The ongoing struggle between Washington State Ferries, Olympic Cascade Services Inc and Centerplate Inc. was postponed at a May 20 hearing by a Thurston County judge. The new hearing, June 24, will decide whether or not Olympic Cascade is able to proceed with a trial to determine if WSF followed due process when awarding their food services contract.The continuation will give both parties and the judge time to look sift through the extensive paperwork involved. “There is literally hundreds and hundreds, probably thousands, of pages of documents needing review,” said Ian Sterling, Washington State Ferry’s spokesperson. “All sides need time to look at those, including the judge.”

During the May 20 hearing Centerplate Inc. was added as a defendant to the lawsuit filed by Olympic Cascade. The court also entered a preliminary injunction preventing Centerplate and WSF from proceeding with the new contract until a ruling after the full hearing on June 24. A request by WSF requiring Olympic Cascade to post bond on the preliminary injunction in an amount totally $2,000 per day was denied by the court. In April, current concessionaire Olympic Cascade Services filed an official petition against WSF stating that they veered from their own mission statement and did not follow due process when they chose to award the new food service contract to Connecticut based corporation Centerplate Inc. over multiple Washington-based small businesses including the Cheesecake Cafe at the Anacortes ferry terminal.

“We’re trying to do what’s right for our customers,” said Sterling. “We believe we’ve chose the best vendor. Olympic Cascade is within their rights to challenge the process but we’re confident we followed our own process.”

Centerplate is facing controversy in other parts of the country. According to a radio station report out of Ohio, the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority has ended its contract with Centerplate, because of its ties to a bribery scandal.