million in riverwalk improvements announced by the city last month. Construction is slated to begin this fall.
Some potential vendors lauded the city’s effort to address its current lack of diversity among riverwalk vendors.
“It’s an investment in its residents who are black, who are Hispanic, who are other, who are also women, to have a step ahead when they normally would not. … It’s what’s needed. It’s the responsible thing to do,” said Maya-Camille Broussard, founder of Justice of the Pies, which makes its baked goods out of a shared kitchen in the West Town neighborhood.
Earlier this year, the city awarded longer-term contracts to businesses that have the capital to invest in significant site improvements. Those businesses — including Tiny Tapp & Cafe, currently the riverwalk’s only minority-owned concessions vendor — bring in millions of dollars each summer, helping the city pay off its federal debt for the riverwalk in the process.
This program, in contrast, is less about big revenue and more about diversity, city officials say. Interested vendors will bid for shorter-term deals that require less capital investment.
Michelle Woods, center, the project manager for the Chicago Riverwalk, gives a tour of future available vendor locations to a group of business owners and others on Sept. 5, 2018, in Chicago.
Michelle Woods, the city’s project manager for the riverwalk, said she envisions a tamale vendor from Little Village next to a pierogi vendor from Jefferson Park — tastes of Chicago that may lead tourists out into the city’s neighborhoods.
At City Hall on Wednesday, Woods and her colleagues addressed a racially and culturally varied crowd of 40 or so potential applicants, many of them African-American women, and talked through the bureaucratic process that can be daunting for small businesses. Few in the room raised their hands when asked if they had previously operated concessions, though many were established food businesses.
All interested vendors have to submit the request for qualifications by Sept. 28, a first step that will allow them to eventually respond to the request for proposals that’s likely to come later this fall.
“We want you all to be successful in this endeavor. … That being said, we are a government and we do make this a little tricky and complicated. We’ll do what we can to help you,” Woods said at the meeting.
As the group left City Hall to tour the potential waterfront sites, several of the business owners were clearly excited by the prospect despite the paperwork and logistical challenges of operating on the riverwalk.
“It’s just a great location to introduce my product to a wide variety of people and not just Chicagoans,” said Kim Mesa, founder of KimmyKakes and mother of four living in the Ashburn neighborhood. KimmyKakes sells its cheesecakes in various Chicago area Whole Foods Market stores.
The would-be vendors peered into the dark and noisy ramp to Lower Wacker Drive, located just east of O’Brien’s on the riverwalk, where the city intends to build a “community marketplace” for up to 10 kiosks. As part of the project, the city plans to remove the ramp, improve the lighting and construct a sound wall to minimize the roar of traffic.
Those kiosks will be more for vendors interested in selling grab-and-go offerings with minimal investment of time and capital — a chance to get a taste of doing business on the riverwalk. The other two new locations will require more capital, but also come with greater sales potential and three-year lease deals — with two possible 12-month extensions — to allow vendors to recover their costs.
Laura Mitchell, left, founder of Pilsen-based Luxury Cake Co., talks with other business owners on a Sept. 5, 2018, tour of the Chicago Riverwalk west of Michigan Avenue that will be a future location for vendors.
One of those spots is just west of the DuSable Bridge on Michigan Avenue, a small room that has to this point been used by the city as a security and janitorial office. But with a prime view of Magnificent Mile skyscrapers and proximity to the McCormick Bridge House & Chicago River Museum, the city sees greater potential for that site, Woods said. The city plans to bring water and sewer to the the site and improve the outdoor plaza there, but the vendor would have to pay for other upgrades to the interior.
And the other location will be in the riverwalk section between Franklin and Wells streets, perhaps best known for its floating gardens. There is already a kitchen but the site would require additional capital investment from a potential vendor. Some vendors said this location was the most enticing in terms of potential revenue, in part because it’s just across the river from the Merchandise Mart, where images will be projected in the city’s “Art on the Mart” program beginning this fall.
For many of the small businesses, the viability of these locations will come down to the logistics and more exact costs, including city fees, that will be detailed later in the bidding process. That’s the case for Laura Mitchell, founder of the Pilsen-based Luxury Cake Co., who said she hopes to find a place to sell cupcakes and slices of pie on the riverwalk.
While the revenue potential for the new sites has yet to be proven, business has been booming on the riverwalk, more so each year. Last year, spending at riverwalk businesses totaled $11.6 million — the most yet for the downtown park. But more vendors and, presumably, more alcohol sales, will also mean more security and maintenance costs.
From the city’s perspective, the hope is just to break even for the first season with the new vendors, Woods said.
For the small businesses, it’s a unique opportunity to grow.
“It’s a good way to bring our chocolate downtown without Michigan Avenue rents,” said Ramona Thomas, owner of My Chocolate Soul in the Uptown neighborhood.
Not all of the businesses that attended the meeting at City Hall on Wednesday were startups. The Billy Goat Tavern, the iconic tavern that gained pop culture fame after its portrayal in a 1978 "Saturday Night Live" skit, was also in attendance. Co-owner Bill Sianis said he and his family haven’t yet decided whether they would bid for a riverwalk location.