A group called Celebrate Chicago has made a bid to run the Taste and has proposed the fee.
Daley says the festival should focus on food, not drawing big music acts like Summerfest in Milwaukee.
"This is not the taste of Milwaukee. This is the Taste of Chicago. It's only a food festival," said Daley. "We got into all tangents, start getting into everything. It became-- it's a food festival, not a music festival,"
Daley stopped short of completely rejecting Celebrate Chicago's plan.
The mayor has proposed privatizing the Taste.
