Wanna Buy Into Downtown

Fat Patties, Pagliai's and Hangar 9 are all up for sale. Sally Carter, owner of Hangar 9, wants to spend more time caring for her husband and Lance Jack, owner of Fat Patties, wants to move on to the next stage in his life. No idea why Pagliai's wants to sell.

Fat Pattie's Liquor License

Fat Pattie's liquor license for 2018-2019 comes up before the Liquor Advisory Board this Thursday night. Looks like the only thing on the agenda.

Dale's Burger Shack

Even with its grand opening a month away, according to this story, Dale's Burger Shack is doing very well. Even though competitor Fat Patties is recognized as one of the best burger places in the state, its downtown location hurts it significantly. Dale's Burger Shack's location in Murdale Shopping Center gives it access to both plenty of parking and two way traffic on Highway 13.

Fat Patties' downtown location, especially with the construction in downtown, has no readily accessible parking. Its most convenient parking is located behind the building and needs much bigger signage to call customer attention to it. In addition, it is located on a one way street, so that people heading south have to deal with the intersection of Hwy 51 and Mill Stree

Polar Bear

This year's Polar Bear event appeared fairly quiet, though there was a heavy police presence. I drove out by the area on East Grad about 10 p.m. Saturday night and the sidewalks and lots were full. Winston's Bagels appeared doing a steady business as did Don Taco and I counted 3 police vehicles passing the area within as many minutes.  I did hear a report of pepper grenades requested alter in the evening, but whether they were used or not, I don't know. The crime map for the weekend does show a number of events in the area.

Compared to that area, the Strip was dead, in spite of the assorted "Puck Finch" events. Fat patties, Stix and Pags were all pretty empty, though I did see a small crowd at Sidetracks. It will be interesting to find out how booked the hotels were this year.

Fat Patties

Fat Patties now has beer.  The restaurant got every finally set up that week and added three varieties last Thurday:  PBR, Miller Lite and Sam Adams (don't remember which variety).  Lance Jack's plan is to add 3 new beers per week until the restaurant offers a total of twelve, six mass brewed beers and six craft brews.

Fat Patties Licensed

Lance Jack  got the liquor license for his Fat Patties' restaurant renewed last night by a vote of 5-1, with Mayor Fritzler the lone "no" vote. This comment by Jack struck me though:

Jack said getting a license from the state and digging out of a financial hole were his next steps.
"For two years now I have been operating on a less-than-ideal business platform," he said.
Jack said he has taken a loss on his business and taken out loans to stay afloat

Beer and liquor should be a secondary product for the restaurant. If they were going to be an important part of the restaurant's business plan, Jack should have made arrangements to get the license before ever opening Fat Patties.  If the primary product, burgers and sides, is not enough to make the business profitable and was the revenue generator in the original business plan, I'd have serious concerns about the long term viability of the restaurant.

Update:  Councilwoman Jane Adams has posted her comments on last night's vote.

Lance Jack Liquor License

In case you would like to see the city council get moderately frazzled, Lance Jack will apply for his umpteenth time for a liquor license for Fat Patties tonight at 7 at the Civic Center.  Last time the City Council split 3/3, which meant no license.  Hopefully one person has changed their mind since then, as it appears the community really doesn't care if Jack votes on the Liquor Control Commission or not.  They voted him into office knowing he had a liquor license, that it would come up for renewal and that he would have to recuse himself from any liquor decisions.  Yeah, it makes it harder on the council to pass any liquor related issues, or easier to keep liquor licenses from being issued by the city, depending on your point of view, but that's what the voters of Carbondale wanted.

Lance Jack's Liquor License

Lance Jack failed to get the liquor license for Fat Patties renewed at this week's city council meeting, so there will  be a special meeting of the Liquor Control Commission this Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Civic Center.  The Liquor Advisory Board had recommended that all businesses applying for renewal of their licenses, including Fat Patties, be approved.  It appears that Jack, as a result of his position on the city council, was the only license holder not renewed.  Even Kevin Kirkwood's (who had been the target or recent police activity) Icebox Bar and Grille got a license renewal without any difficulty.

Councilwoman Adams points out that the city attorney sees no legal difficulty with Jack serving on city council, he just cannot serve on the Liquor Control Commission:

I have been advised by the City Attorney that he sees no legal problem with Jack serving on Council, though he cannot serve on the Liquor Control Commission. State law, I understand, forbids any liquor license holder from being a liquor commissioner.

Knowing his position, the people of Carbondale elected him to another term on the city council.  it appears they are not concerned with his inability to serve as a LCC member and feel what he has to offer as a council member outweighs being one member short on the LCC.   If there is no other reason for Fat Patties not getting its license renewed, the LAB needs to go ahead and approve it.

Liquor Control Commission

The LCC meets this Tuesday as soon as the City Council meeting ends. On the agenda, approval (probably) of the liquor permits for Hundley House and DiMaggio's Pizza. Also on the agenda, and likely not to get approved unless Lance Jack announces he's not running for another term on city council, an application for a Class 1A license for Fat Pattie's:

Consideration of an Application for a Class D1 Liquor License for William D. Jones, an
Individual, d/b/a Hundley House, 601 West Main Street

4. Consideration of an Application for a Class A1 Liquor License for DiMaggio’s Pizza of
Jackson County, LLC d/b/a DiMaggio’s Pizza, 1040 East Walnut Street

5. Consideration of an Application for a Class A1 Liquor License for Melting Pot Inc., d/b/a
Fat Patties, 611B South Illinois Avenue