After a day of digging out from the snow, the South Orange Village Council was dreaming of this coming summer by the pool and the addition of Jamaican beef and curry chicken patties to the menu at the concession stand.
The council on Monday awarded the summer concession stand contract for the South Orange Community Pool to Taste of the Caribbean Restaurant & Catering of Newark, which will pay a $2,000 fee, as well $750 a week, to operate at the pool.
In its bid for the summer concession contract, the black-woman-owned business of 10-years outlined its proposed summer menu along with its history of working with communities and organizations, including in Newark City Parks and Essex County College.
“Taste of the Caribbean is uniquely positioned to operate a successful concession/food service program that is reliable, financially sustainable and aligned with South Orange’s values of inclusion, quality and community connection,” Taste of the Caribbean founder and owner Chanice Fish wrote in the proposal.
So this summer, along with the standard concession fare of cheeseburgers, fries and chicken tenders, the pool will have a variety of meat patties and other island fare, including jerk chicken barbecue, plantains and even oxtails and coco bread.
“I just wanted to let you guys know that I called recreation to confirm that they did a taste test before this contract was awarded,” Council member Summer Jones told the rest of the Council. “I heard the food was really, really good. So as one of the people that does go to the pool and does eat at the [concession stand], I’m really excited for this summer.”
Mayor Sheena Collum agreed and told viewers of the virtual meeting they could find the menu in the meeting’s agenda packet as well as the request for proposal, which Taste of the Caribbean was “also in compliance with obviously….And being the most responsible and appropriate bidder.”
“There’s some new menu items with some different twists on it,” she said. “And, you know, the Jamaican beef patties are looking kind of good too. So we hope that this is a very new and exciting summer, working with a new operator of the concessions.”
