CHICAGO (STNG) - You’ll be able to have some claret with your camels and some pilsner with your polar bears if city and park officials sign off on Lincoln Park Zoo’s plan to offer beer and wine at its on-site restaurants.
“We’re always looking for ways to increase our revenues,” the zoo’s chief financial officer, Troy Baresel, told the Chicago City Council licensing committee. “We’re free; and we’re committed to stay free.”
The committee gave approval to the plan Wednesday, and Baresel said he thinks the full council and park district board will pass it.
Right now, the zoo only sells alcohol at Cafe Brauer, a banquet facility and restaurant on Stockton Drive that sits outside the zoo itself.
The new licenses would allow beer and wine sales at the zoo’s central cafeteria, the Park Place Cafe and at the Big Cats Cafe overlooking the lion exhibit at the zoo’s main entrance. A third license would allow beer and wine at the Foreman Pavilion, which is reserved for special events.
Baresel said each of the sites has only one or two entrances, and zoo staff will make sure no one takes alcohol into the zoo.
“It’s a concern of our zoo board, certainly, and it won’t happen,” Baresel said.
In the past, the zoo secured special-event permits each time the zoo was booked for a concert, wedding or business event where alcohol was served.
Adding regular beer and wine sales could boost revenue by between $300,000 and $400,000, Baresel said. The annual zoo budget is $21 million.
The Brookfield Zoo has served beer for years and never has had a problem spokeswoman Sondra Katzen said.
“Coming this summer we’re going to be selling (alcoholic) tropical drinks in connection with our Stingray Bay exhibit,” Katzen said. “It’s kind of a Caribbean theme.”
The Art Institute also serves beer and wine at its Garden Restaurant and even has an online wine list boasting an $82 bottle of champagne.
--Daily Southtown
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