04/05/2023
Oklahoma Tourism Dept.
Announces New Restaurant Group For State Parks
Colby Thelen
Published Wed Apr 05, 2023 12:33 PM CDT
Updated Wed Apr 05, 2023 12:29 PM CDT
The Oklahoma Department of Recreation and Tourism has announced the restaurant group that will take over operations at six state parks.
Nearly a year after the state cut ties with Swadley’s Foggy Bottom Kitchen, a new restaurant will take its place.
A 2022 report from the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency found that the department misused millions of taxpayer dollars subsidizing the former chain.
Related: Swadley’s CPA Report: State Owes Company Millions After Botched Foggy Bottom Kitchen Contract
It led to the ousting of the former director and legal action. Since then, the space has sat empty.
The tourism department announced Wednesday that Ratatouille Inc. will begin serving park guests Memorial Day weekend.
It was a tall order for the new executive director of the department, Shelley Zumwalt, who took over six months ago.
“I will tell you it is the best thing,” Zumwalt said.
It was one of the top priorities in her quest to restore trust to the department. The vendor, she believes, is a perfect fit.
“They are a restaurant group that runs a couple of different concepts in the city,” she said. “I think the most familiar is going to be Falcone’s Pizza.”
The restaurants won’t serve just pizza, but instead American cuisine. The menu will be designed specifically for the parks.
“There is chicken fried steak on the menu, so people can breathe a sigh of relief,” Zumwalt said– addressing numerous questions she received in the informational process.
It’s also a sigh of relief for the new head of the department whose work began day one.
“I’ve been involved since October in figuring out how we’re going to do this well.”
For Zumwalt, doing it well means doing it differently than before. She spent evenings in the parks providing extensive information before a single bid.
It also meant recusing herself from the review committee, which looked at seven different proposals.
“In this process specifically, my overinvolvement would – whatever the outcome – would not be success eventually,” Zumwalt said. “It would call it into question.”
The process did, however, involve other agencies including the Office of Management and Enterprise Services.
The committee ultimately chose the company that also offers food trucks and catering.
“They had a very robust business plan that is going to provide year-round service and also was thought through in a way that they will see success,” Zumwalt believes.
This time, that success will fall to the company alone. The state will not cover any restaurant losses.
“We are not paying the vendor to operate these restaurants,” Zumwalt explained. “ This is something that we are providing the space. We are providing the customer base.”
The department will serve in the role of landlord. It typically serves as the department for fun.
“We’re dealing with something really in a lot of ways you can’t quantify,” Zumwalt explains. “That is nostalgia.”
Six months into the new role, that tall order is nearly filled. On Memorial Day weekend, the parks will provide familiar service once again.
ODRT is currently working with Ratatouille Inc. to find a name for the six new restaurants.
The state will receive a percentage of sales as part of the contract.
