Forest Preserves of Cook County, IL

Scope: Concession Strategy Definition, Concession Policy Development, Market Analysis, Financial Analysis, Investment Analysis

Issue: The Forest Preserves of Cook County (FPCC) needed to enhance its concession program and update its concession policy.

Process/Outcome: The FPCC wanted to improve its existing concession program to enhance its revenue impact and engaged the CHMGS team develop a concession strategy that would fulfill that objective. CHMGS’s work began with a review of existing recreation planning documents. We also conducted extensive stakeholder engagement with both agency and concession staff. Next, CHMGS reviewed the concession program’s operational and fiscal policies, identifying several concession practices for improvement. CHMGS then completed a market analysis, citing areas of potential expansion within the FPCC by asset class. Our financial analysis identified that the FPCC’s concession fee structure could be reevaluated to potentially improve revenue opportunities. CHMGS’s concession strategy definition focused on improving policy and contract documents. Finally, CHMGS reviewed and provided input to create a new FPCC concession policy.