The Carmel Central DORA (Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area) Committee met on September 23, 2026, to consider two proposed additions to the program's approved cup options. Both items were introduced by local business representatives and were approved unanimously. The committee also discussed sidewalk markers and a DORA map graphic.
Meeting adjourned.
All right. This meeting of the uh Carmel Central Dora committee is now called to order. We definitely have a quorum. Uh so I appreciate everybody being here. There are really two uh action items on our agenda today, and uh we will go through those before we start. Uh the other mission that we have, our role is to uh address the crowd should there be any complaint. Anyone who's not happy with the DORA, uh, you know, any any suggestions or anything, and I see nobody in the crowd. So I'm going to move on, and that's a good thing. There are no complaints, no one is unhappy. We did have some at the beginning of the uh Dora program at council, so no one here that that's good. So the first one is um that I'm gonna ask the um gener well now I don't know if I have the so not general manager, you're you're probably president of um the hotel Carmichael, but Jamie Hopwood, who is here and has made a formal request for a hot beverage cup. As you know, we're using the aluminum cups, and he's gonna go through that. So, Jamie, would you mind just uh taking a seat right here, hitting the uh button in the center of that console so we can hear you? And would you inform the commission of what you uh the issue, the problem, and we appreciate your patience in waiting for this meeting to happen, and then what you're proposing we should do. Now, if you have things that you want to show, I may actually ask you to then go up there because we do have a camera. So if you so sorry about that. So, George, if if we just turn on the overhead camera. Looks like Jamie has some uh and uh Madeline will have you probably go to the same spot. But okay, so I'm gonna give you the floor, Jamie. Thank you. And please give us your official title at Hotel Carmichael. Thank you very much for having me here today. Uh Jamie Hopwood uh area general manager uh for Quarry Hospitality and Hotel Carmichael. Um today uh I wanted to discuss the opportunity to present uh additional cup that could fill the purpose of a warm beverage being served uh as we come into the holiday season and the colder weather. Uh currently, right now uh the cup that was approved was an aluminum cup. If you add a hot beverage to that, that could uh be dangerous to the consumer. Um so we really need a cup that fills both purposes. Um and I think when we first looked at this, we did we didn't consider the possibility of serving hot beverages. Uh and I think it's something that we really need to explore. Uh we did look at some other options if we could do an insert in there and some other things, but the the reality is is with a cup design and the size of what it is, um there's not a viable other solution that we've come up with. Uh open to other ideas if if there is, but I think the best thing that we've come up with is a uh an additional uh cup that would serve the purpose for hot beverages. Yeah, excellent. Um so it was there was a uh a suggestion that we go with a koozy on the outside, but that does not solve the problem, which is the hot beverage overheats the aluminum and can burn the mouth of the person using it. So it's not necessarily holding an aluminum, it's it's how the beverage interacts with the aluminum and and what happens. So can you tell us uh so you source this from um one of your suppliers, or how would we move forward on something like this? Yeah, I mean our i food and beverage uh director went and sourced something that was that was insulated cup um that would serve that purpose. So I mean he can supply all that information to you if this is the direction that we want to go. Okay, all right. I'm gonna turn it, open it up uh to the uh commit committee members if anybody has any questions or concerns about this. And hit your mic. So we've uh there we go. I'll just uh speak on behalf of uh fork and ale and and what we did last year is uh we did hot toddy's, we did uh spiked mules, ginger mules, warm apple cider mules. Um we had crock pot, you know, so we just kept it at that 130, 140 degrees. Um and we did use the koozy, or in some cases we just used two cups. You know, did it wasn't I mean 130 is not gonna go to 140. 140 is not gonna go to 150. So uh it's kind of like a Starbucks coffee. It's it's gotta be brewed at a certain amount of temperature to be served to the public. So I I don't know. I mean the concern I think you bring another cup in why would they use the aluminum even in the summer?