🔒Acadia National Park’s new contractor vows to add new vendors

The scent of balsam pillows, the tinkle of lemonade glasses, the sight of all souvenirs lobster, moose and lighthouse, the prospect of popovers and locally sourced lobster dishes.

On a recent July weekend, the usual offerings were available at Acadia National Park's concessions, ready for the hordes of visitors. Yet for the park's new concessionaire, New Mexico-based Dawnland LLC, peak season came with little prep time.

“We had to scramble because the contract was not awarded until April 8,” says Gabrielle Martina, general manager of the park's new concessionaire. “The building was empty. No furniture or even fixtures. So it was a lot more challenging as far as a season opener. I had to procure everything and hire much later.”

Dawnland had to delay set-up until the resolution of a lawsuit, brought by the park's long-time former concessionaire, Acadia Corp., which challenged the National Park Service's award of a 10-year contract to Dawnland. Over the span of the decade-long contract, sales revenue at the concessions is expected to be $60 million (which does not include the park's entry fees and other revenue).

Acadia Corp. had handled concessions at the park for more than eight decades. The national park, which encompasses 47,000 acres on Mount Desert Island and Isle au Haut, received 2.25 million visitors in 2013, ranking it ninth among national parks. Most of the visitors arrive between Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day.

Acadia has three privately run gift shops and a restaurant at three of the park's four most frequented sites — Cadillac Mountain, Thunder Hole and Jordan Pond House.

It's at Jordan Pond House that visitors can try the park's iconic popovers and a full menu dominated by seafood procured from local vendors.

Dawnland opened its shops May 15, a delay from the usual May 1 start. The restaurant opened June 1, a one-week delay from a typical opening on Memorial Day weekend.

Typically, says Martina, hiring begins in January. She has worked for Acadia Corp. since 1999, hired straight out of college as a server. She enjoys the job.

“For me, it was always a combination of getting to work in a beautiful place, the team you work with and the customers you interact with,” she says.

The management team under Acadia Corp. simply transitioned to Dawnland, says Martina. In addition to her own long experience, Martina got some other long-timers, including a manager with 26 years on the job.

“So it's a pretty normal season,” she says. ““It's a great management team. They made it a lot easier, already knowing what to do and adapting to new systems and new expectations and a new business. So it's exciting.”

Dawnland got back at least half of its seasonal staff. Typically, summer employees are college students, supplemented by local residents in the shoulder seasons. The season runs mid-May through October; staff numbers average 130 to 140 at the peak, about the same number as those employed full-time by the federal government in the park itself, says Acadia's concession specialist, Liz Tinker.

The park has a close relationship with its concessionaire, Tinker says.

“There's a very detailed contract that is signed by the two parties,” Tinker says. “It outlines each party's responsibilities, and it goes as far as daily operations, daily communications, site visits, evaluations, visitor comments, compliance and environmental plans. The park monitors operations to make sure all the contract provisions are met, and met on time.”

The park receives a franchise fee of 8% of gross revenue, projected to be $5.8 million. Proceeds go into visitor services.

Concessions are an important part of the visitor experience, Tinker says.

“It's part of the long-standing history, especially Jordan Pond House,” Tinker says. “That relationship is very strong, and even more of a partnership than just a concession. So we work with them. It something the park service doesn't do, so therefore we use professional hospitality, service and/or recreational companies.”

Dawnland is a subsidiary of Ortega National Parks LLC, a family-owned business based in Santa Fe, N.M. It operates 10 sites for the National Park Service, from Hawaii to New York.

Ortega was one of three companies bidding for a 10-year contract at Acadia. Ortega was selected in 2013. Acadia Corp.'s legal challenge, citing a “flawed evaluation process,” was rejected earlier this year.

The National Park Service administers more than 500 concession contracts nationwide. These provide services ranging from food service and lodging to whitewater rafting adventures and motor coach tours, according to the park service. In addition to Ortega's food concessions, Acadia has three other concessionaires. Carriages of Acadia Inc. operates Wildwood Stables and, as its name suggests, offers carriage rides on the park's iconic carriage roads. National Park Tours and Oli's Trolley each offer interpretive bus tours.

In the transition, Ortega's Dawnland subsidiary retained the management team, previous vendors were retained, says Martina. These include local providers of seafood, produce and crafts.

“No vendors were dropped,” she says. “We have 96 lines of crafts from Maine and 48 from New England. Our buyer did an excellent job of outsourcing ahead of time. And we're trying to expand. We've added more farmers. In the past, we worked with farmers who could do their own deliveries. Now we're coordinating to get the few farmers who can't do their own deliveries, and we plan to do more of that next year, when we can work ahead of time. Next year, there will be much better communication. This year, we worked with what we had.”

Another new initiative is an expanded “grab and go” food service at the retail shops.

“There was none on Cadillac, so we started to make deliveries there,” she says. “And we're expanding our offerings — sandwiches, soups, baked goods, salads — at Jordan Pond House as well.”

In the meantime, Bar Harbor-based Acadia Corp. still operates several non-park shops in downtown Bar Harbor.

Losing the park contract had serious repercussions for the business, says Arcadia Corp. President David Woodside. The contract made up two-thirds of the company's revenue.

“We typically had a high of up to 200 employees with the operations in the park and in town,” Woodside says. “This year, we'll max out at something under 50 employees. So it did cut a significant amount of employees. We laid off 12 more-or-less year-round employees at the end of the last calendar year. We had around 20 employees on a year-round basis, and we now have more like seven or eight. It was a pretty significant decrease in numbers. Fortunately, a number of our year-round employees were able to obtain jobs with Ortega [Dawnland].”

The Acadia Corp. was founded in 1932 as a local company, operating the concessions throughout that time. Woodside was hired in 1976. He says he was glad a half-dozen or so of his year-round employees, and some returning seasonal employees, were able to continue with Dawnland.

“We encouraged them to take jobs there, if they could,” Woodside says. “They went totally with our blessings. These are people, many of them, who had worked for us for a long time. We were kind of a semi-family — in some cases, there are some family relationships; in most cases, strong friendships. And we still maintain those friendships.”

With a return rate of 60% to 75% for seasonal workers — including college students and local teens and adults — Woodside says he was able to retain many at his Bar Harbor shops. Some managers who stayed with him have been with the company for 30-plus years.

He also continues to let some past employees stay in Acadia Corp. housing.

“We had extra beds, and they're people we know and trust,” he says.

“We're just beginning the planning stage for what we want to do [in the future],” Woodside says. “We haven't made any decision at this point. We're working with a planning consultant. One way or the other, however we might be constituted in the future, I think we will remain in the hospitality business. Certainly, retail is a strong part of our business. But we've had good experience in the restaurant world as well, so it's not impossible that we might re-enter that.”

The way the employee split worked out made sense, says Martina.

“People at the in-town shops continued on. Those of us who worked in the park continued with Dawnland,” she says.

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