One bar-restaurant in Fargo receives break, while another faces penalty

FARGO— Two Fargo bar-restaurants were given differing decisions on their liquor law violations by Fargo city commissioners on Monday night, July 27, after some pressure was applied by competitors.

Twist, in the heart of downtown, was given a three-month delay on a 30-day suspension for its second violation of not meeting the 50-50 food-to-liquor balance for the type of license it operates under.

Another, SouthTown PourHouse, was ordered to close an hour early nightly for a similar violation, its first.

The difference in the two, Commissioner Tony Gehrig said, was that Twist was close to meeting its ratio at 48%, and that it was clearly a business on its own unlike SouthTown PourHouse, which used its sales from Duane's House of Pizza sales to meet its goal of 53%.

City Auditor Steve Sprague said the liquor control board and the city attorney's office ruled that the PourHouse and Duane's were two separate businesses and thus the requirement wasn't met.

The commissioners voted 3-2 for the suspension delay for Twist, while they unanimously supported the one-hour closing penalty for the PourHouse.

Lawyers weighed in on the issue, as well as a bar owner, during a public hearing on the two violations.

Jeff Thomas of Frank's Lounge said he paid extra for his license so he wouldn't have to be constricted by food sales.

He said if food from a non-related company is applied toward food sales percentage, it risks devaluing the other liquor licenses.

"We've been criticized as the good 'old boys network,'" Thomas said, and that's because the liquor laws have been changed and bent over the years.

"That's not right," he said.

Lawyer Mark Hanson, who represented Cowboy Jack's and The Bulldog Tap, also argued that the licenses that the PourHouse and Twist have are for restaurant operations, with alcohol as a supplement to the food. He also said the PourHouse was stopping food service four hours before the bar closed at 2 a.m.

However, lawyer James Cailao, representing the PourHouse, said all of the food is cooked on the premises of the PourHouse, which shares a kitchen with Duane's. He said it's a joint venture and that Duane's food is listed on the PourHouse menu.

Gehrig and Commissioner Dave Piepkorn said it appeared to be clear that they were two separate businesses, however.

As for Twist, Piepkorn, who voted against delaying a suspension along with Commissioner Arlette Preston, said the liquor laws need to be followed and the law called for the 30-day suspension.

Preston said the city's liquor laws were "alphabet soup" and needed to seriously be examined.

However, Twist owner Dan Hurder said with the pandemic in place the suspension would likely put him out of business.

One of the reasons is that more of the younger crowd, who drink more, are coming out and the older crowd that would visit for a meal aren't eating out as often. He also said they were close to meeting the 50-50 mark, as they were only $10,000 away from meeting the goal out of $560,000 in sales.

Hurder also said they had tried several ways to meet the 50-50 by, for example, offering a Sunday brunch.

Commissioners Gehrig, John Strand and Mayor Tim Mahoney voted for a three-month delay in hopes that the closure and reductions in business in recent months causing problems because of the pandemic could be reversed to help Twist stay open.

Strand, who favored the delay, said Twist, the former site of Monte's restaurant, was a longtime fixture in downtown and was a leader in the movement to get more dining establishments into downtown. He said that "a lot of bars and restaurants were having a difficult time" due to the pandemic.