After acquiring the area Pizza Hut locations, EYM Group filed food license applications with the City of Milwaukee in November to document the change in ownership for the longstanding Pizza Huts which employ 80 people from the Milwaukee area. While the team worked with the City over the past 8 weeks, on Wednesday the Milwaukee Health Department suddenly issued orders to close the locations without any prior notice.
EYM Group immediately retained the Food & Beverage Team at Davis|Kuelthau and beginning on Thursday morning, Brian Randall led the Davis|Kuelthau legal team and EYM Group’s local operations team to meet with multiple City representatives and elected representatives. Since yesterday morning, our team has completed all application forms, paid $3,950 in license application fees, obtained Board of Zoning Appeals approval for the required Special Use Permits for two locations as required, scheduled and coordinated Health Department inspections at all locations, and scheduled coordinated Department of Neighborhood Services at all required locations.
EYM Group and the Davis|Kuelthau legal team are doing everything possible to work with the City to reopen all of the locations so that the loyal Pizza Hut customers can find their favorites for dinner tonight at all of the 9 neighborhood Pizza Huts.
For additional news coverage, please visit TMJ 4’s article, City hopes Milwaukee Pizza Huts closed due to licensing issues will re-open Friday, and Fox 6’s article, Operators of 9 Pizza Huts shut down due to licensing issues begin to reopen.
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The attorneys and tax professionals on Davis & Kuelthau’s Food and Beverage Industry Team are a recognized leading service group representing the full industry cluster—from farm to factory to fork including breweries, cheesemakers, organic dairy products, non-alcoholic beverage manufacturing, poultry products, orchards, and wineries. The team advises restaurants, bars and other retail businesses, including franchises. They also provide counsel to cold storage warehousing, food packaging and transportation businesses.
Brian Randall joined the firm in March of 2018 and primarily works from its Milwaukee office. In addition to chairing the firm’s Food and Beverage Industry Team, Brian is a member of the firm’s Municipal Law practice and its Real Estate practice, focusing on land use, zoning and tax increment financing. He represents food and beverage clients that need alcohol beverage and food establishment licenses, as well as businesses with other municipal licenses, handling applications, license renewals, quasi-judicial hearings, and regulatory compliance. Brian guides clients through statutory and ordinance issues including legislative strategies for proposed ordinance changes.
Clients regularly turn to Brian to address alcohol license quota restrictions which can present economic development challenges for a community. In addition to his guidance of Pizza Hut, another recent example was Brian’s successful effort working with the City of Wauwatosa, a developing community facing the quota limit, to establish a Premier Economic Development District (under the 2016 “Titletown District” law) creating two additional Class B licenses for his developer client to attract new businesses to its project.
A graduate of Marquette University Law School, Brian’s accomplishments in the legal industry include Best Lawyers® in America (Food & Beverage Law and Land Use & Zoning Law) and Wisconsin Super Lawyers®. He also was recognized by the Milwaukee Business Journal as a 40 Under 40 honoree.
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Davis|Kuelthau, s.c. offers an array of innovative legal solutions to business owners and corporations of all sizes, including emerging, middle market and Fortune 500 companies, high net worth individuals and families, private and institutional investors, and lenders. The firm’s attorneys, who practice from three offices across Wisconsin, have national experience combined with strong community ties. For more information, please visit www.dkattorneys.com.