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'Foodseum,' A Museum With Exhibits You Can Eat, Wants to Open on Riverwalk

By Janet Rausa Fuller | March 3, 2015 8:12am
 A Kickstarter campaign in December raised more than $33,000 for Foodseum.
A Kickstarter campaign in December raised more than $33,000 for Foodseum.
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Kickstarter

DOWNTOWN — Foodseum, a startup museum about food, is eyeing a temporary home this summer on Chicago's Riverwalk.

In response to the city's call for concessionaires, Foodseum founder Kyle Joseph said he is preparing to submit a proposal to set up the museum's first exhibit in an area west of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, between State and Clark Streets.

The city put out the call in late January for "providers of recreational, cultural, entertainment, food and beverage and retail operations" that would operate under licensing agreements along the South Bank between Lake Shore Drive and LaSalle Street.

There are six areas of the Riverwalk up for grabs to concessionaires for this season, which runs from May 3 to November 1, according to the "notice of availability" issued by the city's Department of Fleet and Facility Management.

 Foodseum plans to submit a proposal to open a temporary exhibit in a still under-construction section of Chicago's Riverwalk.
Foodseum plans to submit a proposal to open a temporary exhibit in a still under-construction section of Chicago's Riverwalk.
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Kyle Joseph

Joseph said that's the ideal amount of time for Foodseum's opening exhibit, "The Hot Dog and Encased Meat of the World."

One of the two possible spaces he is interested in has 1,750 square feet of interior space and a 4,700-square-foot outdoor plaza, for which Joseph said he will propose a "food cart or truck" serving sausages and other food related to the exhibit.

The city is interested in "creative ideas and suggestions" for family-friendly concessions such as bike rentals, educational facilities and retail of a "cultural or environmental nature," according to the notice. Potential tenants are asked to suggest monthly rental rates and revenue-sharing plans in their proposals.

Proposals are due March 9, with the city's decision on vendors expected in late March.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has called the Riverwalk the city's "next recreational frontier." The massive expansion project now underway to develop the Riverwalk west to Lake Street is to be completed next year.

The Foodseum would be the first of its kind for Chicago. Joseph, a tech entrepreneur, engineer by training and foodie, said 2017 is the target opening date for the permanent, highly interactive museum, which he has said would ideally be located somewhere Downtown.

A Kickstarter campaign in December raised more than $33,000 for Foodseum.

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