Wine and flatbreads, beer and brunch coming to ‘foodie-type’ Bolsa Chica concession stands

For two years, the four concession stands at Bolsa Chica State Park have sat empty.

The state has typically gone with 10-year deals with its concession stand vendors up and down the coast, said Kevin Pearsall, a public safety superintendent in Orange County for the California Department of Parks and Recreation. However, the local vendors who have operated the stands for the last 20 years have not been able to turn a profit just selling hamburgers, hot dogs and sodas to beachgoers, he said.

So state parks officials decided to go in another direction with a plan to attract vendors and visitors — leasing the four stands to different operators instead of having one handle all four, thus providing food variety.

Enter Huntington Beach restaurateur Alicia Whitney, who upended the plan by presenting a proposal that the state couldn’t pass up.

Whitney is known for her popular, award-winning restaurant SeaLegs Wine Bar in Surf City, but she had been looking to add a few more eateries to her portfolio.

Whitney recently opened a second SeaLegs, in Terminal 2 of Los Angeles International Airport, and will soon open another restaurant, SeaSalt Woodfire Grill, in Huntington Beach.

It doesn’t stop there.

“I had an epiphany one day thinking how great it would it be if we could really build up a culinary audience here in Huntington Beach,” she said. “We can make these foodie-type destinations and bill Huntington Beach as a culinary destination.”

She was recently awarded a lease with the state Department of Parks and Recreation to be the food vendor at the four concession stands at Bolsa Chica State Beach, but the twist is that she will be offering different types of food at each stand. Previous vendors repeated their fare at all four locations.

Thousands of visitors flock to Huntington Beach for its wide beaches and surfing culture. Whitney said she aspires to attract foodies to Surf City as well.

She has a five-year contract with the state that could be extended for another five years, Pearsall said.

The California Department of Parks and Recreation has built concession stands at its dozens of coastal parks. The four stands at Bolsa Chica State Park were built in 1964 and remodeled in 2001, Pearsall said. They have been vacant since February 2014.

“We were so enthusiastic and so impressed with their proposal and their visions of what they want to do to each [stand] individually,” Pearsall said, referring to Whitney and her business partners.

One of the stands will be modeled after SeaLegs, and Whitney wants to sell wine, flatbreads and brunch dishes there. She will need to obtain a liquor license.

The second stand will be based on SeaSalt and will offer tri-tip sandwiches and gourmet burgers.

The third stand, to be called Beach City Provisions, will offer sandwiches and beer, showcasing local breweries like Four Sons Brewing, Beach City Brewery, Riip Beer Co., Beachwood Brewery and many others from Orange County.

Pacific Kitchen, the last stand, will be focused on locally sourced foods and drinks including acai bowls, organic coffee and fish and chips.

“Between all four of the different concepts, we really took an approach of a craft-foods perspective ... offering more than frozen, MSG foods,” Whitney said. “Our hamburger, for instance, is not going to be a frozen patty from Restaurant Depot. These are going to be burgers that come from our distributor that have our own proprietary mix to them.”

Though the stands were remodeled about 15 years ago, Whitney is having the facilities redone to fit each concept, she said.

The stands are expected to be ready by June.

Both Whitney and Pearsall have recognized an obstacle to attracting visitors to the stands — accessibility. It costs $15 to park at Bolsa Chica State Beach, and there is no parking along Pacific Coast Highway.

An incentive that Whitney and the state have proposed is to offer discounts to those who spend a certain amount of money at the stands.

“It was really difficult to try to figure out how we would be attractive for people to park there,” Whitney said. “By offering a voucher when you get into the park, at least that alleviates some of the feeling of having to pay $15 to park somewhere.”

Whitney and Pearsall are optimistic about what the new concession stands can do for the state park.

Pearsall said that if Whitney’s plan is profitable and brings in more visitors, the state could consider implementing similar concepts at its other coastal parks.

“We think that this path will make [the state beach] a destination location where people can go and get a full circumference of the experience of the state park,” Pearsall said.