Beignet futures

Just keep re-starting the bidding process. The price will always go up, right?

Morning Call was the highest bidder for the space, offering City Park $10,000 in rent each month and 10.5 percent of profits. Café du Monde offered the second-highest amount, 10,000 plus 10.25 percent of profits; Café Beignet offered 10,000 plus 10 percent.

Despite these setbacks, the process will reopen for bids, with the City Park Board expecting to see many of the same companies in the second round. The board is looking for businesses that have at least 5 years in the beignet business (Café Du Monde and Morning Call each have more than 100) and that specialize in beignets. The board also wants to make sure that the business that takes the Casino Building lease has high standards of cleanliness, something that they may be looking to outline more explicitly in the bidding process moving forward. Several board members cited concerns about cleanliness in Morning Call, though noted that Café du Monde customers find pigeons within the semi-outdoor dining area a common, if startling, sight.

Board members say they are hopeful that the bids will be as high, if not higher than the first round of bidding.

Also we are  SHOCKED to discover there are pigeons in City Park and French Quarter. Next thing you know somebody will try to tell us about the rats....

Who will win the Beignet Wars?

The most important thing to know about all of this is that the fix has clearly been in for Cafe Du Monde to take the thing over for a while now.  I do not know the specific reasons for that. I'm sure they are as lame as one might guess. I also am not especially partial to the choice of one brand of sugar-fried-dough over another so whichever side works out whatever bribe wins them the site is fine with me.  But one thing I do know is the judge is correct about this.

While the judge acknowledged that bids can be rejected for "substantial" noncompliance, he wrote that "the late arrival to a mandatory pre-bid meeting cannot be construed as a substantial deviation from the bidding specifications where the lessor calls the bidder to see if the bidder is attending the meeting, the bidder responds by sending a representative, albeit late, other bidders are likewise non-compliant and the bidder addresses the deficiency before the bids are due."

If we establish a precedent that parties are legally liable for showing up late to meetings in this town, we're all going to be in a lot of trouble. 

Anyway, is there a way for Gayle Benson to get a piece of this somehow? Seems like Tom would have wanted it that way.