Board Chewing Over Food Vendors

    Proposals from vendors interested in selling food at a variety of East Hampton Town beaches have been reviewed by a committee of four town residents. Points were tallied based on a town board-designed matrix that weighs elements such as community ties, business experience, and the type of food to be sold, as well as the amount of money offered for exclusive concession rights to a particular site.

    Jeanne Carrozza, a town purchasing agent, gave the board a list of the highest-scoring bidders at a work session on Tuesday, and concessions are to be awarded formally at a board meeting tonight.

    Ms. Carrozza said no bids had been received for a number of potential concession sites: South Lake Drive and Kirk Park in Montauk, Albert’s Landing, Little Albert’s, and Fresh Pond Beaches in Amagansett, Barnes Hole Road in Springs, the Maidstone Park section of East Hampton, and Sammy’s Beach in Northwest. Those sites will remain open to licensed itinerant vendors.

    The bids expected to be awarded tonight are to Turf Lobster Rolls, for Otis Road in Montauk, which would replace the popular Ditch Witch wagon run by the Monahan family; Montaco for Ditch Plain main parking lot, and the Paddy Wagon for West Lake Drive, both in Montauk, and the Dune Doggie for Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett. No other vendors will be allowed to sell within a prescribed distance of those locations.

    The board solicited bids for exclusive concession rights for the first time this year, to avoid what was shaping up to become turf wars among an increasing number of vendors looking to set up shop at the most lucrative spots in town.