Publishers Note: The Town of Brookline Parks and Recreation Commission voted not to issue a new contract to VineRipe Grill. VineRipe has the food and beverage concession vendor at the Robert T. Lynch Golf Course for thirteen years. There will be a public hearing tonight, March 18, at 7 PM regarding the commission’s decision to go with another vendor.
This letter was written by Steven von Lichtenberg and Elias Audy, president and president-elect respectively of the Brookline Rotary on March 12.
Dear Leigh:
We were distressed to learn today of the proposal by Parks and Recreation to change vendors at the Robert Lynch Golf Course, ending the contract with the VineRipe Grill.
We ask you to reconsider this proposal. Lisa Wisel and the VineRipe Grill have not only been a well-respected restaurant in Brookline for more than 13 years. They have been valued neighbors and community participants for all that time. And specifically for us in the Rotary Club, they have been charitable participants in a number of events benefiting the community as a whole.
Just in the past year, they have partnered with us to raise thousands of dollars for the Brookline Food Pantry. In addition, they donated over 100 prepared Thanksgiving Dinners directly to the Food Pantry, which were delivered to clients by the Brookline Police.
Lisa is a past president of the Brookline Chamber of Commerce. She has served the small business community very well and has helped to encourage a quality business environment in Brookline for the many small businesses who make Brookline the interesting and inviting community it is.
Over the past year, with all its challenges, restaurants throughout the country and the world have taken a very hard hit. Nonetheless, VineRipe has managed to stay afloat and has continued to be a strong community partner even in these difficult times.
The first RFP had no bidders at all, which demonstrated the unreasonableness of its requirements, asking the incoming vendor to make major changes to the building at great expense, with no guarantee of a contract term longer than a single year.
While the second RFP is somewhat better, we are distressed to hear that there was no good-faith effort to negotiate with VineRipe and seek an agreement that might have been acceptable to both parties. The RFP says that considerable weight will be given to past service, and yet consideration of the many services by this group to the Town is not recognized. Instead, you seem to be ready to award the new contract to a firm not resident in Brookline, which is highly unlikely to provide any of the community service benefits we have come to appreciate from VineRipe.
If there are concerns about the menu or other aspects of the current relationship, I would hope that they could be resolved by negotiating with Lisa. This is a talented culinary group that could significantly change the menu. If there are changes that need to be made to the structure, it would seem that those are the responsibility of the owner of the building, not of a tenant with only an at-will contract.
We respectfully ask you to reconsider and to give appropriate attention to the times we live in, the pressures all restaurants are under, and to give fuller appreciation to the thirteen years of community partnership that has been provided by the VineRipe team.
