Madison committee refers Festival Foods entity-reorganization to next meeting for fuller city application and store-level questions

The Alcohol License Review Committee on Jan. 21 referred a request from Festival Foods (now identifying itself as Wisconsin Foodliner Inc.) for further review after members said the packet did not include the city’s full application materials and raised questions about store operations and public safety.

Ryan Gordon, counsel for the applicant, said the transaction was a change in corporate name and some directors and officers, and that they had provided AB100 director forms, an AB200 application and Madison supplemental forms. "We submitted the AB200, the AB100s for each director and the Madison supplemental forms," Gordon said, adding he would re-email the AB200 and supporting documents to the city clerk.

Alder Revere said the reorganization felt "substantive" and outside the committee’s typical practice for an entity reorganization and asked that the city’s application be completed so the panel can review the full information and question the store director about operational changes. Revere also said he had received recent outreach from the Wisconsin Grocers Association about public-safety issues at the East Washington Avenue location and that the committee should be able to question store leadership in person.

Assistant City Attorney Amber McReynolds said it was not legally required to submit a new city application for the change but that the committee could ask the applicant to provide it; she said the materials submitted were "substantially the same" as the city form in many respects. Gordon said they were willing to cooperate and would provide the requested files promptly.

Committee member Miss Clemens said she wanted time to review the materials and moved to refer the item to the next meeting; the motion was seconded and carried, and the item will return on the February agenda. The committee did not take a final vote on the license change today.

Next steps: the applicant will re-submit the AB200 and Madison supplemental forms to the clerk, and the ALRC will consider the item at its next regular meeting with the store director or other operational staff available to answer questions.