Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Contracts with Aramark

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Hmmm.


The problem folks is leverage.


There is no leverage for anyone to do a better job.


Free market rules have been chained and caged.


The motivation factor is flat.


There is no vision. There is no leverage. And there is no motivation.


What the NPS and DOI need to do is to throw the outdated Aramark agreement in the trash and piss on it and then reach out and enter into a relationship for the future with a partner able to scale - think about MAVERIK INC…


Let that sink in - what brand is more adventure aligned with experience in full management in this market than MAVERIK INC.


Something else to think about - follow through with the new marina on Antelope Island at the intersection of Warm Creek, the main channel up toward Padre and the main channel back toward Antelope Marina.


Years ago there was chatter with doing this exact thing with another funding partner. It is obvious that effort did not launch. At that time, the access discussions was a bridge somewhere between the current AM and the waveless buoys by the the chains to connect to the island. On low water years, like now, you can actually drive to the island starting over in Bigwater, but that plan wont scale.


Antelope does a good job.


Aramark is a joke…


The fact is clear, both companies are not positioned to scale over the next 50 years… they are stuck.


New pressure on the lake with a third provider will absolutely shake things up and one thing is for sure, MAVERIK INC is not going to screw their millions of loyal clients with rape level fuel prices.


With a MAVERIK INC 5 star cobranded resort at Buoy 12, the dynamics of the lake would change and mid lake would most likely pay a big price with added visitation. That is already starting to happen with the new Adonia class packing over 1000 gallons of fuel, enough to keep every wake boat prick to remain in a rigid hard full plow all day, all week, even after dark.


At the end of the day, Aramark is really just one or two more good wind storms away from damaged so severe the marina cannot be rebuilt anymore. That facility was designed a long time ago for smaller boats with smaller loads and smaller stresses that have not been seen in over 30 years… They just keep staking more and more and more bigger boats without updating the engineering on the pivot points and anchor systems.


At that intersection at Buoy 12 the water is in the river and that means it is deep, the island is massive with lots of flat areas for growth from hotels to adventure themed activities spaces, side by sides 4x4 routes including ferries during high water to connect to warm creek, mountain biking, hiking, canyoneering, and who knows, maybe even a roller skating ring, that will have come full circle. Maybe make the golf cart paths super smooth for roller skates.


With an upscale resort and high end restaurants right on the water the biggest loser would certainly be Adonia. I know ALOT of people who would skip the houseboat BS completely and go straight to dinner reservation and a massage after a day on the lake. Think about that.


Look at the all the new BS involved with a week on the lake that did not exist 15 years ago - UGLY beach bags everywhere, wake boat pricks are in every canyon, spoiled mini prickers surf all night long right behind your camp, weather and wind and pumping and docking, and endless rough rough water.


It is clear that with the massive limitation of no new slips the on lake experience growth is not sustainable. Staying in Pages does not offer the same experience as true water side 5 star hotels. Page would not be impacted as more people would need overflow and lower priced options.


My vote is for a nice stiff slap in the face for Aramark and a high-5 for signing an agreement with MAVERIK INC. I get that this hospitality thing is not in the current MAVERIK INC wheel house, but it is an opportunity themed around adventure and fuel and their brand is 100% adventure and fuel focused.


Think big - Something else they could do is duplicate the over water bungalow experience like at Bora Bora and go one step further with adding a private dock for the ski boat. That would be a game changer. A water edge gas fire pit and surprise, you just replaced your houseboat for $1000 a night - that is a bargain compared to boat ownership. Dock fees, insurance, loan, maintenance, fuel, wow, the room could be $2000 or more a night and still be a better than houseboat ownership.


The next 25-50 years cannot be scaled on the backbone of Aramark - there is NO structure to handle the added weight, there is no motivation to reinvest.


It’s time to shake things up and I think MAVERIK INC would be just the right team to do the shaking.


One last thing, the current location of the Wahweap Marina has one huge gigantic massive flaw, it needs water to work and in low water years, like just a few years ago, you could jump off 3 of the 4 corners of the marina and walk to land… That site is doomed… Leave it in place long enough for MAVERIK INC too get approved and to build the marina to take over, then demo it. Trust me, everyone at Aramark will want to move to the MAVERIK docks.


The opportunity is huge - They could have parking lots with motor coaches for day trips to Horseshoe bend and Antelope Canyon hikes and Dam Tours, trips to Zions and Bryce. They could have rentals with a driver and even trips to rainbow. Private slips for the hundreds of boats, beach chairs and fire pits with stacked wood along the walking illuminated golf cart paths. You could even have an LZ for a chopper ride to Vegas…


Aramark lacks a lot of things starting with a fresh vision.


AM is land locked.


A third provider is needed.


If you are going to win, you need leverage.


Does anyone remember the days of needing to show up with a paper bag with cash to get a slip…


Hmmm…


What is the plan for the next 50 years.


That is the question everyone should be asking now.
 
cfulton said:
Warren Buffet is a major holder of Flying J.
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As of January of 2024, Berkshire is now the full owner since the last 20% was sold to Berkshire. There’s no doubt Maverick rules the convenient store market when it comes to pushing the creative limits. If one considers the end to end process of buying out and transitioning from one company to another, there would be significant pain and a lot of money involved. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but at what cost to the consumer. I would bet a pretty penny that slip fees would go up quite a bit. Berkshire is all about increased profits and they’re not about squeezing out every drop. Just look at the power increases at Rocky Mountain Power.
 
If Maverik is great at fuel and convenience (I think they are too) but not hospitality, get them to strike up a JV with Great Outdoors Group for the hospitality side; they've successfully endeavored out in that direction. Market rate fuel, convenience / groceries on-lake, and an Adventure-fishing-sports themed lodge with a mini Bass Pro inside? Yes please.
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one with similar gripes about Aramark and the steady decline of the marinas and campgrounds over the last 10-15 years at Lake Powell. Ever since I started going to Powell I always thought about how cool it would be to work there during my late teens early 20's, you know, before real life and reality kicked in lol!

As an avid user of not only the marinas and lake, we also typically stay in the Wahweap campground too. There has not been one "user experience" upgraded to the facilities in at least 15 years. Other than the cell service being better in the campground (this was likely a necessity vs. let's make it better for our customer upgrade) all I have seen is the price go up and the the quality go down. Toilets backing up, steady smell of sewer in Loop C, over grown trees and double the price vs. 10 years ago. I'm well aware things just cost more now, but jeezust, at least make me feel like I'm getting more or at least the same experience if I'm going to pay more money.

If we're not on Lake Powell, we're typically in our RV checking out other areas of the southwest and beyond. The amount of new campgrounds and RV resorts that have been built in the last 5 years is pretty impressive. All of the new campgrounds that we've stayed in have been built to the new age standards. Good wifi, clean bathrooms, hot showers close by for those that need them, AC's in the bathrooms for the summer heat, well cared for grounds, etc...

We decided to take a quick trip down to Willow Beach in Arizona, just below Hoover dam on the river. We stayed at Willow Beach Harbor campground. In my 40+ years of camping, this was hands down the nicest, cleanest place we've ever stayed. Each spot was cleaned, raked and blown down before the next camper arrived, bathrooms were spotless, hot showers were included with your nightly stay, just a great experience overall. Out of curiosity, I looked up the concessionaire and it was Guest Services. I know it's not usually the company but the employees that create the experience for the guests, but whatever they're doing, it's much better than Aramark and Lake Powell. I don't know how Guest Services other facilities are but Willow Beach is operating nicely!

I typically NEVER leave reviews or provide the feedback on the survey's we get, but I now feel it's one of the only ways to get info back to those that can make a change. Google reviews do work and maybe all my bitching about cell service at the Wahweap campground was what really got the upgrade done 😅 I've always had great interactions with the employees at Lake Powell, but the overall moral just seems to be off
 
Yes I am not happy with Aramark either. The Maverick idea sounds great. But they will have the same problem as Aramark, workers! The demographics of Lake Powell puts a big damper on available workers. Yes you can throw bigger money at them to draw them to work at Powell. That has to be absorbed by someone,,,, us the consumers. Then we will complain about how much more expensive everything is.
Where is the balance point?
 
Times have changes and employee preferences have also changed. It is important to build a culture that employees will enjoy and compensate in a manner that will attract good employees. I think Aramark and others in the hospitality industry have virtually stopped recruiting on college campuses for summer employees and are now relying heavily on foreign workers. This creates an environment that is viewed differently than the one that was present back in the Del Webb days due to the vast cultural divides that must be bridged. There is also a problem with lack of continuity, with very few employees coming back year after year. If you have employees coming back, you can develop a distinct culture. There are better people to comment on culture at the marinas, like @Dangling Dooley, but unless that culture is built, you won't get the familiar faces and the job is just something that gets done for the summer and there is no interest in making things right or building relationships. This requires extra incentives to get the anchor employees to return year after year.

I'm convinced that it would be possible to do a really nice job at both ends of the lake, though some fees may have to go up and there will need to be a long commitment given to a vendor to allow them to invest in facilities or the capital fund needs a massive boost to allow these to be owned by NPS. Nobody wants to work with beat up, run down facilities. They will not be kept clean, they will not be properly maintained, they will not be reliable. Deferred maintenance to boost profitability is what has brought the Aramark run marinas to their current state. Since Aramark bought the marinas from Del Webb they have not spent a dime more than they had to. Everything has been viewed as an obligation rather than an opportunity. I can't tell you how many times I have seen the window closed to the snack bar at Hall's 5 minutes prior to the posted closing time just as a massive horde of people show up and they are not served. Incentives work and the contract has nothing to incentivize extended hours of operation, services outside the core times, etc. It would be really nice to have a snack bar open later in the day at Hall's, or to be able to get gas later in the day, closer to sunset. Closing at 5pm during peak season seems quite arbitrary.
 
nzaugg said:
Times have changes and employee preferences have also changed. It is important to build a culture that employees will enjoy and compensate in a manner that will attract good employees. I think Aramark and others in the hospitality industry have virtually stopped recruiting on college campuses for summer employees and are now relying heavily on foreign workers. This creates an environment that is viewed differently than the one that was present back in the Del Webb days due to the vast cultural divides that must be bridged. There is also a problem with lack of continuity, with very few employees coming back year after year. If you have employees coming back, you can develop a distinct culture. There are better people to comment on culture at the marinas, like @Dangling Dooley, but unless that culture is built, you won't get the familiar faces and the job is just something that gets done for the summer and there is no interest in making things right or building relationships. This requires extra incentives to get the anchor employees to return year after year.

I'm convinced that it would be possible to do a really nice job at both ends of the lake, though some fees may have to go up and there will need to be a long commitment given to a vendor to allow them to invest in facilities or the capital fund needs a massive boost to allow these to be owned by NPS. Nobody wants to work with beat up, run down facilities. They will not be kept clean, they will not be properly maintained, they will not be reliable. Deferred maintenance to boost profitability is what has brought the Aramark run marinas to their current state. Since Aramark bought the marinas from Del Webb they have not spent a dime more than they had to. Everything has been viewed as an obligation rather than an opportunity. I can't tell you how many times I have seen the window closed to the snack bar at Hall's 5 minutes prior to the posted closing time just as a massive horde of people show up and they are not served. Incentives work and the contract has nothing to incentivize extended hours of operation, services outside the core times, etc. It would be really nice to have a snack bar open later in the day at Hall's, or to be able to get gas later in the day, closer to sunset. Closing at 5pm during peak season seems quite arbitrary.
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Good post, with a lot of great insight.

On the issue of who Aramark hires, yes, it's definitely been a shift to hiring more foreign seasonal workers. Now I always make a point of talking with everybody I interact with there, from the rental desk workers, fuel dock people, snack bar employees, mechanics, etc... The only ones in that bunch who have any sort of year-to-year continuity are the senior mechanics, and it's not many of those. The rest are continually learning on the job, since many (most?) seem to only work there for one season. That said, I am impressed with the can-do attitude of most of those I talk with, who seem to like their job, or at least the experience--that's particularly true I find from those coming from eastern Europe. It seems the folks from Rumania or Ukraine or Poland or similar all seem fascinated by being in the desert, but by September, most are ready to go home. And they do.

On the boat rental side of things, most of the seasonal workers (wherever they come from) are all learning on the job, go through things too quickly, don't have an intuitive sense of the problems or things a renter might encounter, so aren't good at anticipating questions or concerns. They just don't know. As often as not, I help them through the checkout process because I know what they need to be showing me better than they do. To their credit, they always appreciate that.

But to @nzaugg's point, without year-to-year employee continuity, things don't go as well, you can't develop a team culture, and any internal spirit of "ownership" related to the value of customer service just isn't there. How can it be? For that, you have to blame management, not the employees...
 
For all Concessionaire Agreements/Contracts across the National Parks, NPS will essentially do an annual audit on the Concessionaire and the services they are providing per the contract. They assess 6 different areas including: Administrative Compliance, Operational Performance, Public Health, Risk Management, Environmental Management, and Asset Management. This assessment is put into what they call an Annual Overall Rating (AOR) Report averaging out the total scores for each of these 6 areas. The AOR provides a score from 0-100 which corresponds to a rating of Superior (0-100), Satisfactory (70-89), Marginal (50-69), or Unsatisfactory (<50).

Over a year ago, I requested Annual Overall Rating (AOR) Reports for both contracts at Lake Powell. Based on the services I've seen provided by Aramark, I expected to see 'Marginal' and 'Unsatisfactory' ratings across the board dating back to... well... forever. I recently received copies of the reports and NPS has rated Aramark far more generously than I could have ever imagined. The Bullfrog AOR has provided a rating of Superior for the last 4 years from 2020-2023. The Wahweap AOR has provided a rating of Superior in 2020, 2021, and 2023 and rated as Satisfactory (with a score of 89) in 2022.

Now take these reports and show them to anyone who works for Aramark, the NPS Regional office, or even those truly responsible for putting out a new prospectus in D.C. The report states that Aramark is providing a 'Superior' job at Lake Powell year after year. What is there to change if you are a 'superior' company? Why would you invest any additional capital into making improvements if you are 'superior'? Why would the Commercial Services Office in D.C. take the time to put out a new Prospectus (when they are not legally obligated to) if the services being rendered truly are 'superior'?

The issue in my mind now seems to be falling back on the National Park Service- specifically those working for the Glen Canyon Recreation Area Office. What is their incentive for rating an 'Unsatisfactory' company as 'Superior' year after year which thus allows the contract to be renewed indefinitely?
 
ashtonc77 said:
For all Concessionaire Agreements/Contracts across the National Parks, NPS will essentially do an annual audit on the Concessionaire and the services they are providing per the contract. They assess 6 different areas including: Administrative Compliance, Operational Performance, Public Health, Risk Management, Environmental Management, and Asset Management. This assessment is put into what they call an Annual Overall Rating (AOR) Report averaging out the total scores for each of these 6 areas. The AOR provides a score from 0-100 which corresponds to a rating of Superior (0-100), Satisfactory (70-89), Marginal (50-69), or Unsatisfactory (<50).

Over a year ago, I requested Annual Overall Rating (AOR) Reports for both contracts at Lake Powell. Based on the services I've seen provided by Aramark, I expected to see 'Marginal' and 'Unsatisfactory' ratings across the board dating back to... well... forever. I recently received copies of the reports and NPS has rated Aramark far more generously than I could have ever imagined. The Bullfrog AOR has provided a rating of Superior for the last 4 years from 2020-2023. The Wahweap AOR has provided a rating of Superior in 2020, 2021, and 2023 and rated as Satisfactory (with a score of 89) in 2022.

Now take these reports and show them to anyone who works for Aramark, the NPS Regional office, or even those truly responsible for putting out a new prospectus in D.C. The report states that Aramark is providing a 'Superior' job at Lake Powell year after year. What is there to change if you are a 'superior' company? Why would you invest any additional capital into making improvements if you are 'superior'? Why would the Commercial Services Office in D.C. take the time to put out a new Prospectus (when they are not legally obligated to) if the services being rendered truly are 'superior'?

The issue in my mind now seems to be falling back on the National Park Service- specifically those working for the Glen Canyon Recreation Area Office. What is their incentive for rating an 'Unsatisfactory' company as 'Superior' year after year which thus allows the contract to be renewed indefinitely?
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Boom!
 
ashtonc77 said:
For all Concessionaire Agreements/Contracts across the National Parks, NPS will essentially do an annual audit on the Concessionaire and the services they are providing per the contract. They assess 6 different areas including: Administrative Compliance, Operational Performance, Public Health, Risk Management, Environmental Management, and Asset Management. This assessment is put into what they call an Annual Overall Rating (AOR) Report averaging out the total scores for each of these 6 areas. The AOR provides a score from 0-100 which corresponds to a rating of Superior (0-100), Satisfactory (70-89), Marginal (50-69), or Unsatisfactory (<50).

Over a year ago, I requested Annual Overall Rating (AOR) Reports for both contracts at Lake Powell. Based on the services I've seen provided by Aramark, I expected to see 'Marginal' and 'Unsatisfactory' ratings across the board dating back to... well... forever. I recently received copies of the reports and NPS has rated Aramark far more generously than I could have ever imagined. The Bullfrog AOR has provided a rating of Superior for the last 4 years from 2020-2023. The Wahweap AOR has provided a rating of Superior in 2020, 2021, and 2023 and rated as Satisfactory (with a score of 89) in 2022.

Now take these reports and show them to anyone who works for Aramark, the NPS Regional office, or even those truly responsible for putting out a new prospectus in D.C. The report states that Aramark is providing a 'Superior' job at Lake Powell year after year. What is there to change if you are a 'superior' company? Why would you invest any additional capital into making improvements if you are 'superior'? Why would the Commercial Services Office in D.C. take the time to put out a new Prospectus (when they are not legally obligated to) if the services being rendered truly are 'superior'?

The issue in my mind now seems to be falling back on the National Park Service- specifically those working for the Glen Canyon Recreation Area Office. What is their incentive for rating an 'Unsatisfactory' company as 'Superior' year after year which thus allows the contract to be renewed indefinitely?
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That’s the most depressing and disheartening thing I’ve read in forever! It’s the opposite of many companies that don’t allow a top score or “excellent” rating on employees performance reviews. Sounds like the auditors are discouraged from providing low scores to vendors
 
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