A bill which would allow two specific Virginia venues to remove the food requirement from their liquor license passed a House committee this week.



A bill which would allow two specific Virginia venues to remove the food requirement from their liquor license passed a House committee this week.

As we reported earlier this month, HB 226 “creates an annual mixed beverage performing arts facility license for persons operating food concessions at any performing arts facility located in the City of Norfolk or the City of Richmond” as long as it has a long-term lease, can hold over 1,400 people, and “has been rehabilitated in accordance with historic preservation standards.”

“If you have alcohol you have to have a full service restaurant, you need a full services restaurant,” said Del. Dave Albo, the sponsor of the bill.

“If you’re open three days a week for a ticketed event, and your show is at eight, people arrive at 7 and leave at 12:30, it’s hard to have a restaurant for a performing arts facility ’cause people are only there to see a show,” the delegate said defending his legislation, comparing it to similar ABC exception given to non-profit facilities in recent years.

“They are run by a for profit entity(AEG), but really it’s a non-profit entity because they had to spend all this money to rehab these buildings,” said Albo.

AEG, an international sports and entertainment company, purchased the Norva and The National from Rising Tide Holding Co. and RIC Capital principals (respectively) in 2014. Both venues were renovated prior to AEG’s purchase, with The National hosting shows since it opened in 2008 and the Norva’s renovations taking place in the late 90’s.

While this is a great step in pushing for venues to be free of food requirements, smaller venues, like The Broadberry or Strange Matter, who operate under similar models, but on a smaller scale, would be left out of this bill.

To the Broadberry and The Camel owner Lucas Fritz (pictured below), this was enough to say something. Sure enough, Fritz found himself before the House General Laws committee speaking in defense of venues like his.

Fritz said he loves both The Norva and The National, but the legislation gives those businesses an unfair advantage in the local live show arena.

“The Broadberry operates on the exact same business model: sell advance tickets to concerts for international, national, and regionally touring acts as well as local talent,” Fritz said. “These events are closed to the public until “doors” time at which ticket holders are allowed entrance. Upon entrance, patrons crowd the facility eager to be a part of the live music scene which includes listening, dancing, and of course or we wouldn’t be here, enjoying some of their favorite beers, wines, and spirits. People that attend events at facilities operating as such are not coming for a steak dinner first and thus conventional food ratios are near impossible to meet.”

When RVAMag spoke with Del. Albo, he expressed little interest in expanding his bill to include smaller venues, and defended his stance saying “[If you] expand it to everybody then every single restaurant is gonna have a guy with a guitar and say ‘now we don’t have to have food.”

Fritz conceded to this idea, and said it was reasonable to expect venues like The Camel to adhere to the ratio rule – but for The Broadberry, he hoped the GA would realize the only difference was his lack of a historic building and a smaller, but still quite large, audience capacity.

Albo also defended AEG’s merits in deserving the liquor exception saying the company was “more like a non-profit” because they had to spend money to rehabilitate the buildings.

“I’d like to think that I live in a Commonwealth where politicians do what’s best for businesses born and bred in our great state, not what’s best for the world’s largest owner of sports teams and the world’s second largest presenter of live music and entertainment,” said Fritz, noting AEG, the National and Norva’s owners, were capable of supporting additional ratio-fees because of their size.

“The Broadberry’s largest competition in Richmond is The National. To give our largest competition a clear and legal competitive advantage clearly violates free enterprise.”

A representative from AEG, Tom Lis, was in attendance for the hearing. He said, unlike the Broadberry, his company “[went] into downtown Norfolk and Richmond and revitalized historic buildings to make these large entertainment venues, much larger than this gentlemen’s venue, which is more akin to restaurant.”

Lis then compared the needs of his venues to other large performance spaces in the region, like the Altria Theater and university amphitheaters.

“If this gentlemen wants to come back next year with a bill for his venue,” he said. “That’s his prerogative.”

The House Committee voted in support of HB 226 18-3, and it already has one reading on the full house floor.

Sure enough, Fritz said he plans to sit down with some local delegates over the summer to get a similar bill for his establishment submitted in 2017.

“I learned over the last few weeks that Apr-July is when bills are drafted,” said Fritz after the bill passed. “I’ll get back on it around then.”

The optimistic venue owner said he’d love to see some kind of license exception by July, 2017.