Council renews meal‑service contract with Bracken’s Kitchen for shelter operations

The council approved a professional services agreement with Bracken’s Kitchen to operate kitchen services at the city’s bridge shelter.

Neighborhood Improvement Manager Robbins said the city solicited proposals in October 2025 and received two bids: Bracken’s (on‑site cooking and volunteer engagement) and Everytable (off‑site cooking and delivery). Bracken’s proposal of $13.50 per person per day was lower and included on‑site culinary training and community programming. Robbins said Bracken’s has provided roughly 36,000 meals per year since 2022 and the recommended contract not‑to‑exceed annual amount is approximately $492,750.

Bill Bracken appeared on the phone and confirmed willingness to commit to the contract terms, including the multi‑year structure with optional extensions. Councilmembers asked about partner‑city cost sharing and behavioral health grant offsets for specific beds; staff said partner per‑bed payments and grants reimburse part of the meal costs for non‑Costa Mesa clients and for behavioral health clients (15 beds last year were fully covered by grant funds).

Councilmember Reynolds moved to approve and the mayor moved to accept staff’s recommendation; the motion passed (recorded as 6‑0). The contract will continue on a meals‑served basis so costs scale with occupancy.

Next steps: staff will finalize the contract and coordinate partner reimbursements; council asked staff to clarify references to partner cities in draft language if those arrangements change.