blue coyote squaw valley

blue coyote squaw valley

KSL bought the Blue Coyote restaurant in the Village at Squaw Valley in May, 2011. This purchase is one small part of the overall land/property grab that KSL is executing as a part of their plan to fix up Squaw & sell it in the next 5-10 years.

WILL KSL/SQUAW FOOD & BEVERAGE SCREW UP THE BLUE COYOTE?

– Squaw Corp. owns all the lower-end food at Squaw:  Taco Express, Poolside Cafe, 39 North, The Arc, Burger Express, etc.

– All the Good Foods at Squaw are self run concessions:  Wildflour, Northern Lights, Mamasake, Fireside Pizza, Blue Coyote, etc.

village at squaw valley

The Main Concern:

With Squaw in charge of Blue Coyote, will they screw up the food at Blue Coyote?

KSL took control of  the Village when they bought Squaw (Squaw bought the Village about a year ago) and they switched all the restaurants and shops to a ONE YEAR LEASE system. It’s very hard to plan for a successful business on a one year lease.  In addition to that KSL raised rents to a level that some shops and restaurants couldn’t afford (see Blue Coyote).  This was strategically done to make available the most desirable locations to KSL. For example:  Tait’s boardshop.

Tait’s was a successful boardshop right in the middle of the Village with one of the best locations. KSL priced them out of their lease and Tait’s is now gone for good. KSL offered them the same lease they had before, but in a lousy location back near Uncorked where traffic would be much lower and business would clearly suffer.

The Blue Coyote arguably has the best location of any business in the Village at Squaw Valley.

tram face squaw valleyPart of the view from one of the better locations in the Village.

The Blue Coyote had been negotiating their lease with KSL for months. At some point they realized they were not going to be able to work with KSL on their leasing prices.  KSL then thought it wise to purchase the Blue Coyote in Squaw outright, including their liquor license.

What Will Be Different at Blue Coyote:

– Employees will be DRUG TESTED now.  GOOD!  My waiter better not be doing un-harmful drugs in his free time!!!!

– KSL owns it now, so Squaw employees will be able to eat there for 1/2 off.

– They will be adding breakfast to their existing lunch & dinner.

– New Managers.  The former Managers were owners and will be gone.

– Employees will no longer get a shifter (free drink) after their shift is over.

One of the reasons it’s good to eat at the Blue Coyote….it’s close to this.

What Will Stay the Same at The Blue Coyote:

– KSL bought everything:  The liquor license, the restaurant equipment, everything, so all that will stay consistent

– The employees have interviewed with KSL/Squaw Corp. and most retained their jobs if they wanted to

– Customers likely won’t notice anything if the food can stay good.

One of the bummers about this take-over is that the former managers were good people and were great to their employees and the employees enjoyed working for them.  There could be different feelings with Squaw Corp.’s Food & Beverage Managers.

KSL bought the Blue Coyote in the month of May.  The Blue Coyotes’ lease was up on May 1st, 2011.  They will re-open on June 17th, 2011.  Likely without a liquor license at first because, as of a week ago, they hadn’tposted the liquor license in the window, which has to be done for 1 month before they can serve booze.

The Blue Coyote in Truckee will be absolutely unaffected by this.  They will continue to run and operate under the same owners/managers as before.

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61 replies on “KSL/Squaw prices Tait’s & Blue Coyote out of Village at Squaw; buys Blue Coyote”