Concept Proposal · In Active Development · Confidential & Proprietary · © 2026 Carter Malik Group · For Discussion Only
A Public-Private Partnership Platform

Connecting cities with local food vendors.

Atlanta's four municipal golf courses have no food — no restaurant, no beverage cart, nothing at the turn. OpenLot fills that gap with the city's own vetted vendors and manages every booking, so city staff never have to — while every location fee becomes new revenue that can support course and park maintenance, staffing, and upkeep.

471food trucks in the Atlanta market — the city's Street Eats program keeps a vetted vendor registry1,8
4City of Atlanta golf courses — no restaurants, no mobile beverage service2
150K+estimated rounds played across the four courses each year5,9
The Gap

Golfers spend four hours on city property with nothing to eat.

Atlanta's city courses run tens of thousands of rounds a year with no food service at all — while 471 local trucks hunt for reliable locations in a market operators say is underdeveloped for its size, with permits costing up to ~$3,700/year across metro jurisdictions.4

471trucks in the market — Street Eats permit holders, already vetted by the city, are the launch supply1,8
4City of Atlanta public golf courses — no restaurants, no mobile beverage service2
20+reservable pavilions holding up to 300 people across Atlanta's 343-park system7,12
$350/yrAtlanta's existing online truck-reservation program fee8
Phase 1 — The Courses

Four city courses. Booked daily. Nothing to eat.

CourseLocationEst. annual roundsFood today
Chastain ParkBuckhead50,000+No restaurant. No mobile beverage service.
Browns MillSouthside — 5 mi from the airport40,000+No restaurant. No mobile beverage service.
Alfred "Tup" HolmesSouthwest Atlanta35,000+No restaurant. No mobile beverage service.
Candler ParkIntown east side — 9-hole25,000+No restaurant. No mobile beverage service.

Rounds are estimates anchored to documented figures — ~50,000 at Chastain and 40–43,000 at comparable metro munis (AJC)5 — and national demand has since hit record levels six years running.9 Exact tee-sheet data is a pilot request to the city.

150,000+ estimated rounds per year across the four courses — every one a customer on city property for four-plus hours.
Built On What Atlanta Already Runs

The city built the pieces. OpenLot connects them.

Atlanta already permits trucks, already books tee times online, and already takes reservations for park space. OpenLot streamlines and integrates — no new bureaucracy required.

Existing Program 01

Street Eats Atlanta

The city's food truck program: vendors get a public vending permit, then reserve designated street locations through an online system ($350/yr).8

OpenLot integrates: Street Eats permit holders are the launch supply — already vetted by the city, instantly bookable at courses and parks.

Existing Program 02

Online Tee Times

Golfers already book tee times online at all four city courses — through the city's golf site, powered by GolfNow — so demand is captured digitally, round by round.2

OpenLot integrates: the tee sheet becomes the golf demand signal — vendors see how booked a course is and pull up for the prime windows.

Existing Program 03

iPARCS Reservations

Parks & Rec's online portal where residents book pavilions, fields, and courts — including pavilions holding up to 300 people.7

OpenLot integrates: those bookings become demand signals — vendors see when crowds are already scheduled.

Existing Program 04

Private Business in a Park

The city's existing permit for operating a business on park property, with indemnification built into park rules.10

OpenLot integrates: the legal pathway for vending on park land already exists — we operationalize it.

One platform. Four city systems, streamlined.
In the city's own words

Parks & Recreation is "pursuing opportunities to pilot food truck vending in select areas" of city parks.13

— City of Atlanta, Public Right of Way Food Truck Program

OpenLot is the direct response — the pilot the city asked for, built.

The OpenLot Approach

Managed by OpenLot. Never a free-for-all.

Open public space plus food trucks only works if someone curates it. OpenLot runs the entire booking process — so courses and parks add zero work, and the experience stays consistently good.

We Make the Match

Every slot, curated

  • Open slots are offered to the right vendors — not first-come, free-for-all
  • Schedules set in advance; cancellations auto-filled
  • Course and park staff never touch a booking
We Enforce Quality

Feedback decides who returns

  • Customers rate every visit
  • Top-rated vendors earn prime slots
  • Trucks with poor reviews don't come back
We Guarantee Variety

A fresh lineup, every week

  • Rotation keeps the same trucks from camping prime slots
  • Different cuisines cycle through each location
  • New vendors get real opportunities
<5Min Per Order
Golf-Specific Service

The Speed Menu — built for the turn

OpenLot consults with each vendor to design a limited menu that turns orders around fast — and vets every Speed Menu before it's served at a course, so great food never slows the pace of play.

Limited menuCo-designed with vendorsVetted for pace of play
OpenLot manages the booking. The city manages nothing.
The Platform — Concept

What OpenLot could look like.

Concept screens with sample data — how a course sees the platform, and how a vendor books. Every number below is illustrative, for discussion only.

OpenLot · Browns Mill Golf CourseConcept
■ Dashboard □ Bookings □ Schedule □ Vendors □ Revenue □ Reports □ Settings

Dashboard Overview

Welcome back, Browns Mill Golf Course

$4,250Revenue this month▲ +18% vs last month
28Bookings this month▲ +7 vs last month
6Active vendors2 pending rotation
4.8★Average ratingFrom 32 reviews
Upcoming Bookings Managed by OpenLot
Today · 10:00a–2:00pPrime slot · tee sheet 82%The Burger BunkerFood truck · 4.8★
Tomorrow · 10:00a–2:00pWeekday lunchTaco Mac TruckFood truck · 4.7★
Fri · 9:00a–1:00pLeague daySouthern ComfortsFood truck · 4.9★
Sat · 11:00a–3:00pWeekend peakRollin' BowlsNew rotation · 4.9★
Revenue This Month Stays on the course
Maintenance & upkeepWhere fees goFunded on-site
OpenLot Vendor · The Burger BunkerConcept
■ Opportunities □ My Bookings □ Speed Menu □ Payments □ Profile

Book a Slot

Demand shown before you commit

✓ Verified via City of Atlanta Street Eats — no documents to upload
Browns Mill · Sat 10a–2pTee sheet 82% booked · prime windowRequest slot
Grant Park Pavilion · Sun 12pReunion booked · 200 guestsRequest slot
Candler Park · Fri 4p–7pTee sheet 34% booked · openWatch demand
Speed Menu · 6 itemsBuilt for the turn — everything out in under 5 minutesEdit menu

Concept illustrations only — sample data for discussion, not projections or commitments.

The Platform — Concept

What OpenLot could look like.

Concept screens with sample data — how a course sees the platform, and how a vendor books. Every number below is illustrative, for discussion only.

OpenLot · Browns Mill Golf CourseConcept
■ Dashboard □ Bookings □ Schedule □ Vendors □ Revenue □ Reports □ Settings

Dashboard Overview

Welcome back, Browns Mill Golf Course

$4,250Revenue this month▲ +18% vs last month
28Bookings this month▲ +7 vs last month
6Active vendors2 pending rotation
4.8★Average ratingFrom 32 reviews
Upcoming Bookings Managed by OpenLot
Today · 10:00a–2:00pPrime slot · tee sheet 82%The Burger BunkerFood truck · 4.8★
Tomorrow · 10:00a–2:00pWeekday lunchTaco Mac TruckFood truck · 4.7★
Fri · 9:00a–1:00pLeague daySouthern ComfortsFood truck · 4.9★
Sat · 11:00a–3:00pWeekend peakRollin' BowlsNew rotation · 4.9★
Revenue This Month Stays on the course
Maintenance & upkeepWhere fees goFunded on-site
OpenLot Vendor · The Burger BunkerConcept
■ Opportunities □ My Bookings □ Speed Menu □ Payments □ Profile

Book a Slot

Demand shown before you commit

✓ Verified via City of Atlanta Street Eats — no documents to upload
Browns Mill · Sat 10a–2pTee sheet 82% booked · prime windowRequest slot
Grant Park Pavilion · Sun 12pReunion booked · 200 guestsRequest slot
Candler Park · Fri 4p–7pTee sheet 34% booked · openWatch demand
Speed Menu · 6 itemsBuilt for the turn — everything out in under 5 minutesEdit menu

Concept illustrations only — sample data for discussion, not projections or commitments.

Why It's a Win-Win-Win

Everyone at the table leaves better off.

For the City

New revenue, no overhead

  • Revenue that can go toward maintenance, staffing, and improvements
  • OpenLot manages every booking — vendor rotation, quality, scheduling
  • Customer feedback keeps only the best trucks coming back
For Vendors

Locations, solved

  • Recurring city locations with built-in traffic
  • One application unlocks every space
  • Fees designed with vendors, not imposed
For Atlantans

Real food in public spaces

  • Local food at the course, pavilion, and park
  • Rotating vendors keep it fresh
  • Every dollar supports local business
New revenue. Better courses. Stronger parks. Every dollar stays with the space that earned it.
Precedent

Major cities already run pieces of this. Nobody has connected them.

Food vending on park property is proven, permitted, and revenue-positive in park systems across the country — Atlanta can be the first to connect it to golf and put the whole thing on one platform.

Minneapolis

Trucks in parks, by permit

  • Park Board issues food truck permits for designated park locations14
  • Up to two trucks per location per day — managed slots, not a free-for-all
  • Vendors book through an online account system
Denver

Ran a food truck park pilot

  • Parks & Recreation permits vending at designated park sites15
  • Launched a dedicated Summer Pilot Program for food trucks in parks
  • Indemnification and insurance built into the permit itself
Chicago

Outsources the management

  • 200+ concessionaires operate across the park system16
  • A third-party administrator runs applications, agreements, permits, and fee collection — the exact role OpenLot plays
  • Concession revenue helps fund parks programming
Proven in parks nationwide. Never connected to golf. Atlanta goes first.
The 90-Day Pilot

One course. Real numbers. Then every lot opens.

A limited pilot at a single city course, with hand-picked, fully permitted vendors — designed to answer the questions that unlock everything else.

The pricing model

Flat fee vs. % of sales — co-designed with vendors so the math works for the trucks first

Real demand numbers

Tee-sheet rounds, the Street Eats vendor registry count, and iPARCS pavilion booking volume — all from city data

Vendor economics

Sales per visit, best days and times, and what makes a slot worth booking again

The city playbook

A results report Atlanta can use — and other cities can copy — to open parks and pavilions next

471 Atlanta trucks · city-vetted registry1,8 343 parks in the system12 150K+ est. rounds/yr5,9 ~10× fee-to-sales target11 5–10% of sales, the common alternative11 $350/yr Street Eats precedent8

How OpenLot earns: vendors pay a platform fee per booking, on top of the location fee that goes to the hosting course or park. The city pays nothing — OpenLot's economics live on the vendor side, and the exact structure will be finalized with vendor input during the pilot.

Who's Behind OpenLot

Built in Atlanta, by someone who's worked inside the city.

Marcus Sabbs, Founder, Carter Malik Group
Marcus Sabbs
Founder · Carter Malik Group

OpenLot is a venture of Carter Malik Group, an Atlanta-based firm founded by Marcus Sabbs that designs public-private solutions at the intersection of community development, workforce, and capital. Marcus's career spans public-sector leadership at the Atlanta Municipal Court — where he served as Director of Performance and Innovation — global nonprofit program strategy with CARE, and his current work with the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, where he builds workforce development programs and secures funding for community development and capital investment opportunities. Across that career he has secured over $6M in public and philanthropic funding. A Morehouse College graduate raised on civic partnership, he built OpenLot around a simple belief: the city's own assets, programs, and small businesses already hold the answer — they just need to be connected.

Sources

  1. Roaming Hunger — Guide to Atlanta, GA Food Trucks (2026): 471 trucks listed. roaminghunger.com
  2. City of Atlanta Golf — official course listings and clubhouse descriptions. cityofatlantagolf.com
  3. Trust for Public Land — 2026 ParkScore Index; City of Atlanta announcement. atlantaga.gov
  4. Atlanta Magazine — "What's holding back Atlanta's food trucks" (2022), incl. Food Truck Association of Georgia. atlantamagazine.com
  5. Atlanta Journal-Constitution — "Atlanta wants city golf courses to produce more revenue" (2012): ~50,000 rounds at Chastain Park; 40–43,000 at a comparable metro muni. ajc.com
  6. Golfer reviews of Browns Mill Golf Course (food availability). yelp.com
  7. City of Atlanta — Gazebos & Pavilions listings and iPARCS reservation portal. atlantaga.gov
  8. City of Atlanta — Street Eats Atlanta Food Truck Program. atlantaga.gov
  9. National Golf Foundation — 2025 rounds played reporting (six straight years above 500M U.S. rounds). ngf.org
  10. City of Atlanta — Park Rental Information, incl. "Private Business in a Park" permit. atlantaga.gov
  11. Food truck fee-structure guidance — FoodTrucksIn.com; Minnesota Food Truck Association.
  12. Parks in Atlanta — 343 parks (citing Atlanta DPR); DPR manages ~5,000 acres per the FY2025 budget. wikipedia.org · atlbudget.org
  13. City of Atlanta — Public Right of Way Food Truck Program FAQ: Parks & Recreation pursuing food truck vending pilots in select park areas; eligibility via the Public Property Vending permit. atlantaga.gov
  14. Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board — Mobile Food Vending Permits (designated locations, up to two trucks per site per day). minneapolisparks.org
  15. City & County of Denver — Parks & Recreation Temporary Vending Permits; food trucks via Summer Pilot Program, with indemnification in permit terms. denvergov.org
  16. Chicago Park District — Concessions Program: 200+ concessionaires; third-party administrator manages applications, agreements, permits, and fee collection. chicagoparkdistrict.com