A non-profit group focused on work training for people with disabilities will be asking the city to review a policy that forced it to shut down the café it operated in Shipyards Park.

Challenge Vocational Alternatives shut down the Bridges Café, which operated out of the Frank Slim Building in Shipyards Park, last week.

Challenge's executive director, Rick Goodfellow, said Monday the organization opted not to submit a proposal on the space because of the city's policy to have the food concession operate seven days a week.

Bridges had been operating there since October 2010. As Goodfellow explained, when it operated each day of the week, it lost money.

"It just did not make sense (to keep it open on the weekends),” he said.

Though the kitchen was never expected to make a profit, he said, when it operated according to the city's policy, it "lost money like crazy.”

Shipyards Park, he pointed out, is simply not a destination park like Rotary Peace Park, which features a playground, water park and volleyball nets. Shipyards is more of an event park, Goodfellow commented.

Officials with Challenge decided to do their best to make the café a destination, drawing customers in for their lunches.

When the contract came up again for the space this summer – again with the policy it operated each day of the week – Challenge opted not to submit a proposal.

"I wasn't about to lose that kind of money again,” Goodfellow said, noting the café employed 15 people.

While four or five will be hired to work at Little Bridges, Challenge's smaller summer time concession downtown set to open Wednesday, the remaining staff are left without work.

As Goodfellow pointed out, many of the staff who worked at Bridges hadn't been engaged in work prior to the café and he's not sure they will be now.

"They took ownership of it,” he said, noting there were many success stories out of the café.

While Bridges' regular customers will likely head to Little Bridges throughout the summer, Goodfellow is hopeful the city will agree to relax its policies so it can get back into the Frank Slim Building after the new contract expires in September.

The city expects to announce who the new operator will be within the next couple of days after the contract for the summer is signed.

"We do have an operator selected,” Doug Hnatiuk, the city's project and community developer said Monday.

The city received two proposals for the summer season.

Hnatiuk noted that with the city getting a number of requests for food services on weekends, it would like to have a vendor who operates each day of the week.

"That was the business model that was established,” he said.

While city officials firm up plans with a new tenant at Shipyards Park, they are looking for a new concession operator at the Canada Games Centre with the recent closure of the Birdhouse Café.

The coffee shop closed earlier this month. A request for proposals for a new tenant was issued, with a closing date of Wednesday.

"With the decision by the owners of the Birdhouse Café to cease their operations, an opportunity for prime retail space at the CGC has become available,” indoor operations manager Art Manhire said in a statement last week.

The ideal vendor would enhance the experience visitors have at the Games Centre, he said.

Nine companies have picked up packages so far, Manhire said Monday.