Chicken Salad Chick’s entry into Mobile’s Government Plaza came with much debate among county commissioners, who argued whether it was appropriate to allow a private entity to operate a restaurant business inside a public-owned complex.
But a new coffee shop isn’t creating the same stir. With no debate on Monday, commissioners authorized moving $70,000 in capital money for renovations inside the downtown Mobile complex toward constructing a modern-day coffee shop in the same location where a snack bar once was located.
The difference, according to one county commissioner, isn’t so much about the bureaucratic support of a coffee shop over a chicken salad company but has more to do with fairness in offering a bid to potential users of the newly renovated space.
Commissioner Merceria Ludgood, who opposed the Chicken Salad Chick entry into the building in 2019, said the coffee shop renovations will occur before bids are released for a potential user of the venue. Ludgood, in 2019, opposed a $35,000 renovation cost to the kitchen area to accommodate the eatery.
The county commission owns and operates the 26-year-old downtown Mobile building that houses city, county, and judicial services.
“For us to identify a need we have in this building, and to put it out for all takers, in my judgement, is fair and consistent with how we’ve done it in the past,” said Ludgood.
She said that renovating the former snack bar into a modern-day coffee shop is consistent and the original plans for Government Plaza, opened in 1995. The building was originally constructed to allow for a cafeteria, with the county commission then in charge of placing bids for an operator. The three-person commission would then award the bid to the end user.
“We’ve identified a use, then we put out a bid and those interested will be able to come in and make an offer with using this facility,” Ludgood said. “To me, that is consistent with how we started out this process.”
She said with Chicken Salad Chick, “we didn’t decide that we wanted a restaurant in that space (originally). We put it out for a bid, but it was not a decision we made. It was a decision a vendor wanted to make and we accommodated that.”
Mobile County Commissioner Connie Hudson, who backed the Chicken Salad Chick entry into the plaza, said there is a need for a coffee shop inside Mobile’s largest government building.
“The No. 1 question jurors have when they come (into the building) in the morning is, ‘Where can I find a cup of coffee?’ and we have to send them down the street,” said Hudson. “Chicken Salad Chick has been a huge success. I think a coffee shop to compliment everything at Government Plaza will be equally (successful).”
Hudson said the $70,000 renovation is needed to make the snack bar more modernized and attraction for a coffee shop that is selling specialty drinks like espresso and tea. She said that the renovations should begin soon.
“To attract someone to come in and operate a coffee shop, they need better facilities,” said Hudson. The $70,000 was moved within the capital budget from an earmarked amount that was set for a ceremonial room inside the building.
“We have not started on the ceremonial courtroom,” said Hudson. “There was no reason not to move this over from that.”
Misty Whitehead, owner of Chicken Salad Chick restaurants in Mobile and Baldwin counties including the Government Plaza site, said she is “extremely thrilled” to see a coffee shop open within a few hundred feet from her restaurant. She said a lease the restaurant has with the county prohibits the addition of an entity that directly competes with Chicken Salad Chick, but “to me, adding coffee and baked goods and things we don’t carry … if it brings more people in, the better for me and the coffee shop.”
The Chicken Salad Chick at Government Plaza in downtown Mobile, Ala., was open for take out orders only on Wednesday, March 25, 2020. The eatery had asked for a rent deferral last year during the onset of hte coronavirus pandemic. But the company was able to make it through last year without needing one. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).
Chicken Salad Chick was the first restaurant to open inside Government Plaza in more than a decade, and business has been strong despite the coronavirus pandemic that shuttered courtrooms last year, Whitehead said.
Whitehead, during the onset of the pandemic last March, requested the commission to defer Chicken Salad Chick’s rent payments for eight weeks while mass shutdowns were occurring throughout Alabama. But the commission, with a 2-1 vote, declined her request with then-Commissioner Jerry Carl saying it was unfair for a government entity to provide a rent deferral when other restaurants in Mobile were not being offered the same.
Carl, a few days after his vote, reversed his decision and said he would grant the rent deferral if it was brought up again. Carl, at the time, was running for the Republican nomination to Alabama’s 1st congressional district seat. He won the GOP primary and the general election last year to replace former U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne.
Hudson and Whitehead said that Chicken Salad Chick did not need the rent deferral despite the initial concerns about plummeting foot traffic inside the government building.
“We ended up not taking it because we didn’t need to,” said Whitehead. “It was such an unprecedented time. No one knew what was happening. Would we even be able to keep the doors open?”
She said a massive decline in sales did not materialize.
“For a month, there was maybe a slight dip but we did not need to put off or pause the rent,” said Whitehead. “We have truly been blessed. Business is fantastic.”
April 13, 2021 at 09:41PM
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Coffee shop doesn’t create the same stir as Chicken Salad Chick in Mobile - AL.com
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