North Adams License Board OKs Hot Dog Ranch Transfer
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A popular State Street sports pub will get a new name and new management.
The Licensing Board on Tuesday gave the OK for a transfer of the all-alcohol license from the Hot Dog Ranch to Four Weiners LLC.
General manager John-Michael Bradbury, with partners Jason Koperniak, Mitchell Bresett and Christopher St. Cyr, are in the process of purchasing the eatery at 310 State St.
The building has been for sale for some time and is listed at $299,900 with a sale pending.
Bradbury told the Licensing Board that the partnership is buying the building intact but not the business.
"In the negotiations for the price of everything, we didn't get the name, the Hot Dog Ranch, and we didn't get some recipes," he said. "We're going to do our best to keep everything the same, but we'll be able to doing business ... as The Ranch NA. We still want to keep it that sports club theme kind of restaurant. ...
"I followed the Hot Dog Ranch for many years and there's no reason to change what they're doing."
He said he planned to keep the hours and menu the same, and keep on any employee who wants to stay.
"We don't want anybody to lose a job or anything," Bradbury said.
The Hot Dog Ranch operates under DBM Ranch Inc., with principals Craig Benoit, Paul Markland and John J. Martin Jr., and as CCP Realty LLC for the building. The group also operates the original Hot Dog Ranch in Pittsfield.
The 1958 building was owned for nearly 30 years by Francis and Rose Gaspardi and had been the site of an ice cream parlor and, earlier this century, a short-lived pastry cafe. The Hot Dog Ranch owners (which included Carl Deulce at the time) purchased and renovated the property in 2006-7.
Bradbury said he was familiar with ServSafe and TIPS (Training for Intervention ProcedureS) as general manager of Forest Park Country Club but that his certifications had lapsed or were about to. He planned on retaking the courses to regain his certification.
Commissioner Rosemari Dickinson said she felt comfortable knowing his experience serving alcohol but reminded him that it was his responsibility to ensure the laws were followed.
"I feel your experience is going to be very helpful in this and, hopefully, getting recertified for the TIPS training, and making sure your employees are trained as well, which I'm sure they are," she said. But she asked if the kitchen would be open the entire time that alcohol was being served.
"There'll be no point where we close the kitchen," Bradbury said. "We're not looking to run a bar."
The Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission will have final approval on the transfer.
In other business, the board discussed whether there had been any indications from the Board of Health about changes in restaurant operations based on the rise in COVID-19 cases. Dickinson told members Peter Breen and Michael Goodson she had received no updates since the state's lifting of almost all restrictions on June 15 from either the city or the ABCC.
• Dickinson reported that she had received a call that a package store had been selling to underage customers. She declined to name the store noting the anonymous nature of the allegation.
The commissioners agreed to send a letter to all eight licenseholders to remind them of their responsibilities and a copy to the Police Department. They felt this did not single out a specific store but did remind all of them that the commission was keeping its eye on them.
• Breen said they were coming toward the end of COVID-19 and he commended the businesses for their efforts during the pandemic.
"I'd like to recognize all the businesses that worked so hard with us for the last year and a half," he said. "They've been through a lot of things to get to this side of it and, hopefully, get the rest of the way through this."
Tags: license board, alcohol license,
