Recently Retired McDonald's CEO and Southampton Graduate Betts Wins Coopers Beach Concession Contract

When Southampton Village residents head to Coopers Beach with beach chairs and towels in tow at the start of the 2023 summer season, they will see some new faces when they walk up to the concession stand to grab lunch or a drink.

John Betts, who purchased Shippy’s Restaurant in June and is in the process of restoring the village staple, will take over running the concession stand at the popular ocean beach after the Village Board, in a 3-2 vote, accepted his proposal, which he submitted in response to the village’s request for bids to operate the concession stand for the summers of 2023 through 2025.

Betts grew up in North Sea and graduated from Southampton High School, working his first job at the McDonald’s in the village as a teenager and ascended the ranks at the world-famous fast-food chain, eventually becoming president and CEO of McDonald’s Canada. He returned to the East End in late 2020 after retiring from that role.

The concession stand has been operated for the past five years by another pair of Southampton residents, the husband-and-wife team of Binh Douglas and Lauren Mallor, who also submitted a proposal in hopes of continuing their tenure there. Douglas and Mallor are also the co-owners of Main Prospect, the new village restaurant that opened in November 2021 in the former home of John Duck Jr.’s.

The awarding of the three-year contract to Betts was not without some controversy.

Douglas admitted that he and Mallor were outbid by $25,000, but he was also quick to point out that money has traditionally not been the only determining factor in choosing who runs the concession stand.

“Typically in the past, the village has said they don’t always go by the highest bid,” Douglas said in a phone call on Friday, a day after the board, in a split vote, awarded the contract to Betts. “They also go by overall experience and things like that.”

The resolution to accept Betts’s proposal was walked on after the public portion of the October 13 Village Board meeting. The vote took place in a closed-door executive session and did not appear on the meeting agenda prior to the meeting, meaning that the general public was not made aware that the vote was going to take place that night.

Mayor Jesse Warren and Trustee Robin Brown, who serves as the board liaison to Coopers Beach, voted against awarding the contract to Betts, while Deputy Mayor Gina Arresta and Trustees Roy Stevenson and Bill Manger voted in favor.

Douglas said he was disappointed to lose out on the chance to run the concession stand again, adding that he felt there was “a bunch of politics involved” in the decision. He pointed out that Betts is the brother-in-law of Village Administrator Charlene Kagel-Betts. He also took issue with the fact that the vote was not on the agenda.

Warren also expressed that same frustration, saying he felt the vote should not have occurred during executive session.

“There wasn’t a single village resident or stakeholder who knew this vote was going to happen at this meeting,” he said, calling the move to take the vote in executive session “not best practice,” even if it’s not technically illegal.

“There was also no rush,” he said. “We have until next May, so we had plenty of time. We also could’ve rejected all the bids. If the goal was just to get more money, we could’ve re-advertised for it, and really found somebody who wanted to pay top dollar.”

Warren said his other concern was in the handing out of a three-year contract, which was lengthier than any other previous contract for operating the concession stand at the beach. “When Binh first started, it was a one-year contract, and then he proved himself, and then they were given an additional two years,” he said.

When reached earlier this week, Betts said he and his team were excited that their proposal was accepted, and that they were looking forward to the opportunity to run the concession stand at the beach he’s gone to and enjoyed for many years.

He rejected any insinuations that politics were involved or that he had any kind of unfair advantage when it came to his bid, saying he did not have any conversations about the bid or requests for proposal with Kagel-Betts, and that he has made it a priority during his half a century in the restaurant and food service world to operate ethically.

He said he didn’t even know that the request for proposals had been issued until a friend mentioned it to him, only a week before the proposals were due.

“I’ve been around for 50 years, and I can’t tell you how many RFPs I’ve been around, on both sides of it,” he said. “I worked for McDonald’s for 50 years, and you don’t survive that long without having the highest standards and ethics.”

Betts said that while he does not know Douglas and Mallor personally, he “has heard good things” about them and their business. “I think it’s natural to ask questions,” he said. “But I certainly followed the rules. We did this quickly, and the board was pleased with what we offered.”

In a letter to the editor this week, Douglas and Mallor expressed their disappointment that they would not be returning to run the concessions at the beach. They thanked both their workers and the community of beachgoers who patronized their business there for their support.

“Thank you to our Henri at Cooper’s Beach guests,” the letter read. “Our true supporters, the friends and family and past board members who took a gamble on a local family, a Shinnecock entrepreneur and his wife, looking to bring our small business idea to life by incorporating our family’s local yet diverse ethnic backgrounds in our beach fare.”