A fresh smackdown
Written by Glen Hughes on October 28th, 2008 8 Comments
We cover a wide variety of topics on TheSalemInsider.com but one of the most discussed is where people in their 20′s and 30′s go to have a good time. From now until the end of the year there is one less place in our late night lineup.
Last night the City of Salem’s Licensing Board flexed their muscles and told Fresh Taste of Asia to close their doors this Thursday and they are banned from having entertainment after 10 p.m. on Thursday and Friday nights for the rest of the year.
Recently some trouble has occurred which garnered the attention of Salem PD. In fact if you remember our video from last week Bad Cop, you might be interested to know that events precipitating this were caused by people who attended Fresh Taste earlier that night.
I’ve heard much talk that its because of the type of music they play combined with alcohol that draws the out of hand patrons. Having worked in Boston on Lansdown Street for quite a few years I can tell you that it is an undeniable fact, venues that play hip-hop music have more altercations than those that play other types of music. However, when you compare the number of police reported issues of Fresh Taste to that of O’Neills (that has a larger capacity) on hip-hop nights the results show a big problem at Fresh Taste that does not exist at O’Neills.
I am a fairly large guy who has worked in the night club industry for years and has learned to spot and deal with problematic and physically violent people. Recently I went to Fresh Taste on a hip-hop night with a lady friend of mine. We were seated at the bar and had some dinner and cocktails. Shortly before 10pm the tables were cleared to make room for a “dance floor”. It was about this time that the bar started to pack in with girls in short skirts and guys wearing Affliction, or Tapout brand clothing. My friend had to go to the little girls room and no sooner had she stepped away from her chair than some meathead decided to sit there. I politley told him that the seat was occupied and the young lady was to be right back. Next thing you know he was up in my face telling me he would kill me and kick my head in. When I asked him which he would do first he instantly became physical. Thankfully I was able to handle the situation but the mood for me was ruined. It’s acts like this that usually end up sprawling outside and becoming problematic for bar staff, patrons and police.
As much as I love to see Salem businesses doing well and people spending their money to have a good time in our city, I think this wake-up call is a good thing. One of the board members last night was upset telling the bar owner that by having entertainment and dancing he is acutally running a club not a restaurant. I don’t have a problem with that either, my philosophy when working at or running a club has always been offer the people a good time while keeping them safe. Establishments that do that turn out to be successful, those that dont do that end up feeling the wrath of the city. Hopefully Fresh Taste will learn something from this and offer a better environment keeping both their patrons and the City happy.
8 Responses to “A fresh smackdown”
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Let me get this right: You had a bad experience with a meathead and that affirms the licensing board’s decision? Are there any other establishments we should shut down because of bad experiences with meatheads? Let’s be objective when discussing crushing someone’s livelihood especially in these dire economic times.
I agree that something needs to be done but restricting business is not the way. The Fresh Taste and O’Neill’s are working with the Salem PD, they are working with the Chamber. Fine them but let’s not force the closure of a business. It’s unfortunate that O’Neill’s and Rockafellas didn’t stand with them and all threaten to go dark when the licensing board handed down their punishment. It seems most agree that it isn’t just Fresh Taste that’s to blame here:
http://www.salemnews.com/archivesearch/local_story_301232924.html
maitai,
My experience has nothing to do with the boards decision or how I feel about the boards decision, it is merely an example of the type of problems that can and do happen. Allowing those types of problems has lead to where Fresh Taste is now.
Business with liquor licenses that have problems often get shut down for a day or number of days for violations. It is standard practice and has happened to Rockafellas, Bangkok Paradise (and the Shanty I think) in recent months and I didn’t see any other bars banding together threatening to go dark on their behalf.
Being proactive many of the down town business have banded together to share information about problem patrons and there is now a policy where if you get kicked out of one bar you are kicked out of all of them. This is similar to what we used to do on Lansdown St.
Hopefully by working together all the businesses can stem this problem and none of them will find themselves in front of the licensing board any time soon.
As a restaurant owner I am happy to work with other restaurants and bars to share ideas, best practices etc. to keep people safe while they enjoy themselves. I am also happy to work with the police and the Chamber of Commerce. However, it would take something quite spectacular to cause me to shut my doors and deprive my hard working staff of their livelihood just to prove a point or show solidarity.
(Oh, and the Shanty has not been closed by the board at all this year. In fact, the board apologized for their false accusations after the ‘can incident’. )
I was thinking about the Superbowl incident not the ‘can incident’ but when I looked back they got a warning not a closure.
Last year was the first year they were around, right? They probably got a feel for what they could get away with and decided to push it this year.
Their food and drinks suck anyways. They’ll be gone soon enough.
Oh Tom, I hope you’re not talking about the Shanty…
I think Tom’s talking about FTOA, since you and the Shanty have been there much longer than a year.