Award-winning Houston chef says Hobby food food winners… are cooked

HOUSTON – Another day and more questions related to food at Hobby airport.

This comes after renowned Houston award-winning chef Chris Shepherd said in a statement to KPRC 2 Investigates, “I am not a culinary consultant for the Areas and am not involved in them in any other capacity.”

Now why does this matter?

Because Areas JV, which won the lucrative tender for the Hobby concession, stated in its offer to the city that it had a Shepherd on board.

Page 5 of the resume says, “Extensive work in the local community. Alternative food options are provided. “Culinary Consultant” – Chris Shepard, famous chef from Houston.

The reaction of the shepherd?

“I had preliminary conversations with them, but I never entered into an agreement with them,” Shepard said.

He is now trying to figure out why Areas used his name in the bidding process and says his legal team is now involved.

“My legal adviser is in touch with Areas and their attorney to assess next steps. I can’t share any of these messages.”

A spokesman for Areas admits there was no contract.

“There is nothing in writing as his role will be formalized once the Districts are selected and the contract is approved,” the spokesperson said.

SEE ALSO: Council Members Postpone Vote to Keep Pappas Restaurants at Hobby Airport or Switch to Miami Company

KPRC 2 contacts Mayor Sylvester Turner’s office about Shepherd’s comments.

In particular, asking the mayor if he had concerns about the District’s proposal, which appeared to mislead council members.

“While there appeared to be conversations between the parties, the city of Houston was not involved in the discussions. It was a competitive process that was fair and clean,” said Mary Benton, director of communications for Mayor Turner.

What are the council members saying?

KPRC 2 Investigates reached out to all sixteen members on Friday, but only five responded with comments.

Their comments are:

“It is about Mr. Shepherd seeking a lawyer on this matter. I have a meeting scheduled with Areas on Monday – I plan to ask directly about this new development.” – Tiffany D. Thomas, District F Councilman

“I am very concerned that the procurement under this contract may have been made using incorrect information. If this information was used as part of the procurement, it must be redone. — Amy Peck, County A Council Member

“It’s disturbing when you find out it’s not true. I don’t think we should vote on this.” – Mary Nan Huffman, G District Councilor

“We shouldn’t vote for it if it skewed the results.” — Robert Gallegos, District I Councilman

“I’m not happy with the appearance of deception by the Areas Group, so we’ll see what happens next week.” – Mike Knox, At-Large Council Member, Position 1

“I think we need to ban Areas based on the lie that this award-winning chef was on their team.” – Michael Kubosh, At-Large Board Member, Position 3.

Again contacted all members of the Houston City Council. We’ll update this article as soon as they provide us with an answer to this 11-hour surprise development on one of the Houston Airport System’s most lucrative concession packages.

Chris Shepherd’s full statement below:

“I am not a culinary consultant for Areas, nor am I associated with them in any other capacity. I had preliminary conversations with them, but I never entered into an agreement with them. Talk was mostly about supporting the Southern Smoke Foundation, but nothing concrete ever materialized, and there was no agreement, written or otherwise, on what it would be or what it would look like. I look forward to seeing who will be the ultimate winner in helping people in the restaurant industry through this crisis. I do not want to make any further statements so as not to participate in this process and not to distract from the important decision that the city will make and will continue to find out exactly how my name was involved in this process.