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Morning Call faces competition to remain in City Park

Cafe du Monde and Cafe Beignet also hope to get the space

NEW ORLEANS — Morning Call will have to hope that a proposal it cooked up is appetizing enough to keep its City Park location.

The 24-hour coffee and beignet stand now faces competition from Cafe du Monde and Cafe Beignet for the space in the park’s casino building.

Morning Call has been in City Park since 2012, but bids for a new 10-year contract for the space were opened Wednesday. An advertisement for those bids specified that the park was looking to keep a beignet stand there.

City Park CEO Bob Becker said that whoever gets the new lease will pay more — $10,000 a month in rent, as well as sharing a percentage of the profits. He could not immediately say how much Morning Call pays now but did say it’s less than what a new lease will require.

The park gets no tax dollars and relies mostly on self-generated revenue.

Becker said the park will review the three proposals and hopes to make a decision about who’ll receive the lease within 30 to 60 days.

Cafe du Monde considered putting in a bid for the Casino Building space in 2012, said Jay Roman, a manager with the company, told The New Orleans Advocate. But they backed away because of a requirement for a 24-hour operation. That requirement is not part of the new lease.

“You’re right there in the part of the park that’s geared toward families, so beignets make sense,” Roman said. “The city is just going in such a great direction, we would love to be part of it.”

"City Park is a gem. We were so excited to bid on this location, and we think it has so much more upside," Peter Moss, a Cafe Beignet co-owner, told The Advocate. "However it turns out, though, it will be good for City Park."

Morning Call on Sunday closed its longtime Fat City location.

Bob Hennessey, who runs the business with his brother, said they planned to focus on the City Park location since its business was more robust than the Metairie location. He also has said the area where Morning Call operated for the last 44 years changed and the market had become too saturated with other coffee shops.

Hennessey said he and his brother are considering opening a second or -- depending upon who wins the bid for the City Park location -- primary location if they can find the right spot.

New Orleans Advocate staff writer Ian McNulty contributed to this report.

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