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Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Family Business Expands West
By Andy Stiny
For the Journal
TAOS — The Ortega family has long familial and business roots in Santa Fe and the Southwest but also has nostalgic ties to another SF — the San Francisco Bay Area.
Patriarch Armand Ortega Jr. attended the University of California at Berkeley and his son Shane got a MBA from Stanford. That's one reason that the family, which owns four stores on the Santa Fe Plaza and runs concessions at various Southwest national parks as well as owning Gallup's historic El Rancho Hotel, recently bid to run a historic site in San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Park.
Armand followed in the steps of his father, Armand Ortega Sr., who established trading posts in New Mexico and Arizona and who stills holds court at El Rancho. The family will rehab and operate the concession at the park's Stow Lake, constructed in 1893, which includes a small cafe and a boathouse with paddle and rowboats. The cafe is famous for its pink popcorn.
"Mostly (we bid) because it is a beautiful area and we saw something that was really aesthetically wonderful and needed some improvement," said daughter Tanya Ortega, director of community partnerships for Santa Fe-based Ortega Family Enterprises. Because her father and brother are connected to the area, there was a "sentimental, heartfelt" aspect to yet another business venture for the family.
San Francisco's Parks and Recreation Commission voted on Aug. 19 to accept the Ortegas' bid for Stow Lake. The renovation of the historic boathouse, which is revered in a city that takes its institutions and history seriously, has not without some drama.
Soon after the Parks and Recreation Commission floated the idea of spiffing up the boathouse, "defenders of pink popcorn, pedal boats, and the drafty snack bar" rose up in opposition. Besides a petition drive and a website, a woman with a blackbird hand puppet testified at a commission hearing "in the form of a raven rap," according to the San Francisco Chronicle's SFGate.com.
San Franciscans may believe the popcorn and rental boats will change, but they're mistaken, said Tanya Ortega. "We are going to keep those things and improve (them)."
The Ortegas intend to "bring in the neighborhood — bring in San Francisco — to be a part of what we are doing and make sure people know we are not tearing the place apart," she said.
The Ortegas were chosen by a five-person commission committee from three applicants who submitted requests for qualification, said Recreation and Park Department spokesman Elton Pon. The previous concessionaire, the Bruce McLellan family, operated the Stow Lake facilities for 67 years.
The opposition was not directed at the Ortega family but more the recreation commission, Pon said. The opponents of change, the Save Stow Lake Boathouse Coalition, did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
But sfexaminer.com reported in a recent edition that "the coalition's members have ripped the new concessions plan on a host of fronts, including claiming greed on the part of Recreation and Park Department officials and suggesting that noise from machinery will upset the delicate wildlife and (that) delivery trucks will generate more pollution."
But Recreation and Park General Manager Phil Ginsburg told the paper, "This is a place that needs love and attention and it hasn't gotten it."
The paper reported that the Ortegas would pump $250,000 in improvements into the boathouse and spend $100,000 for a fleet of new boats, while the previous concessionaire offered $23,000. Those figures could not be independently confirmed.
In addition to their plans in the 1,017-acre park a stone's throw from the Pacific, the family just got the bid to operate the Stove Pipe Wells Village in California's Death Valley National Park, where a ranger said it was 122 degrees last week. Golden Gate Park hosts 13 million visitors a year, according the SFGate.com. More than a million folks yearly come to Death Valley, according deathvalleychamber.com.
The Ortegas already do business in California, where they run the Muir Woods National Monument concession north of San Francisco, for which they won an environmental award. In New Mexico in the 1990s, Armand Jr. took over the Bandelier National Monument concession and the family also runs the concessions at Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands National Monuments.
According to a City and County of San Francisco Recreation and Parks Commission news release, the Ortega proposal for Stow Lake includes:
• Improving and stabilizing the boathouse while preserving the architecture and charm.
• A new fleet of row, pedal and other boats, keeping rentals affordable for the public.
• Increasing revenue by a projected 30 to 40 percent.
• A small informal cafe featuring "traditional Stow Lake favorites like pink popcorn, pretzels and animal crackers while also providing a new menu of local, organic, healthy and sustainable food and beverage options."
The new indoor cafe would replace the outdoor one. "It's not so much a restaurant as a place to get in from the weather and grab a cup of coffee," said Frank Klein, the San Francisco food and beverage manager for the project. He estimated the cafe will seat 14 to 18 and will have "a heavy emphasis on working with local farmers and food purveyors."
The Ortegas' reputation won the commission over, Pon said. "The Ortegas have 20 years of experience in running concessions especially in park lands. They have experience running boat operations. The company philosophy emphasizes green, eco-friendly practices."
Ortega's is one of four stores the family owns and operates on the Plaza and they restored the building on the Plaza that burned in the 1970s where Ortega's is located, Tanya Ortega said.
That commitment to restore older structures was important, Pon said. "They were head and shoulders above the other applicants."
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