San José Seeks Proposals for Airport
Food & Beverage and Retail Concessions
Expanded opportunities at SJC to provide more services with
local character for Silicon Valley’s airport

San José, CA – To meet growing passenger expectations for quality airport services with a local character, Mineta San José International Airport (SJC) today released a comprehensive request for proposals for food and beverage and retail concessions that will occupy existing and expanded space at The New Airport.

SJC developed the concessions RFP after broad outreach to both local businesses and national operators to solicit interest in participating in the increased opportunities that will be available when San José completes its $1.3 billion replacement and renovation of terminal facilities in mid-2010. Existing retail locations will be available in 2008 and some new locations will be available as early as 2009.

As a result of the airport’s overhaul, there will be approximately 43,000 square feet of space for retail and food and beverage concessions, with that space expected to increase with future development of the airport. This compares to about 23,000 square feet in the current airport configuration.

“There’s very strong interest in our business community to become a partner with the airport for mutual success, and we expect to see very strong proposals coming in January,” said Terri Gomes, the airport’s director of finance and administration.

“This will be very competitive, and we’re confident the market will bring us excellent proposals offering great service and interesting choices for our passengers while generating good revenue with concepts that reflect the unique community character of San José and Silicon Valley.”

To increase competitiveness, the structure of the concession RFP is flexible so that proposers can submit either on a portion of the food and beverage or retail opportunities, or for the entire airport. Each proposal would include food and beverage operators and/or retail operators that would reflect a mix of services representing local, regional, and national businesses.

“We’re looking for the kind of seasoned experience and expertise that will help us and individual concessions to achieve long-term success and profitability and improve the customer’s experience in our new airport,” said Gomes.

The deadline for proposal submissions to the airport is Thursday, January 10, 2008. To obtain a copy of the RFP, go to www.sjc.org/about/master_plan.html. A pre-proposal informational meeting will take place at 9:00 a.m., Tuesday, October 30, at the Wyndham Hotel, 1350 North First Street, San José.

Potential proposers interested in participating should contact the Airport Property Section at (408) 501-7661, or email concessionsRFP@sjc.org. San Jose purchasing regulations prohibit potential proposers from discussing RFPs with any city employees or councilmembers other than the official contact designated in the RFP until the city manager issues a written recommendation to the council.

A panel of evaluators representing airports, airlines, local businesses, and professional experts will review the proposals, leading to staff recommendations for consideration by the San José City Council in spring 2008.

About Mineta San José International Airport
Mineta San José International Airport, a self-supporting enterprise, is owned and operated by the City of San José. SJC served 10.8 million passengers and handled approximately 209 million pounds of air cargo in 2006. SJC has 189 flights a day on 13 domestic and international carriers to 30 nonstop destinations.

The Airport generates more than $100 million in operating revenue annually. Mineta San José International Airport also generates $4 billion in direct business spending in the local community and 70,000 jobs in the San José Area.

Mineta San José International Airport is located in San José, California’s third largest city and the nation’s tenth largest city (population of 974,000).

For more Airport information, visit www.sjc.org, or call Airport Customer Service at (408) 501-0979. Motorists can also tune their radios to 530 AM within two miles of SJC for current information on airport traffic, parking and security.

-SJC-

1732 N. First Street, Suite 600, San José, CA 95112-4538 24 Hour Media Line: 408.501.7700