The city-owned Omni Dallas Hotel will take over operation of four restaurants built adjacent to the hotel tower, in a deal approved Thursday by the board that oversees the convention center hotel.

The four restaurants — Biergarten, Coal Vines, Black Ship Little Katana and Cafe Herrera — will continue to operate largely as is. That's according to Andrew Casperson, vice president of operations for Dallas-based Omni Hotels & Resorts, who discussed the deal after the meeting of the Dallas Convention Center Hotel Development Corporation board.

The move puts Omni, and by extension taxpayers, on the hook financially for the performance of the restaurants.

Casperson did not seem concerned, adding that "the hotel is performing extremely well."

Omni switches from landlord to license holder and becomes the new boss of the 100 or so employees at the four restaurants. The move could give consumers the option of ordering room service from the restaurants.

The restaurateurs who opened the concepts — launched in 2015 and 2016 to boost consumer traffic in the area — will split up to $3.5 million to help cover their costs so far. They also will get royalty payments.

"We believe this is mutually beneficial," said Casperson.

The deal expands Omni's food and beverage operation, puts all purchasing and procurement under one umbrella and will allow all of the restaurants onsite to operate under one liquor license, he said.

It offers up the marketing might of the Omni organization, which can help boost visibility of the properties.

The restaurants were built on a grassy swath with funds not used during the construction of the hotel, which opened in 2011.

While the restaurants can be jammed during big events, such as the Mary Kay convention, at times some are practically empty.

"They're all making money," Casperson said. "Sometimes they're busy, sometimes not so busy."

Thursday afternoon, only Herrera's was open. The others were dark and locked, awaiting the dinner crowd. Coal Vines and Biergarten have sometimes closed between lunch and dinner when crowds were thin.

Casperson said he plans to work with Biergarten's Joe Palladino "to see if we can tweak" that concept.

"We needed a different business model," Palladino said.

Restaurateur Gil Bonifaz of Herrera's declined to comment, and Odes Kim of Little Katana could not be reached for comment.

Casperson said the Omni team is excited about the operational expansion and added, "we're going to do everything in our power to bring the volume up in all of them."

Twitter: @krobijake