Lucrative Beach Concessions Rights May Not Be Up For Bid
By Frank Maradiaga
The Monday before Thanksgiving was a lazy one at Lummus Park in Miami Beach. The lifeguard huts flew yellow flags that signaled a medium swimming hazard, but barely anyone seemed interested in the choppy waters. The day was decidedly left for lounging. And there were plenty of chairs to rent. Strung across the soft sand were white chairs, spiked umbrellas, and blue canopies that looked like giant snail shells.
“Eighteen for the chair,” said a young man in a white shirt with a turtle design. “Twenty for the canopies.”
He, along with dozens of similarly uniformed twenty-somethings on the beach, work for Boucher Brothers Miami Beach, LLC. And the public beaches are Boucher Brothers territory.
For ten years the company has had a city-approved monopoly on concessions sold in public beaches. Any chair, towel, umbrella, snack, drink, or watersport equipment rented in Lummas Park, Ocean Terrace, or North Shore Open Space Park were all from one source. The Boucher Brothers won the rights in 2001 as one of three companies to compete for said rights. That agreement with the city came to an end in early November, and the company is poised to get it back without competition.
Read more at the SunPost Weekly
