06-25-2014 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Mayor and Little Canada City Council: I am writing this document in the hope of having the city of Little Canada amend their ordinance to allow an extra on -sale liquor license. As I'm sure you are aware the ordinance currently allows for 5 on - sale liquor licenses and 2 restaurant licenses. Currently the 5 on -sale licenses are taken and only 1 restaurant license remains. The 1 restaurant license requires a 40% maximum of alcohol sales and 60% food sales. It also requires a minimum of a $1,000,000 improvement to the premise. I will explain below why I am seeking to have the council amend the code. I have searched over the last year for the right location to build a New Orleans style restaurant/bar that offers live music entertainment. I believe I have found the right location. The Thunder Bay Plaza fits my needs perfectly. I will have almost 10,000 sq. ft to remodel and am committed to signing a 10 year lease with 2 five year options. The location offers great access from 694 to the North, 35E to the East and 36 from the South. The name of this new venture will be VooDoo Live. I am committed to spending $2,500,000 to completely renovate the 10,000 sq ft. New carpet, painting, sound and lights, TV's, etc. This will be a venue that not only will I be proud of but the city of Little Canada can be proud of. I don't believe there is another venue like this in the Twin Cities let alone Little Canada. We will be offering live music throughout the year specifically going after country and classic rock bands that are two small to play the local music venues or the casinos. We all know there are certain types of music that can draw the wrong crowd. While 1 can't promise you I won't do a few of these shows I can promise you I will keep them to a minimum. I have a significant investment in this venture and the last thing I want to do is to put that investment at risk by having a problem with the city over the type of music played. I will have EPG security working the venue. They are an extremely professional outfit that has fantastic references throughout the city. It is important that the city and patrons know that the venue will not be staffed by classic 'bouncers', but by a company that specializes in customer service and defusing any situations before they might become a problem. We will be offering a classic New Orleans style menu featuring 'PO Boy' sandwiches, Cajun wings, shrimp Creole, Gumbo, Cajun chicken sandwiches, etc. There is not another venue in the area that can offer this kind of menu. Along with this menu we will be offering special drinks that can be found in the many restaurants/bars on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. All of the above info brings me to why I am requesting a true liquor license as opposed to a restaurant license that requires a 40% max on liquor sales. I can make a restaurant license work but in order to do that I will be required to basically give my food away for cost. With a liquor license I would not open until 3:00 on weekdays and 11:00 on weekends. This allows me to control my costs by having just 1 shift on weekdays and 2 on weekends. If I were to have the restaurant license the only way for me to meet the 60% food ordinance would be to open every day at 11:OOAM and stay open until 1:OOAM. I will be forced to offer 2 for 1 on all menu items to meet the 60% food requirement. Not only will this hurt my business as I will be forced to basically give my food away for free but this will also have a tremendous negative impact on the other local eating establishments. If people know they can come to Voodoo Live and get 2 for 1 items to eat this most certainly take a lot of business away from the other establishments. They will then be forced to lower their costs or also offer the 2 for 1 to compete. It is not my intention to hurt the other establishments but rather to help them. 14