CITY OF SPOKANE VALLEY
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
Addendum #2
**QUESTIONS & ANSWERS PROVIDED**
Food and Beverage Services for CenterPlace Regional Event Center
Due Date: 4:00 p.m., Monday, December 8, 2025
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Important: The City is not obligated to publish any further questions and answers regarding this RFP. However, the City will attempt to answer questions submitted to the City received by 5pm on Sunday December 7, 2025, on a first come first served basis, as time allows.
Question received from interested party:
What is the minimum number of staff required (number of persons)?
Answer provided by City:
The City requires a minimum of two dedicated staff members, including one Executive Chef and one Salesperson.
Question received from interested party:
What is the lead time on bookings?
Answer provided by City:
The CenterPlace team strives to give a minimum of two weeks’ notice for short-term bookings; however, if a customer requests to book with a shorter lead time CenterPlace staff will consult with the Caterer prior to booking to discuss availability of offerings.
Question received from interested party:
How many events take place in the Great Room?
Answer provided by City:
Approximately 200. After review, the Great Room held approximately 220 reservations in 2024 of those 220 reservations 158 utilized our inhouse catering.
Question received from interested party:
Does the City have a budgeted annual amount of revenue it is needed to obtain.
Answer provided by City:
The City is always seeking to maximize revenues to offset operational costs, however, there is no amount certain as it depends on use and nature of reservations.
Question received from interested party:
Does the City require the events to have food and beverage minimums.
Answer provided by City:
No
Question received from interested party:
Who owns the warmers?
Answer provided by City:
The City owns one large warmer (heated banquet cart).
Question received from interested party:
What is the renewal timeline.
Answer provided by City:
The contract will be an initial one-year term with four (4) additional one-year options that can be exercised annually.
Question received from interested party:
Can you provide the breakdown of events (how many of each) and related revenue per each class: Social; Corporate; Wedding
Answer provided by City:
Our reporting uses nine event types, which are listed below with the corresponding 2024 revenue breakdown:
2024 CenterPlace Catered Events
59 Banquets – $195,711 in revenue
10 Community Events - $2,967 in revenue
10 Fundraisers – $76,099 in revenue
26 Memorials – $47,915 in revenue
233 Meetings/Seminars – $306,145 in revenue
0 Dances – $0 in revenue
14 Private Parties – $32,202 in revenue
20 Weddings – $52,232 in revenue
1 Worship - $1,529 in revenue
Question received from interested party:
What charges are subject to commission rate? For example:
Menu cost per guest
Staff Labor
Rentals
Service Charge (not gratuity)
Tax
Answer provided by City:
The City requests that all respondents provide a commission rate that would apply to all charges to the customers, except for taxes, gratuities, or credit/debit card service fees. Should a respondent believe that a particular charge should not be subject to the commission rate, the respondent shall say so in its submittal and provide an example. Any change to the applicability of the commission rate shall be subject to City approval and is not guaranteed.
Question received from interested party:
Are you able to provide a list of currently interested parties that are bidding?
Answer provided by City:
The City does not have a list of interested parties.
Question received from interested party:
Can you share the tasting criteria in writing? You also mentioned something about decorating?
Answer provided by City:
Details for the tasting and interview exercise will be provided to the selected finalists after submittal evaluation.
Decorating was in reference to a sample buffet; more details will be provided to those selected to participate in the tasting/interview exercise.
Question received from interested party:
Is there a tasting form the evaluators will use when tasting our food? If so, can you share that?
Answer provided by City:
Details for the tasting and interview exercise will be provided to the selected finalists after submittal evaluation.
Question received from interested party:
Will we be able to use the onsite kitchen so we can do our final preparations onsite and demonstrate quality as if we were the contractor at CenterPlace vs bringing it in already prepared offsite which would cause an unfair disadvantage to any outside bidder.
Answer provided by City:
Any finalist selected to participate in the tasting exercise will be required to prepare food offsite.
Question received from interested party:
Do self-caterers have access to the kitchen or are they self-contained?
Answer provided by City:
Self-caterers do not have access to the kitchen. All food for self-catered events held inside the facility must be preprepared offsite.
Question received from interested party:
Do self-caterers pay commission to the city?
Answer provided by City:
No. Instead, the City charges the group renting the facility a self-catering fee for those Sunday events that choose to self-cater their event within CenterPlace.
Question received from interested party:
Would the City accept an additional umbrella policy of $1,000,000, to reach the $2,000,000 requirement?
Answer provided by City:
Yes
Question received from interested party:
What is the breakdown of food vs. Alcoholic Beverage Sales?
Answer provided by City:
2024 approximate catering revenue split was $642,282 Food, and $72,518 Alcohol
Question received from interested party:
Can we see the current RFP/Contract in place with Le Catering? If not, what is the current commission % for food and Alcohol?
Answer provided by City:
The current contract can be viewed on the City’s website here:
https://laserfiche.spokanevalley.org/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=516511&dbid=0&repo=SpokaneValley
Question received from interested party:
If awarded the contract, is the salesperson to be located onsite? If so, what hours are required?
Answer provided by City:
Yes, the salesperson is required to be available onsite. The City does not require the Contractor to have a set schedule for the onsite salesperson; however, we have found it helpful for customers and CenterPlace staff to have a Catering representative onsite during business hours. For the purpose of scheduling client meetings, having consistent days and times when the salesperson is on-site during the work week is the model that we have found works best.
Question received from interested party:
For clarification, the contractor is responsible for the $4500 deposit to maintain all kitchen equipment, or is the contractor also responsible for the maintenance on kitchen equipment on top of that?
Answer provided by City:
The contractor is required to pay $4,500 to the equipment reserve fund to be used by the City for kitchen repairs. The City shall bear all the cost of ordinary repair, maintenance and replacement of City owned equipment. If equipment repair is due to contractor negligence the repair cost will be passed on to the Contactor. For more details regarding equipment maintenance please see Attachment E - Contract Exhibit B - Facility Specifications, Access and Use, Section 3.
Question received from interested party:
When and where will questions regarding the RFP be posted.
Answer provided by City:
Questions and answers regarding the RFP may be posted at any time prior to the due date and can be found here:
https://www.spokanevalleywa.gov/359/Public-Notices.
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RFP Advertisement - Food Services CenterPlace Regional Event Center
RFP Form - Food Services CenterPlace Regional Event Center
