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Tuesday, February 29, 2000
Cookie sale halted at 'Rays game
Concession operator says only he can sell food items at coliseum
By Mark Button
Caller-Times
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| George Tuley/Caller-Times |
| Brownie Kimberlyn Kasperitis, 7, and her mother were told to leave by Memorial Coliseum's concessionaire when they tried to sell cookies at Friday's IceRays game. |
Five Corpus Christi girls, all between six and eight years old, left Friday's IceRays game at the Memorial Coliseum shocked and saddened.
One was in tears.
Girl Scout Brownie Troop 684 - which had ordered 720 boxes, or $2,160 worth, of cookies to sell at the coliseum after receiving permission from the hockey team - was told to leave by the coliseum's concessionaire.
Wolfgang Buschang, general manager of Noble Food Services, told the Brownies and their parents that only his company can sell food and beverages at the coliseum because of his exclusive contract with the city.
"It's nothing against the Girl Scouts. My wife is a troop leader and they can't even sell there," Buschang said. "No one else is allowed to sell food in there. It wasn't personal and I have nothing against the Girl Scouts."
But Pamela Kasperitis, the troop leader and mother of 7-year-old Brownie Kimberlyn Kasperitis, thinks differently.
Right now, the 60 cases of cookies are sitting in Kasperitis' garage. Each box sells for $3, with the troop making 40 cents per box.
Kasperitis said her troop, which donates 10 hours of community service every month, had voted to donate half of its cookie profits to the Corpus Christi Women's Shelter. If Kasperitis doesn't sell the cookies, she may get stuck with the bill, she said. She has until March 16 to turn in her money receipts to the Girl Scouts Council of America, showing how many orders were picked up, how many were sold and how many delinquent orders they have.
If the cookies aren't sold by then, she said, or she cannot find other troops to help sell them, then her Brownie troop must pay the council for the remaining cookies.
"The IceRays promoted this all week," Kasperitis said.
"It was on the radio and we advertised through our Brownie troop. I had to wait for approval. I got approval and we were set."
That is, until Kasperitis and the girls began unloading the boxes Friday inside the coliseum before the game.
"He told me we were not allowed to be here and we had to get out now," Kasperitis said. "My daughter was in tears and the others were noticeably upset.
"He told me he pays the city 40 percent of what he makes and if I wanted to pay the city 40 percent, I could go ahead and stay and set up."
Buschang said he never asked the Brownie troop to pay and that he was never notified by the IceRays that they had given the Brownie troop approval to sell at the game.
"No, all I said was that the IceRays get 40 to 45 percent of the (concessions) sales, and that's why I have the exclusive rights," he said.
Buschang said he feels badly about the incident, but that he was put in a difficult position.
"If I let them sell there, I would have to let all the Girl Scouts troops sell there, too," he said.
Girl Scouts and Brownies commonly sell cookies in front of Corpus Christi businesses, including H-E-B and Albertson's grocery stores, Walmart, K-Mart and Blockbuster Video. Often, they sell in front of local churches, too, Kasperitis said.
IceRays general manager Bill Davidson said the hockey team wanted to help out the Brownies, but never sought approval from Buschang.
"We didn't think it would have a big enough impact on the concession sales to contact the vendor," Davidson said.
"I mean, geez, it was the Girl Scouts. Even if it did infringe on the concession sales a little, we still thought it was a good thing to do."
At every hockey game, Noble Food Services sells food items such as nachos ($2.50), salted pretzels ($2.50), hot dogs ($2.50) and pizza by the slice ($3). The attendance for Friday's game was 3,666.
Staff writer Mark Button can be reached at 886-3613 or by e-mail at buttonm@caller.com
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