![]() Central Standard Craft Distillery Co-Founders Evan Hughes and Pat McQuillan are launching a month-long campaign encouraging Wisconsinites to request hand-crafted brandy from local, family-owned distilleries in their Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned cocktails and has created the Brandy Old Fashioned Hall of Fame. Individuals deserving of Brandy Old Fashioned Hall of Fame status can be nominated for this unique honor. Brandy Old Fashioned Hall of Fame inductees get some fantastic perks:
Nominations will be accepted through September 30, the last day of Brandy Old Fashioned month. A panel of judges will select the inaugural class of Brandy Old Fashioned Hall of Fame inductees based on the strength of their nomination and their Brandy Old Fashioned story. The honorees will be announced in mid-October. September is Brandy Old Fashioned Month in Wisconsin! Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has proclaimed September Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned month and the first day of fall (Sept. 22 in 2022) as Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned Day.
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![]() The Wisconsin Restaurant Association encourages all of our members to exercise their right to vote and participate in each election. This primary has two high profile statewide primaries—Democrat candidate for US Senate and Republican candidate for Wisconsin Governor. There are other statewide office primaries, along with races in Wisconsin Assembly and Senate districts. To check and make sure you are a registered voter, to see where your polling place is located or to request an absentee ballot, go to MyVoteWisconsin. If you are interested in discussing issues important to the restaurant industry and how they play out for any of the primary races, please email [email protected] to set up a time to talk with a WRA Public Affairs team member. Are you supporting a candidate? Many WRA members are active supporters of candidates for Wisconsin Assembly and Senate and make personal donations to their campaigns. If you are already making personal contributions to candidates, please consider making those contributions through the WRA’s Bipartisan Conduit Fund. The WRA Conduit fund helps you distribute your personal funds to any candidate for local or state office, at any time. As an individual, you have full control over your political contributions. The WRA Conduit is a bipartisan fund and contributions can be made to any registered candidate, regardless of political affiliation or party. Keep in mind that contributions to conduit must be personal contributions, not from a business. All contributions via the WRA Conduit not only give you credit to the candidate’s campaign, but WRA as well. Please contact Susan Quam, WRA Executive Vice President to learn more the WRA Conduit and how you can use it for supporting the candidates of your choice. ![]() Having video gambling machines at your establishment is (and has been) illegal in the state of Wisconsin. The state of Wisconsin informed WRA of a recent court decision regarding the penalties for businesses who provide video gambling machines in their establishment. Businesses that do NOT have a Class B liquor license that provide video gambling machines in their establishment can incur serious penalties including fines of up to $10,000, imprisonment, revocation of alcohol beverage license, removal of video gambling machines and closure of business as a public nuisance. Local law enforcement agencies in multiple jurisdictions have begun enforcing this law. Penalties for establishments WITH a Class B license are different and generally constitute a misdemeanor. Questions? Email or call the Ask WRA Team at 608.270.9950 ![]() The news that we did not get the RRF replenishment bill through was a gut-punch to our Wisconsin Restaurant Community. Everybody, including myself and my entire team at the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, are upset and, honestly, scared for the future. Even though we are crushed by the outcome, it was not without a great deal of effort on your part and on ours. I want to share some of the actions and activities that have been part of our ongoing efforts to tell the story of devastation and impact the pandemic has, and continues to have, on our industry. We knew from the beginning Congress did not fully fund the RRF and replenishment was an uphill climb, but one that was critically necessary. The likelihood of replenishment was always a longshot, but that did not stop us from working to overcome every obstacle we could. Through your calls, messages, emails and engagement through our action alert system, many thousands of messages had been sent during this fight to that end, I wanted to provide you with a more detailed outline of what and how the WRA and National Restaurant Association have been working on your behalf:
There is no other issue in our history that garnered more action from you, our members. Thank you for your passion and unwavering support of these efforts. We hear you and you can be rest assured that we will continue to fight for our industry in every way possible. We will continue to engage on a host of issues critical to your success and recovery efforts will remain a top focus for us at the local, state, and federal levels. Though RRF replenishment is likely no longer an option, we will continue to fight in any way possible to help our industry survive. Kristine Hillmer
President & CEO Wisconsin Restaurant Association On occasion the Department of Revenue's Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement Unit confiscates contraband alcohol beverages. The DOR is authorized to sell the confiscated product to the highest bidder. Many times, bottles sell well below wholesale price.
This sale consists of 2876 bottles of Taxed Intoxicating Liquor. Bids will be accepted from either a wholesale Permittee or persons licensed to sell wine at retail (Class A or B Liquor License). Sealed bids must be received at 265 W Northland Ave., Appleton, WI not later than May 31, 2022. Bid opening at 9:00 am on Wednesday, June 1, 2022. Successful bidder must pick up product by June 17, 2022. Product is located in Madison, WI. Info on Submitting Your Bid
![]() The labor shortage in our industry is a threat to every restaurant as we emerge from the pandemic. While there are no silver bullet solutions, we have been working with legislative leaders on ways to help. Last month, the National Restaurant Association announced the introduction of legislation they've been developing to create a new program to offer the start of a solution. The Essential Workers for Economic Advancement (EWEA) Act would create a new guest worker visa program to help restaurants fill jobs that do not require a college degree. It would be incredibly helpful for Congress to hear that you support this program. Click the Take Action button below to contact your representatives in Washington, DC. YOUR INVITATION TO BID
On occasion the Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement Unit confiscates contraband alcohol beverages. The DOR is authorized to sell the confiscated product to the highest bidder. These sales consist of 1,633 bottles of Taxed Wine. Many times, bottles sell well below wholesale price. Bids will be accepted from either a wholesale Permittee or persons licensed to sell wine at retail (Class A or B Liquor License). Sealed bids must be received at 265 W Northland Ave., Appleton, WI not later than April 25 2022. Bid opening at 9:00 am on April 26, 2022. Successful bidder must pick up product by May 13, 2022. Product is located in Madison, WI. Click here for more information on how to seal your bid. On March 15, the Small Business Administration announced a deferment extension for future payments on COVID-related Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). This deferment extension of up to 30 months is effective for all EIDLs approved in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Before this announcement, the deferment allowance was 24 months from the original loan's closing date.
Restaurants should be aware that:
![]() As you have likely heard, Congress this week finally reached a bipartisan agreement on their annual spending bill. The agreement is silent on replenishing the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) and no new funds will be directed to complete the mission by funding the 177,000 applications still pending. For Wisconsin, this represents 3,776 establishments who collectively need $715,697,000 to survive. These are losses they endured that were not covered by PPP funds. The National Restaurant Association called this failure a “gut punch” to our industry and we couldn’t agree more. We left no stone unturned in our efforts to get Congress to fulfill their promise to the restaurant industry. Unfortunately, many leaders in Washington were not willing to commit to replenishment in fear that it would send a message that the US economy is not in recovery. We are waiting for the dust to settle in Washington and to identify if there are other avenues to replenish this sorely-needed program. This decision from Congress is a huge blow to our efforts and the path forward is very uncertain. Our own data from you show that without these critical dollars, upwards of 40% of our Wisconsin restaurants could close on top of the 10-15% that have already shuttered their doors. Restaurants are going to close as a result of inaction, and thousands of fellow Wisconsinites have answered our call every time we’ve asked you to engage in this fight. From the start of this pandemic, the Wisconsin Restaurant Association and the National Restaurant Association have pursued an “all-of-the-above” strategy for the industry, diving into every issue at the federal, state, and local level that could help or hurt us. From cocktails-to-go to worker shortages to the recently passed RRF Tax Treatment bill, we have had a seat at the table for every major policy debate underway. That will not change. You’ll be hearing more from us and the National Restaurant Association on the outlook for RRF, but in the meantime there’s a host of other issues we need to be focused on. We’re not stopping, and hope you won’t either. Kristine Hillmer Wisconsin Restaurant Association President & CEO |
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