Changes could be coming to the concession stand at the West Fraser Centre in Quesnel.
The North Cariboo Joint Advisory Committee sees a potential opportunity to do this in light of the recent fire that damaged the concession at the arena.
Jeff Norburn, the Director of Community Services, told the committee last night that the concession at the moment was just a concrete floor taken down to the wood studs.
“There is an opportunity to revisit discussions that this committee has had in the past about the size of the concession and basically the type of food that is able to come from the concession, the fact that we don’t have a deep fryer and flat top that we can’t make burgers and fries or similar items that might be something that spectators would be wanting.”
Norburn says they could only estimate the cost at this point.
“In 2019 we advised the committee that the cost to install an exhaust system for a deep fryer and a flattop grill was in the range of 80 to 120 thousand dollars, and that cost didn’t include the cost of expanding the concession or for purchasing any of that equipment.”
Several committee members, including Mayor Ron Paull, Councillor Scott Elliott and CRD Director Mary Sjostrom, also suggested that they look at having two counters instead of one because they have received numerous complaints about how long it was taking to get food.
Paull even had a specific idea on how he would align it.
“I have a vision that perhaps we could look at having a concession with two counters, one where the counter is now and another in the Dunkley Room and they might serve different levels of food,”
There was also talk of expanding into the foyer but Paull felt that that might interfere with the flow of people that need to get to the washroom.
Staff will now come back to the committee in April with a more detailed report on potential options for expansion and the costs associated with them, as well as with some ideas on how to potentially pay for everything.
Options that came up at the meeting on how to pay for the work included looking for a grant, taking something else out of the capital budget or to use some of the 400 thousand dollars that is earmarked to top up reserves in this year’s budget.
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