The owner of Beat Kitchen said the city of Chicago forced him to lose the restaurant’s Chicago Riverwalk space because of race-based discrimination during a lease renewal process, in a lawsuit filed in federal court.
Robert Gomez, who also operates other restaurants such as Bar Sol at Navy Pier, said after his five-year lease expired in late 2023, the city left him in the dark. He had submitted an application last year to continue operating but was denied.
“They gave no explanation and no opportunity to respond,” Gomez said on Monday.
The lawsuit, filed last week in District Court, said the city “privately and secretly invited another vendor to submit a proposal weeks after the publicly noticed deadline.” Beat Kitchen was the only business to submit a proposal by the April 2024 deadline for a concession contract at 91-95 E. Riverwalk, adjacent to the DuSable Bridge on Michigan Avenue, according to the complaint, first reported by Fox 32 Chicago.
City officials chose the Black-owned business Haire’s Gulf Shrimp for the Riverwalk space. When reached by phone, owner Aiesha Murff declined to comment.
Along with the city of Chicago, the lawsuit names six current or former city employees of the Riverwalk committee and Haire’s Gulf Shrimp. The lawsuit is seeking financial damages and to void Haire’s lease.
“Haire’s was named because they were the beneficiary,” Gomez said. “There’s no demand or claim against them at all. The others, the six who sat on the committee, inappropriately solicited Haire’s to submit a proposal even though the deadline had passed. And then they scored them in a blatantly biased way, which is why they are being named.”
The complaint said city leadership has directed departments to increase opportunities for Black-owned businesses. This led the committee to award a new vendor for the Riverwalk space based on race, violating federal and state law, instead of following the city’s request for proposal process.
“In one area of the proposal, you have to say what you’re willing to pay the city both in rent and in percentage of sales and then do the math,” Gomez said. “Our proposal, over 5 years, offered the city $1.4 million. [Haire’s] proposal, they only filled it out for three years, offered the city $52,000. Even if you do the math for them over five years, that’s $85,000. I’m at $1.4 million. Two of the committee members gave them a higher score in this category, three gave us the exact same score, which is beyond ridiculous and a prime example of the bias they showed.”
Gomez said Haire’s was originally seeking a kiosk near his Riverwalk location, which may explain why their numbers were lower. But he said the committee members, named in the lawsuit, gave the space to Haire’s because departments were asked to increase opportunities for Black-owned businesses.
Before filing the lawsuit, Gomez said he attempted to publicly fight for his cause, writing an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune on April 29 that said the Riverwalk selection process is shrouded in secrecy and needs to be reformed. He wrote another op-ed on Oct. 17, announcing that he filed a lawsuit.
While the original lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court, Gomez said it was refiled last week in federal court because the Riverwalk is federally funded.
Chicago Department of Law spokesperson Kristen Cabanban said in an email statement, “The City has not been served with the complaint and does not comment on pending litigation.”
Gomez said the purpose of the lawsuit is to get the city to create a level playing field and give all potential vendors a chance to lease Riverwalk space.
“We’re demanding that they start the process over again in a fair and transparent way,” he said. “I’m asking the aldermen to pass an ordinance to force this to a branch of the government that is better equipped to follow the rules and regulations and has an oversight board like O’Hare, like the [Chicago] Park District.”