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Concessions company sues over lost Tampa International Airport bid

 
Published July 8, 2015

TAMPA — A national concessions company filed suit against the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority on Monday over its lost bid to open stores inside airport terminals.

WDFG North America, a U.S. subsidiary of Italy-based World Duty Free, which operates more than 550 stores in airports across 20 countries, argues in the suit that airport staff made an error when ranking possible bids, which ultimately cost the company an opportunity to open stores in the Tampa airport.

WDFG North America lost a bid for package one, which included a cluster of retail offerings in airside terminals, to Paradies TPA, another concessionaire company. Paradies TPA is opening a handful of newsstand stores, including the Tampa Bay Times stand, a Spanx retail store, the Body Shop, and Dylan's Candy Bar.

In the suit, WDFG North America claims that the authority board lowered WDFG's ranking against other bidders by ignoring its audited financial statements and relying on an "incorrect interpretation" of another document. WDFG said that the company's net worth is more than was reported by a Unison Consulting spreadsheet.

Aviation board members denied WDFG's protest at a June 4 meeting. Officials with the airport declined to comment on the suit.

Bidding for concessions contracts at major airports is big business and is often a brutal and political process. It gives restaurants and retailers access to the thousands of travelers who pass through airside terminals every day. It's not uncommon for companies to take legal action against airports once contract selections are made.

WDFG bid on several packages for retail operations at the airport and won a bid to open a World Duty Free Tampa store.

Contact Justine Griffin at jgriffin@tampabay.com. Follow@SunBizGriffin.