A round of corporate musical chairs has left Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field with two minority-owned concessionaires instead of one.
In fact, an international corporate spinoff here and an international corporate acquisition there have resulted in four companies sharing the concession revenue at the state's largest airport, where such revenue typically exceeds $7 million annually.
But regardless of who owns what, the airport will continue to receive its share of that revenue -- about 4 percent of the annual intake. Through the first three months of this year, Clinton National has collected $209,241 from concessions, which include food and retail establishments in the airport.
Westwin Business LLC of New Orleans was introduced Tuesday at the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission's monthly meeting as the second minority-owned business partner participating in the concessions contract at the airport.
The company joins JQ Enterprises Inc. of Laurinburg, N.C.
In January, JQ Enterprises became the minority-owned business partner of HMSHost, which has held the concessions contract at the Little Rock airport since 2008. JQ Enterprises replaced Adevco Management LLC of Little Rock.
Marcus Devine, the owner of Adevco, said he and HMSHost agreed to part ways last year after he decided he was unable to commit to continuing the partnership beyond the original contract. Devine now is director of the Youth Services Division of the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
Minority-owned business partners long have been part of the contracting process at the airport, which is governed by U.S. Department of Transportation rules that require minority-group participation "to remedy ongoing discrimination and the continuing effects of past discrimination in federally-assisted highway, transit, airport, and highway safety financial assistance transportation contracting markets nationwide."
At January's commission meeting, HMSHost and airport staff members presented JQ Enterprises as the airport's only minority-owned business partner.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to either HMSHost or the airport staff, the retail side of the airport concession operations was being acquired by another company, The Hudson Group, according to Derryl Benton, executive vice president for business development at HMSHost.
The story actually goes back to 2012 when Host Retail was spun off from HMSHost as a separate company called World Duty Free, Benton said in an interview Tuesday afternoon.
World Duty Free then became a subtenant of HMSHost at the Clinton National airport and handled the retail side of concessions while HMSHost handled the food side of the concession contract.
In late 2014, Switzerland-based Dufry, which bills itself as the largest duty-free operator in the world, began to acquire World Duty Free. For much of 2015, neither side in that transaction could discuss it, Benton said. HMSHost officials, as a result, were unaware that their subtenant -- World Duty Free -- was being sold until after HMSHost announced that JQ Enterprises was taking over for Adevco.
It was only after the deal became final that officials from the Hudson Group, a subsidiary of Dufry, disclosed to HMSHost officials that the Hudson Group was HMSHost's new subtenant at Clinton National and that it would bring in its own minority-owned business partner, Westwin Business.
Westwin, like JQ Enterprises, will have a 30 percent stake in its part of the concession contract, which is part of the agreement Clinton National has with HMSHost. HMSHost is a subsidiary of Autogrill, which says it is the world's largest provider of food and beverages for travelers.
Benton said HMSHost is to blame for not keeping airport officials abreast of the corporate changes.
"HMSHost International, as prime concessionaire at the airport, is solely responsible for ensuring that [Department of Transportation minority-owned business] goals are met and that we effectively communicate any structural changes of our airport partners," he said.
Winston and Wendy Burns run Westwin, which also operates retail concessions at airports in New Orleans, Atlanta and Orlando.
When the HMSHost contract expires in 2018, airport officials say they would like to see another local company participate in the concession contract.
"Our preference is to have a local minority-owned business," said Shane Carter, the spokesman for Clinton National.
Metro on 04/20/2016