It looks like Davis Bay may have the familiar purple truck, Feastro the Rolling Bistro, back this year.
At the Jan. 4 committee of the whole meeting, councillors recommended granting the mobile vendor a three-year contract for the mobile pad on the seawall in Davis Bay.
One of the owners of Feastro, Paul Fenton, said he was forced to move his truck to Vancouver last year when it was apparent Sechelt would not have a new mobile vendor process set up before he wanted to start his season.
At that time, the District was working on a new mobile vendor bylaw to change how pads were awarded and deal with concerns from business people who said mobile vendors were not paying their fair share to set up seasonal businesses nearby established ones.
The District spent months dealing with the issue before a new bylaw was passed, and in the meantime, Feastro set up shop at a busy location in Vancouver.
Since then the bylaw has been finalized, and the District has sent out a request for proposals for the pad twice with no responses.
"We tried for a third time and received four proposals," said Emanuel Machado, manager of sustainability, parks and special projects at the Jan. 4 meeting.
"There was a difference between them around the financial return of what people were prepared to pay to rent the space. All things being equal, our recommendation is that we award this proposal to Feastro because of the substantial difference in the financial contribution they'll be making," Machado said.
Feastro's application calls for $9,600 a year to be paid to the District, while the Lighthouse on Location offered $2,400 a year, Batchworks Sorbet offered $1,400 a year and Buddies at the Bay offered $1,600 a year.
Councillors agreed with staff and recommended Feastro be awarded the three-year contract for $9,600 per year. The recommendation will go to the next regular council meeting for formal approval by council.
