WITH KEN JENNINGS
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SFR: Did that smart-ass from Jeopardy screw up your name?
KJ:
I wish I was that smart. Or at least had a cut of his winnings.
After six years of selling Chicago Dogs on the Plaza, you've been shut out after the City turned its permit process into a taste test, right?
It wasn't a taste test. I wouldn't be complaining if it had been an objective taste test. It was a presentation of your product in Sweeney Center. All the applicants brought their food products and let them sit at room temperature for two to three hours and then did their presentation. I wasn't about to feed room-temperature hot dogs to this panel of supposed judges. Any food-service professional would know better. Some of the other applicants did present meat products that had been sitting at room temperature for two to three hours and the judges actually ate them. Right there, I'd question their ability [to judge].
Are you lamenting that you didn't give them cold hot dogs?
My competitor that got the permit brought in one sorry looking cold hot dog and nobody tasted that. Nobody tasted my product. Yet they claimed his product was better than mine. How they know that I don't know. At least I documented that I only sell Vienna beef, which is a premium product.
How was the vote narrowed to Chicago Dog versus Charlie's Big Dogs?
There were six applicants. We all presented our product and our operation to a panel of City staff that picked four of the six applicants to receive permits. There was a numeric ranking process, based on some questionable criteria in my mind.
You scored a 70. Charlie [Garcia] got 92. How would you rank the permit process?
Well, there's something going on besides the merits of the applicants. Whether it's plain old-fashioned corruption, nepotism, political patronage, political connections or it could just be as simple as plain old-fashioned racism.
Is this a case of Windy City discrimination?
No, I think it's because I'm Anglo. All the other applicants are Hispanic except one who is very well politically connected…But I don't know. There's no mechanism in place to quantify the results of this City staff that decided I get a "0" for compatibility with Plaza activities while my competitor gets a "10" out of 10. We sell the same product.
Have you actually tasted a Charlie's Big Dog?
I don't have the guts to taste Charlie's Big Dogs.
Do you think you'd win in a straight-up taste test?
I'd bet the farm on it. If there was an objective, blind taste test, there's no comparison. We don't even know yet what brand of hot dogs Charlie sells.
Did the judges explain their rationale?
No, they don't have to. I appealed the decision of the selection committee to the City manager. He denied my appeal with no explanation whatsoever.
Do you think that your having a permit for the past six years factored into the decision?
I was the junior guy out there. I have less years on the Plaza than any of the other vendors. But it's peculiar to me that the judges claimed that my competitor, Charlie's Big Dogs, has more experience than me. I've been on the Plaza for six years. We have three locations. We've sold probably three-quarters of a million hot dogs in Santa Fe. My wife is a trained cordon bleu chef. She's been in the food-service business since she was a teenager. And yet Charlie Garcia has more experience than we do? How you can justify that is beyond me.
Could you describe the permit process before this year?
The main difference was that we weren't all on the same [five-year] rotation. [This year] they put us all on the same rotation. Supposedly, five years from now, there will be another kangaroo court-or selection committee I should say-to decide who the next vendors will be.
What recourse do you have now?
I can reapply and I will if that's what it comes to. I'm hoping that the City Council will do the right thing and declare that this process is bogus and re-evaluate somehow.
What kind of financial impact will this have on your business?
Substantial. I'm trying to compete with the corporate monsters in the fast-food business, which is not easy to do. We are a locally owned, non-affiliated, family-run business [and] the City of Santa Fe is basically cutting me off at the knees…Last year we did about $50,000 in sales on the Plaza. There has been about a 10 to 15 percent growth annually. If you project that to the next five years, I'm going to lose close to $300,000.
That's a lot of hot dogs. Anything else you'd like to add?
I apologize to anyone in the process if I sound unduly cynical and sarcastic. But the truth of the matter is I am. Will the City of Santa Fe do the right thing? I'm not real confident that they will. Their m.o. seems to be to drag their feet until it's too late.
