Fort Worth is cutting a costly tie at Will Rogers Memorial Center, agreeing to pay Craft Culinary Concepts $510,000 to walk away from its food-and-beverage contract nearly six years early after a rough financial year in 2025.
The settlement, approved by the Fort Worth City Council on Tuesday, ends a 10-year agreement that had already run into deep operational and financial trouble. Along with the payout, the city will release or offset claims worth up to $305,000, closing out a partnership that never really found its footing.
Council signs off on settlement
According to a City of Fort Worth staff report on Tuesday’s agenda, the council authorized a settlement, release and payment of $510,000 and approved offset payments up to $305,000 to reconcile disputed amounts tied to the early termination.
The report says the $510,000 figure is the unamortized portion of Craft’s investment in Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment at Will Rogers Memorial Center, a capital investment the company was required to spread over the life of the contract. The payment will be booked as a capital expense, and all of that equipment will stay with the City of Fort Worth.
City cites losses and low sales
City staff told council that Craft experienced significant operational losses in FY25, language that appears in the staff materials and was echoed in local reporting. A presentation cited by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram showed concessions at Will Rogers averaging about $1.86 per customer, compared with roughly $4.60 per customer at other city venues, a gap staff flagged as a chronic problem.
What the contract required
The original 10-year concession deal, approved in January 2022, required Craft to put at least $750,000 into new food-and-beverage equipment and to amortize that investment over the contract term. That obligation, along with the agreed amortization and profit-sharing formula, underpins the $510,000 unamortized payment described in the staff packet…