15 Firms Apply to Run Yosemite Concessions : Business: McDonald’s is among the bidders. Watchdog groups are concerned about commercial impact on the park.

McDonald’s--the place with the Big Mac and Chicken McNuggets--now wants to run the hotels and other concessions at Yosemite National Park.

Golden arches over Half Dome?

Not likely, says Russ Butcher, regional director for the 285,000-member National Parks and Conservation Assn., a watchdog group.

“We’re talking about running the Ahwahnee and Wawona hotels, Yosemite Lodge, markets and general stores,” he said. “We’re talking about a variety of services. . . . Fast food is all McDonald’s has ever done.”

The fast-food giant is one of 15 firms to submit applications to the National Park Service to replace the Yosemite Park & Curry Co., the longtime concessionaire whose contract expires Sept. 30, 1993.

The monopoly on providing food, lodging and recreational services to the park’s 3.5 million annual visitors is considered a plum. The contract is expected to run 15 years and generate $85 million to $100 million a year in revenue.

Environmental groups and park watchdogs who have argued for a more subdued commercial presence at Yosemite say the choice of concessionaire could determine how other national parks will go.

“This contract is pivotal,” said Marc Francis of the Sierra Club’s Yosemite Committee. “The concessionaire has to conduct its operations in a way that minimizes impact on the park and helps the visitor get in touch with the natural features of Yosemite.”

When the Park Service opened the bidding process earlier this year, it received inquiries from 90 firms across the country, including Taco Bell and Guest Service Inc., which runs the concessions at Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks.

Both those firms apparently lost interest and were not among the 15 that submitted formal applications, which are being reviewed by a Park Service team in Denver.

The Park Service says it wants a firm that has run a “complex service-oriented business” and is able to invest $12 million up front.

Of the 15 firms, Butcher said, TW Recreational Services of Spartanburg, S.C., and Fred Harvey Co. of Chicago have a “demonstrated track record.”

TW Recreational provides lodging and food services in a range of parks including Yellowstone, and Fred Harvey Co. runs services at the Grand Canyon, he said.

Other bidders include Hyatt Development Corp. and the Yosemite Restoration Trust, a San Francisco group that has pledged to reinvest all profits in the park.