Background
To get financing for
Disneyland, Walt sold the food concessions to the ABC Network (yes, that ABC). The network then turned around and outsourced the operations to another outside company. Service and quality were horrible and Walt found he could do nothing to improve the conditions no matter how tight the contracts were written. Within a matter of months Walt took the profits from Disneyland and bought back the operations. While many restaurants had corporate sponsorships, my recollection was that only the Sunkist Juice Bars were leased (to Sunkist themselves).
This remained company practice until the opening of EPCOT Center. The overriding goal of World Showcase was to provide as authentic an experience as possible for the guests. To be blunt, Central Florida has never been known for quality ethnic cuisine. The restaurant space was offered to companies from the pavilions host nation San Angel from Mexico City, Alfredos from Rome, etc. The idea was the EPCOT Center restaurants would prepare and serve the same menus as their counterparts back in their native cities. Of course, then there was the collision between authentic and Americans Taco Bell trained expectations, but thats another story. Even though these restaurants were owned by outside companies, they relied on Disney staff, Disney central kitchens and Disney standards. For all intents and purposes, they were run by Disney.
For a long time the company knew that its success depended on its control over the product. The only way to make sure things were kept up to standards was to do it yourself. Everything at WDW was tightly controlled.
The idea of leasing out restaurant space started really with Pleasure Island. At the time it was a cost savings move adding more features to the development than what Disney could otherwise afford. But it was also a bit of a cheat. No one knew how well Disney would do with adult entertainment; selling restaurants made other people assume a lot of the financial risks. Disney didn't have to worry about staffing, food costs or any of the problems of actually running a restaurant. Of course, the downside was that Disney lost most of the profits from the places that were a hit.
Then, following the disastrous opening of Euro Disney, the idea of renting out anything and everything possible became a central point of every development. The idea was to shift as much of the risk off onto other people. But even beyond that, Disney had lost its confidence. The justification was born that since other people could run restaurants better than Disney, let them run the restaurants. For the first time in the companys history, Disney gave up. The theme parks were now operated like shopping malls Disney was the happy landowner collecting the rent while the Levy Brothers worried about making money.
Things reached the head with California Adventure. This mini-park was conceived with the notion that dining was going to an E-ticket attraction and the park filled with free spending, cutting edge vacationers willing to drop $60 per person for dinner. Mondovi was sold this concept and poured millions and millions into a restaurant complex at the very center of the park. Wolfgang Puck also poured millions of dollars and was given about the only scenic location the park has. Promises of millions of hungry visitors filled Disneys dreams. Ideas soon spread about selling all of Disneys food and merchandise operations at WDW to outside companies. I mean, if you can get a winery to pay $60 million up front for a new park, how much is someone going to pay for Cinderellas Royal Banquet Hall in the castle?!
Unfortunately, both Mondovis and Pucks restaurants went bankrupt within six months. Both companies ran away from their contracts (and its whispered with significant settlements from Disney). The idea of selling off operations went away.
But just for a while. The pressure on WDW to increase its cash flow to Burbank grows stronger everyday (someone has to cough up the $7 billion for Pixar). So once again all of the parks are looking at various ways of enhancing revenues. Its unlikely that Disney will ever again open and operate a major restaurant. Its simply easy for someone else to do it. But then Disney, once again, begins to loose control
