Morning Call Is Not Thrilled It Lost Its City Park Bid

Morning Call Coffee Stand will soon close its stand in City Park, after the park opened up bidding on the beignet stall, which Café du Monde won. Turns out Morning Call isn’t too happy about how this all went down, and they’re considering legal action against City Park, reports The Advocate.

Morning Call owner Bob Hennessey told WWL-TV: “It’s just really feeling like we didn’t get a fair deal.”

Three beignet makers entered the City Park’s bidding competition for the stall — Morning Call, Café du Monde, and Café Beignet. While Morning Call’s bid offered City Park a slightly higher percentage of its revenue than the competitors, it didn’t win.

Morning Call missed a mandatory pre-bid meeting, which is what ultimately sealed their fate. “Morning Call was not considered responsive,” City Park CEO Bob Becker told his board. Meanwhile Hennessey said they missed the meeting because they were running late and told WWL-TV that “it was over as soon as it started.” Hennessey said that the board knew they were coming, and also that Morning Call should have been notified by mail and given a hearing.

Morning Call has had a rough couple of months — in April the brand closed its Metairie location, which had been running for 40 years. The company’s history dates back to the 1870s.