HMSHost, part of an Italian multinational company that bills itself as a provider of food and beverage service for travelers around the world, has positioned itself at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field to be eligible for federal pandemic relief money available to smaller companies.
Small companies are eligible for more aid than large companies under the terms of the latest pandemic relief package passed by Congress.
HMSHost has a 10-year contract signed in 2017 to operate the food and beverage concessions at Clinton National, one of 120 airports around the world in which the company has such arrangements. HMSHost's parent company is Autogrill S.p.A., which has a market cap of $1.8 billion and is controlled by the Benetton family.
At Clinton National and other U.S. airports, HMSHost is required by federal rules to partner with socially or economically disadvantaged small businesses.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said that it presumes certain groups are disadvantaged, including women, Black Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans, among others. Airport concession businesses that have no more than $52 million in gross receipts in the previous three years are classified as small companies by the agency.
HMSHost has two business partners that qualify as socially or economically disadvantaged small businesses under the rules. They are J.Q. Enterprises Inc., whose sole owner is Sheldon Poole, and RSI Group LLC, a Little Rock company whose president and chief executive officer is Pamela Boyd.
Both companies each have a 15% stake in the Clinton National concession contract with HMSHost as part of a joint venture in which they share in the profits or losses as well as contributions of capital under the percentages required in the joint venture.
The arrangement between HMS Host, J.Q. and RSI is structured as a joint venture, but the contract with the airport lists only HMSHost. The Federal Aviation Administration initially said that it would treat the three companies as a joint venture and make them eligible as a small company but then withdrew that guidance, according to Bryan Malinowski, the top executive at Clinton National.
On Tuesday, Malinowski recommended that the agreement with HMSHost be amended to include J.Q. and RSI. He told members of the Little Rock Municipal Airport's lease and consultant selection committee that the new agreement is designed not to help HMS Host but its minority partners.
Besides, the amended agreement would more accurately reflect the actual arrangement Clinton National has with HMSHost and its partners, Malinowski said.
"Assignment of the joint venture is the right thing to do irrespective" of whether the amended agreement will allow the concession partners to qualify for more federal aid, he said.
Under previous arrangements, the HMSHost joint venture has been granted relief totaling $57,916 by the airport. If the joint venture qualifies as a small company, it is eligible for another $436,666 in the third in a series of federal grants the airport received to help it through the pandemic.
The committee approved a separate series of recommendations designed to require all concessions to be reopened within the next several weeks.
HMSHost has been slow to reopen its offerings at the airport, citing low passenger counts and other difficulties.
Several concessions, including outlets for Starbucks, Chick-fil-A and Chili's, have reopened.
Under the recommendation, the Burger King outlet on the concourse will reopen Aug. 31, the River Bend Bar & Grill will reopen Sept. 30 and a second Starbucks outlet -- in the baggage claim area -- will reopen Oct. 15. The Hudson retail outlet will reopen Sept. 1.
Clinton National has granted financial relief to its tenants, including Host and Hudson. It is scheduled to receive about $40 million in federal pandemic relief.