Job perk Quad/Graphics, cocktails to mix
Milwaukee Sentinel – Friday, April 5, 1991
Author: MIKE MULVEY Waukesha County Bureau
Sussex – Employees at Quad / Graphics Inc. soon will be able to follow their 12-hour shifts with visits to the company’s High Tech Cafe for a cocktail. But that development is not exactly a happy hour for the Waukesha County Tavern League.
“In the village area, we have six liquor licenses within one mile of Quad,” Tavern League President Joe C. Marchese said Thursday. Let us serve the liquor,” Marchese said. “They have a cafeteria. Let them serve food.”
The Sussex Village Board awarded a Class B liquor license March 23 to Quad, N63-W23075 State Highway 74. The license will take effect July 1.
“We requested the license to fulfill our entertainment needs for our employees and visitors,” Quad spokeswoman Leslie Ratay said. She said the license would accommodate employees who worked odd shifts and who in the past had done their drinking in the company parking lot. “Drinking in the parking lot was a habit that was frowned upon, but we don’t want to discourage our employees from socializing after work,” Ratay said.
Quad has 1,700 employees at its Sussex plant and an additional 600 employees at its Pewaukee plant. The company has two 12-hour shifts, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
“People who come off their shift at 7 a.m. will be able to stop in for a beer,” Ratay said. “Not a lot of bars are open at 7 a.m.” Drinks will be served only in Quad’s High Tech Cafe, which is in a building across the street from the main Sussex plant, Ratay said. Ratay said the bartenders would check identifications to prevent underage drinking. “We would be selling liquor to people who aren’t working,” she said. “They would be penalized if they try to come in on their breaks and buy a drink.” Ratay said the liquor license also would be used for company social functions and to serve drinks to the various groups who attended training seminars at the plant.
Marchese, a county supervisor who owns a tavern , questioned the wisdom of serving drinks in the workplace. “What is the liability of them serving drinks to guys who work in the factory?” he said.
Village Trustee David L. Granlund said the board issued the license only after its attorney researched the issue and concluded the action was appropriate. “They are going to have their own security and trained bartenders,” Granlund said. “It is more of a convenience than anything.” Granlund noted that Marquette Electronics Inc., 8200 W. Tower Ave., Milwaukee, has had a liquor license for six years, although that license is held by a third party that operates Marquette’s cafeteria. Quad’s cafe must be open to the public when it begins selling liquor, Granlund said. He said Quad’s license should not hurt local businesses and would not cause employees to drink more than they already did in the company parking lot or at local taverns.
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Firm expects flap over drinks to fizzle Quad/Graphics discounts tavern official’s ire over cafeteria plan
The Milwaukee Journal – Friday, April 5, 1991
Author: TOM VANDEN BROOK of The Journal staff
Sussex – The flap surrounding Quad/Graphics’ plan to sell alcohol to its employes is little more than a tempest in a beer stein, a company spokeswoman said Friday. But the president of the Waukesha County Tavern League is making much ado about the brew imbroglio. The company will be eligible to sell alcoholic beverages July 1. Under provisions of its license, anybody 21 or older would be allowed to enter the cafeteria where drinks would be served.
“It’s not like we’re going to be a magazine and beer pub,” said Leslie Ratay, corporate communications manager for the printing firm. “We’re just going to offer beer and wine coolers.”
But Tavern League President Joe Marchese says the area already has enough licensed bars. And the image presented by an industrial park firm offering alcohol to its employes could reflect badly on tavernkeepers in general, he said. “We have enough licenses out here, we have seven,” Marchese said of the number in Sussex . “And with the problems of drunken drivers, we have an image to worry about. We have to be responsible servers.”
Seen As a Benefit
But Ratay said beer and wine in the company cafeteria would be served judiciously and should not tarnish the firm’s reputation as a responsible employer. Rather, serving alcoholic beverages should be seen as simply another employe benefit, one that is offered at other companies, such as breweries, across the state. “I don’t think we have a concern with an off-beat image,” Ratay said. “It’s really just something that we’re offering as an extra to our employees.” Ratay maintained that the company, which employs 1,700 full- and part-time workers at its printing plant here and 800 more in Pewaukee, would be responsible about alcohol at all times. She said the company had unusual shifts that, at times, required offering unusual benefits to its workers.
Long Shifts
The company has two 12-hour production shifts that begin at 7 a.m. and end at 7 p.m., Ratay said. Employes working the night shift, she said, needed a place other than the parking lot to unwind after a long night at work. When employees finish their shifts, she said, they often want a place to have a beer and “jaw with their friends.”
The liquor license obtained in March from village officials also allows the business to serve drinks at other company functions, Ratay said. However, Quad/Graphics does not plan to market the cafeteria to the public, she said. “A lot of people are misconstruing this as a new bar and restaurant in Sussex ,” Ratay said. “That’s just not the case.”
Despite Marchese’s protests, an inspector at the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department, which patrols the area around Quad/Graphics, expressed no concern that the company’s new policy would cause problems.
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Liquor licenses to be open to any retailer
Milwaukee Sentinel – Tuesday, April 9, 1991
Readability: >12 grade level (Lexile: 1340L)
Author: STEVEN WALTERS
Madison – Any Wisconsin retailer can qualify for new or existing beer, wine and liquor licenses after July 1, because of a change in state law, Revenue Secretary Mark D. Bugher said Monday.
Directors of the Tavern League of Wisconsin will meet April 22 to decide whether to ask the Legislature to repeal that provision, league officials said. Tavern League members are angry because a major printing company, Quad / Graphics Inc., has been issued a liquor license for the High Tech Cafe it plans to open on company property in Sussex . “This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a manufacturer that wanted a liquor license,” said Steven C. Brist, Tavern League executive director. It is an “oddball combination” for a company that must comply with safe workplace regulations to want to be able to sell its workers alcohol, Brist added.
But Bugher said a 1990 law gave any retailer the right to be issued a Class B license letting them sell beer, wine or liquor, beginning July 1, 1991. Bugher said he pushed for the change, which was fought by the 4,000-member Tavern League. “We advocated this,” Bugher said. “The point was: It ought to be a local decision. “It ought not be the state’s role to differentiate who should get a license and who should not.” Local city councils or town and village boards can enact tougher restrictions on who can be issued licenses, he said. “If they don’t want a Laundromat to have a liquor license, they can pass an ordinance prohibiting that,” Bugher said.
Joe C. Marchese, Waukesha County Tavern League president, said Quad / Graphic’s cafe would hurt area taverns and the county group would ask the state group to work to repeal the new law. “We’re not going to sit back,” Marchese said. “This is a first. I can’t believe it.” Marchese said Quad / Graphics officials asked for the liquor license to stop after-work drinking in company parking lots, to legally serve visitors drinks and to pay wholesale liquor prices for its receptions. Marchese said Quad / Graphics used a loophole in the law to get its liquor license and the Village Board “approved it automatically.”
But Bugher said the change that lets any retailer hold a liquor license was negotiated with Tavern League officials last year. Bugher said he also tried to abolish liquor-license quotas, which limit the number of licenses available in a community in relation to its population. Quotas were begun in 1939.
The Tavern League successfully resisted Bugher’s push to abolish quota systems but lost on letting retailers apply for liquor licenses, Brist said.
Bugher said the number of new liquor licenses available because of the 1990 census was not yet known. Under the old law, only specific businesses, including hotels, motels, tavern -linked grocery stores and taverns, could be issued beer, wine and liquor licenses. But Bugher said local elected officials should have home rule authority to issue a license to any retailer. “We kind of allowed anybody to apply.”
Brist said Quad / Graphic’s bar would have to follow state laws requiring all drinkers to be 21 and to close between 2 a.m. on weekdays, and 2:30 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, and 6 a.m.
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Trustee wonders where Quad license will lead
The Milwaukee Journal – Tuesday, May 14, 1991
Author: CAROL WAHLEN of The Journal staff
Sussex It would be a conflict of interest for Trustee Patricia Bartlett to vote on the granting of liquor licenses here because she and her husband own a local liquor store. So, saying she was speaking as a private citizen Tuesday night, Bartlett left her seat as vice chairman of the village committee that oversees liquor licenses and went into the audience to speak against a Village Board plan to grant Quad/Graphics, N63-W23075 Highway 74, a liquor license effective July 1. “I’m not saying the board made a mistake, but it didn’t look at both sides of this,” Bartlett said. “I have a problem with why Quad would want to have liquor in the workplace. “If the village opens this up for Quad, down the road it will have to give licenses to other companies. People who sell liquor should sell liquor period.”
Trustee Sal Maglio and Village President Paul Fleischmann, the other two members of the village Finance and Personnel Evaluation Committee, said a state law that will take effect July 1 would allow any retailer to qualify for a liquor license. They said that due to an increase in population, the village had three additional liquor licenses available.
Frank Arndorfer, a company vice president, said Quad/Graphics was seeking a license to sell beer and wine in the High Tech Cafe, the company cafeteria, primarily as a convenience to employes. “We have a lot of gatherings at the company,” he said. “It would be nice to be able to have beer and wine.”
Maglio Monday said, “I have not found a good reason why this should be denied to Quad.” “We have put more restrictions on them than other business {taverns}. I have a problem denying it because someone is worried about having competition.” In March, the board adopted a resolution spelling out the requirements Quad/Graphics would have to meet to get the license. That vote was unanimous, with Bartlett abstaining. The board will consider issuing the license in June, when it considers all liquor licenses that take effect July 1. None of the area tavern owners spoke out against the license at Tuesday’s committee meeting, which was attended by 35 people, mostly Quad/Graphics’ employees.
In recent months some area tavern owners and Joe Marchese, president of the Waukesha County Tavern League, have objected to the proposal, saying it would hurt area tavern owners.
Under the company plan, beer and wine would be for sale by licensed bartenders to employes at the end of shifts. No drinking will be allowed during working hours, breaks or lunch hours, Arndorfer said.
Steven Ponto, a company lawyer, said Quad/Graphics had parties at which beer and wine was given away. He said the liquor license would enable the company to purchase beer and wine wholesale and have it delivered, something it could not do now.
Both men said they doubted that the cafeteria would compete with area taverns because it was unlikely that workers would want to drink in a cafeteria. Two plant workers said none of the people they worked with planned to drink in the cafeteria after working hours. They said the workers preferred area taverns instead.
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Reversal sought on liquor law
Milwaukee Sentinel – Thursday, May 23, 1991
Author: STEVEN WALTERS Sentinel Madison Bureau
Madison – A state senator said Wednesday he will seek to strip local governments of the authority they are scheduled to inherit July 1 to issue liquor licenses to any retailer.
But the change will not cancel the liquor license Sussex has decided to issue to Quad / Graphics Inc., a major Waukesha County printing company, Revenue Secretary Mark D. Bugher said. “It looks like Quad / Graphics will retain its (liquor) license,” said Bugher, even if the Legislature changes the law by July 1.
Sen. Jerome Van Sistine (D- Green Bay), the bill’s sponsor, said there is no reason for all retailers bookstores, self-service laundries and fast-food businesses, for example to have liquor licenses. “Taverns sell liquor, and the department stores sell clothes,” he said. “There is absolutely no need to merge the two.”
The controversy over who should be issued liquor licenses developed after Sussex officials voted to issue an available liquor license to the printing company’s cafeteria July 1. The request angered the Tavern League of Wisconsin, which started the push to go back to the old law, which allowed localities to issue available liquor licenses only to specific businesses, including restaurants and hotels.
But Bugher said the Sussex printing plant’s cafeteria appears to qualify for a liquor license because it is a restaurant with a second entrance leading outside. Van Sistine’s bill “will not repeal the Quad / Graphics license,” Bugher said. But Van Sistine said it will stop retailers from being issued liquor licenses. “If the Legislature does not act quickly to repeal the law before July 1, it will create many unforeseen problems for local law enforcement and retailers,” he said. “This is a bad law that must be repealed.”
The Senate Tourism, Commerce, Labor, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, of which Van Sistine is chairman, held a public hearing on the bill Wednesday. Van Sistine said he hoped the bill would be ready for debate during the Legislature’s June 4 session.
If the bill passes, Bugher said, he will not ask Gov. Tommy G. Thompson to veto it. “We don’t want any long-term battle with the Legislature on this.” Bugher said local governments should have authority to issue new liquor licenses or licenses that become available.
Van Sistine’s bill also would create a new classification of liquor license a “Class W” to let more grocery stores sell wine for carryout. Now, grocery stores can sell wine only if they have wine-and- liquor licenses, which some communities are reluctant to issue, an aide to Van Sistine said.
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Sussex Quad/Graphics gets liquor license
The Milwaukee Journal – Wednesday, June 26, 1991
The Sussex Village Board has approved a liquor license for Quad/Graphics, allowing the printing firm to serve beer and wine in its High Tech Cafe, the company’s cafeteria, at N63-W23075 Highway 74.
Quad/Graphics plans to sell beer and wine to employees after their work day and also at special events beginning July 1, the date the license takes effect.
Trustee Patricia Bartlett, who owns a liquor store in Sussex , abstained from voting Tuesday night to avoid a conflict of interest. However, she and Waukesha County Supervisor Joseph Marchese, owner of a Town of Lisbon nightclub and president of the Waukesha County Tavern League, had gone on record as opposing a liquor license for Quad/Graphics. Bartlett said she did not like the idea of having liquor in the workplace. Marchese said Quad/Graphics would be unfair competition for tavern owners in the area.