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City to Jerry Remy: No free beer at new restaurant
By adamg on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 10:29am
The Globe reports Jerry Remy's new restaurant on Boylston Street will offer $500 "season passes" to people who don't wish to mingle with the rabble waiting to get in before games - which will include vouchers for some free food and a free beer for each visit.
Not so fast, Boston Licensing Board Chairman Daniel Pokaski says. He told restaurant reps this morning state law bans handouts of free alcohol, and suggested the restaurant increase the value of the food voucher instead.
The restaurant was before the board because it wants permission to add a 40-seat patio area in front - on part of the sidewalk that is privately owned. Also, the restaurant is seeking formal permission to change its closing time from 2 a.m. to midnight - at the request of nearby residents.
The board decides on the patio and closing hour at a meeting tomorrow.
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Comments
rich and/or ignorant? Head to Remys!
To quote Smithers, the season pass plan at Remy's new bar looks like it will "ensure a mix of the rich and the ignorant." He used to be an affable annnouncer, now he is just a corporate shill.
Hack job of an article
...and the comments on the Globe site are about as dumb as they get too.
For $500, you get a reserved table and a $25 food voucher every time you come in during a home game. If you came to every game, that would be 81 games (not including playoffs), which would be just over $2000 in free food alone. So, you'd break even just coming out to 20 games (and that's not counting the comp'd beer...or whatever replacement value they do)! As a 10-game pack partial season-ticket holder, I can tell you that making 10 games isn't that hard at all. Making 20 would be pretty reasonable. The rest of the package is just cake on top of that. It's honestly a pretty good deal...and it *sounds* like it's $500 for the table, not per person...so you and 3 friends would be paying $125 each for 20 games next door to Fenway (the windows in the place open onto Van Ness St near the RF corner).
I just don't see the issue with the price or the offering. I'm considering it myself but need to get a bit more info. I also don't see an issue with the comp beer, since you're paying $500 to get comp'd beer...it's not "free" since you paid for it up front in the cost of the package. Would it be legal if they SOLD you 81 beer vouchers for $500 with wording on it that said you could only use a max of 1 per day? Then leave it alone, you goddamned over-reaching Licensing Board.
No, that wouldn't be legal.
No, that wouldn't be legal. You cannot sell alcohol for a price below the price of that beverage in that week.
As a reminder, this "Happy Hour" regulation prohibits any licensee or employee or agent of a licensee from engaging in or permitting any of 8 activities. No licensee or employee or agent of a licensee may:
1. offer or deliver any free drinks to any person or group of persons;
2. deliver more than two drinks to one person at one time;
3. sell, offer to sell or deliver to any person or group of persons any
drinks at a price less than the price regularly charged for such drinks during the same calendar week, except at private functions not open to the public;
4. sell, offer to sell or deliver to any person an unlimited number of drinks during any set period of time for a fixed price, except at private functions not open to the public;
5. sell, offer to sell or deliver drinks to any person or group of persons on any one day at prices less than those charged the general public on that day, except at private functions not open to the public;
6. sell, offer to sell or deliver malt beverages or mixed drinks by the pitcher except to two or more persons at any one time;
7. increase the volume of alcoholic beverages contained in a drink without increasing proportionately the price regularly charged for such drink during the same calendar week;
8. encourage or permit, on the licensed premises, any game or contest which involves drinking or the awarding of drinks as prizes.
Even easier
Although I think a voucher system could be worked out that would skirt the law just fine, these rules make it even easier.
Since buying one of these "season tickets" gives you reserved tables, etc. Then all they have to do is make it a "private function" for those tables at the start of the game and instantly more than half of those rules go out the window. The public will be invited to use the bar area while the season ticket holders are invited to the private function at the tables near Van Ness.
Getting around stupid liquor laws are what bars do. Just look at places like South Carolina where you couldn't have "open bottles" of booze on the weekends, so they just served all drinks out of single-serving nips.
These rules are no different.
happy hour
Mike Dukakis, the gift that keeps on giving.
Also...irony unbounded
FTA:
Seriously? This guy is a card-carrying RSN member and thinks that makes him a "true fan" and then has the audacity to say that Remy is trying to grab every cent he can from unsuspecting fans?? Is this guy wired wrong or is it just me? The RSN membership crap is a total Naked Money Grab from the Red Sox...but he's not going to fall for prepaying for food and beer at a bar! That's just Remy grabbing for money! No siree!
Moron.
RSN
I believe the reporter is using the term Red Sox Nation in its original sense, from back when it was a tribe, not a marketing opportunity.
i am surprised to learn...
......that you need to go to the licensing board to *lower* the time you want to close. i always hear about places wanting to extend their nighttime hours, but rarely about ones interested in shortening them. seems weird you need permission to close early.
and as a side note: i am going to the friends & family pre-opening night tonight, and i believe we are getting free booze with our free food. not sure how that gets around the free alcohol rules?
I imagine it stops people
I imagine it stops people from holding pocket licenses. If you only sell cans of Coors light on Tuesdays from 11am to 11:30am, you're not really using the license, and they'd take it away.
soft openings qualify as
soft openings qualify as private functions
There is no private function
There is no private function exception for free alcohol.
But there must be an art-gallery exception
because just about every art gallery opening reception or open studio I've ever gone to has served free wine.
More likely: Nobody cares,
More likely: Nobody cares, because nobody ever gets stabbed in an art gallery, and art galleries never petition to stay open till 1 am. It's the same as the old barber shop exception that got some hair-cuttery shut down a year or two back.
Ive been to charity events
Ive been to charity events with free beer and wine.
It's not free
I paid $500 for it.
$500 to attend the soft
$500 to attend the soft opening? Wow. That takes some nerve on Remy's part.
Ah
My bad. I didn't scroll up to see that your's was a response to the second thread in the comments about the family event tomorrow night.
The original anon was wrong to call it a "soft opening". That is when a restaurant opens without making a "grand opening" out of it and announcing itself open for business. That would be a situation where these rules would apply. Instead, this is the family/friends of the restaurant staff/ownership having a party in the still-closed restaurant. Thus, the first person's question about how it would jive with the Happy Hour laws...is that it's a private function.
F all of them..
Red Sox, "Remdawg", anything having to do with the entire Fenway experience. I'm tired of people in suits at the games. I'm tired of half the park only going so they can tell people at work "went to the game last night..yeah, great time, went to the 600 Club before the game" and then they couldn't name one player on either team. I hate that the team is in league with that scumbag Jim Holzman at Ace Ticket to rip off people.
I hate the new owners.
My friends and I have a little game we play at home for home games. It's called "Spot the black people in the Fenway crowd". It used to be a drinking game until most of us went home sober.
I hate the new owners, too.
Saving Fenway was terrible. Hiring Theo? Awful move. 2 World Serieses? Feh. Their continued involvement with the Jimmy Fund, PMC, etc? Bah. The concerts that everyone seems to have a great time on? The pits. NESN in HD before practically any other team had all their games in HD? Unforgivable.
Spoken like someone who can
actually afford to go to a game. Like someone who doesn't seem to mind that the owners are in bed with a scalper to rip people off on tix. In a state where scalping is supposed to be illegal. And again, you don't find it disturbing that the only signs of diversity at Fenway is on the field?
Yeah, watching the game at
Yeah, watching the game at home is very expensive. That's why I praised NESN. And of course, it's impossible to get any tickets at face value...except that it's not, at all. And if you're suggesting that the CURRENT owners are responsible for the diversity problem...well, you have to learn your history. An ownership group is very responsible. But it's not the Henry/Werner team.
No diversity in the crowd?
No diversity in the crowd? It's a sporting event not a UN summit. Not much "diversity" at hockey, basketball, or football games, either. Cheaper seats aren't going to suddenly usher in some era of racial harmony at the ballpark. And not for nothing but there are quite a few Hispanics at these games but I guess that doesn't count.
Really?..been to
Camden Yards lately? Lots of black, white and Latino faces there. Would it hurt the Sox to throw 10-20 tickets a game to community centers and/or Boys & Girls Clubs of America across the state? Unless of course John Henry needs to keep the trophy wife in Jimmy Choos.
You don't think they do
You don't think they do that?
Red Sox in the community
Plus the Dunkin' Dugout in the bleachers, which is exactly what you're suggesting they have: Tickets for disadvantaged youth in the region.
I stand humbly..
corrected.
A few things
Not totally a fair comparison. Boston was 56% white in 2006; Baltimore was 31% in the same year. That's a quarter of the crowd likely being whiter in Boston than Baltimore just de facto of the population. The Red Sox are also the home team of 5.5 STATES (CT is cut in half), whereas the Orioles are barely home to 1 team now (Nationals take lots of Redskins fans from Southern MD, Phillies cut into the North, Yankees/Mets cut into NJ and Delaware).
Also, as far as giving away tickets, the Red Sox already operate at a loss. In 2007, they posted an operating loss of $19.1 Million. They more than made that up in ownership of NESN, but the point is that the team itself pays out more than it takes in at Fenway (primarily due to the limited seating capacity).
You also don't have a clue how much the Red Sox are already doing in charity every year. Here's just one excerpt from the Red Sox Foundation's website (emphasis mine below):
John Henry was rich, running a hedge fund for commodities and futures, before he got involved with baseball. In fact, in 2008, while the rest of the market tanked 33% across the board, Henry's funds all went up from between 33-82%. So, I'm sure his wife can buy her shoes from some of their pocket change in the sofa and doesn't need to steal from poor kids as you suggest.
All due respect, Kaz..but
while you were researching your diatribe, I admitted being incorrect. Also, where did I say Linda was stealing from poor kids? If you read what I wrote, I said that maybe they don't give more tickets away to the community because Linda needs a constant supply of new shoes that the Sox charging high prices might help her to get.
I do not engage in verbal subterfuge, I say what I mean. Then again, I'm not the "Soxaholic" who links to scalpers on his own website.
I see that
Sorry, but if you didn't say SO MANY stupid and refutable things, then I would have been able to write my reply faster.
For example, I'm not the Soxaholic who links to scalpers on my own website either. I don't currently have my own website.
OK..I'll play!
Why is the Soxaholix website listed on your about me page?
How I got here
I learned about Universal Hub because Adam linked to a Soxaholix strip, which brought in some extra new commenters who mentioned UHub as the way they found their way there. I'm just a loyal reader over there.
spot the black people at fenway?
we were playing that game 25 years ago.
the new owners do suck. the park is so jammed with people you can barely move around.if you get to yawkey way anytime after 6:45 its going to take 45 minutes to get to your seats. every year they add more seats but i dont know where they put them?
dont even start on the ace/stubhub rip off. last year was the first time i didnt attend a game since the 70's.i guess they know there will always be assholes that will pay 200 bucks for shitty seats.
remys restaraunt is located at the location formerly known as wbcn. that sucks too.
$500
If you have $500 for a pass, you can probably buy your own beer - particularly if they offer a free buffet or snack buffet of some sort to get you thirsty. That's legal and makes just as much sense as offering free beer and buy your own food.
If you have $500?
I mean $500 sounds like a lot up front, but we're talking about 81 beers AND $25 in food 81 times.
Imagine if you didn't do this, but wanted to go to a bar to watch the game for all 81 home games. 81 beers and enough food to satisfy you for 3+ hours of baseball (many of which are played at dinnertime)? $500 is a HUGE discount on the food alone. They could simply drop the free drink to satisfy the Licensing Board's strict application of the rule and it would STILL be a good deal for *anyone* not just those with $500 to burn (as many people seem to want to make it seem).
You would have to spend less than around $6/dinner for each of the 81 games in order to spend less than the $500 they want up front for all 81 home games...and that's if it were $500 *per person*...you can split that money with a friend or two and probably still eat pretty well with the $25 food credit per game for the 2-3 of you (still not even including a free beer)!
What baffles me is why the price point is so LOW!
Are you sure its $25 a game?
It seems like the article mentions one free beer per game (which I don't see them getting away with), but it seemed like the food might only be for one game. I mean, how do you pay $500 for $2,025 worth of food coupons?
I assumed the $25 was for one game and/or the $25 was for orders of $100 or more or something like that.
jerry added an interesting p.s. to this on his twitter...
he tweeted last night “Globe article re: $500 season ticket program at restaurant is geared to corporations. Individuals will have a free loyalty program shortly."
i am curious to see what that will look like.
as my own p.s., i can say that the soft-opening last night was a fantastic night. the place has some serious potential for an interesting alternative to other sports bars -- quite upscale, but homey and comfortable at the same time. most of the food was excellent (a few small misses on temperature and taste, but i assume that is part of working out the bugs). the line of site to the huge tv's covering every wall is impressive. talked to the general manager at length who seemed reasonably assured that the patio and the closing hour would be no problem, but didn't comment on the alcohol vouchers. would definitely go back when it opens for real.