 |
| Franklin Liquors is asking for your support for the 2025 MetroWest Community's Choice Awards |
 |
| An Exploration of French Wines - April 24 at Franklin Liquor |
Vincent Mareel, French born, living in Lille and south of France. He began his US career in Washington, DC with twelve years in the food and wine scene in DC catering to residence and patrons on Capitol Hill. He continued in DC representing both French and prestigious American wines in the DC Metropolitan area, working with elite country clubs and restaurants. Today he has worked for Luneau USA representing the Group Castel as leader in French wines, for 15 years, as well as wineries all over Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal).
Tickets - $5 at -> https://www.meetup.com/franklin-wine-club/events/307167111/
 |
| Exploring Italian Wines With Ciro - March 27 |
Mark C Lenzi CSW,CSS,CWAS,FWS,IWS*,SWS,IWM owner of Franklin Liquors
- Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) And Spirits( (CSS) by the Society of Wine Educators.
- California Wine Appellation Specialist (CWAS) by the San Francisco Wine School. (First In MA)
- French Wine Scholar(FWS)/instructor, Spanish Wine Scholar (SWS), And Italian Wine Scholar (IWS*) by the Wine Scholar Guil
- Italian Wine Specialist (IWS*) by the North American Sommelier Association.
- Oregon Wine Expert (OWE) by the Napa Valley Wine Academy,
- Italian Wine Maestro (IWM) by the Vinitaly International (First USA Class)
- Co Host-Podcast/Radio Show The Wonderful World of Wine (WWW)
- Founder-The Franklin Wine Club
FM #1239 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 1239 in the series.
This session of the radio show shares my conversation with
Mark Lenzi, owner of Franklin Liquors
Harry Patel, owner of Liquor World
Hunter Rudd, entrepreneur with experience in Colorado alcohol market
We met to record at the Franklin TV & Radio studio and virtually on Thursday, June 20, 2024.
We reviewed the issue at hand. Pour Richard’s and BJs effectively swap licenses so BJs ends up with the all alcohol license and Pour Richard’s (under new ownership) ends up with the beer/wine license.
We discuss control, competition, convenience, and some of the other nuances around the potential transfer and domino effects of the possible move.
The conversation runs about 50 minutes. Let’s listen to our conversation.
Audio link -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1239-bjs-proposed-license-transfer-06-20-24--------------
Mark Lenzi - Franklin Liquors -> https://www.franklinliquors.com/shop.html
Harry Patel - Liquor World -> https://liquorworldma.com/shop
Hunter Rudd - LinkedIn profile -> https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunterhrudd/ and his business page -> https://www.sommsays.co/
Politico article referenced on pending FCC suit -> https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/03/ftc-lawsuit-southern-glazer-wine-spirits-00161323
Franklin Matters post on the license transfers -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2024/06/town-of-franklin-notice-of-public.html
Mark’s letter to the community & Town Council -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2024/06/voices-of-franklin-lenzis-argument.html
--------------
We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
How can you help?
If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like something here, please let me know
Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit www.franklin.news/ or www.Franklinmatters.org/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.
I hope you enjoy!
------------------
You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
Discussion of control, competition & convenience on the proposed BJs license transfer (audio)
BJ’s will tell you they want an upgrade to a full liquor license, as their customers are asking for it. In our opinion, this request is because they can’t compete without it. You may recall the Council received a request from Dacey’s Market to also upgrade to a full liquor license. That liquor license was approved and since sold. The market is changing; if Franklin Liquors cannot object to a license on grounds of competition, how can BJ’s be approved for saying they can’t compete without it?
We have 4 “box” stores, Shaws, Big Y, Stop Shop, and BJ’s. Three of the four already have beer and wine. Please look at all the towns around us. NONE have even had beer and wine and only Trader Joes in Foxboro has liquor. Bellingham, Norfolk, Medway, Millis, Wrentham, Milford, Foxboro, Walpole have no big box stores with beer and wine. We are already very unique in allowing box stores to sell beer and wine.
For that you must think of the safety of the community. People that don’t drink, those affected by alcoholism, and those who don’t want to expose their children to alcohol don’t need to and won’t go into a liquor store such as Franklin Liquors. Those same people must go into a box store to purchase essential daily supplies. This will increase exposure. Please also think about workers in these stores- many underage employees will now be exposed significantly more. Look for yourself how the box stores display and stock products all around the store and in uncontrolled areas.
BJ’s currently sells beer and wine, so this will not prevent the sale of alcohol at the store. You will prevent them from increasing exposure by not allowing a full alcohol license. As a corporation they also have the option to pursue this request in many of their other stores in Massachusetts: this isn’t their only store to expand in. Here are some resources for you to see other towns who have denied supermarkets, and BJ’s in the past.
• Great Exposure and Limited Control of Alcohol• Franklin Unique Box Store Licenses• The Use of Can’t Compete Requests• Other Towns Having Denied OR Regretted These Requests• BJ’s Already Has Beer/Wine-Not Preventing them from selling alcohol• Franklin Already Has Alcohol Exposure In 3 of 4 Big Box Stores- IF you approve the other 2 box stores will want upgrade to full liquor• Support of the growing “shop small” movement in Franklin
 |
| Voices of Franklin: The Lenzi's argument against the BJ's liquor license request |
FM #1086 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 1086 in the series.
This session of the radio show shares the Town Council meeting held in Council Chambers on Wednesday, October 18, 2023. All 9 members of the Council participated, 1 remotely (Frongillo).
Quick recap:
(1) Town Clerk provided updates on the upcoming Oct 24 election for the new Tri-County school building and the Biennial Town election on Nov 7. Both votes will take place at the High School. Folks can vote early in the Town Clerk's office during business hours
(2) the swearing in of the new round of hires (backfill replacements) for the Police Dept. along with the introduction of Kallie Montagano who returns to the Dept in a new role as the Co-Response Program continues to grow. And last but not least, the introduction of Frankie, the departments new therapy dog
(3) approval of the license changes to enable Bob Vozzella to expand into his new space and operate with his farmers licenses for wine and beer
(4) impactful and moving update from Jennifer Knight-Levine, CEO and cofounder of the SAFE Coalition on their work. The audio segment of her presentation along with the Q&A with the Council is shared separately. Her update includes the expansion of their work in meeting the needs of our community into handling the migrant housing needs -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2023/10/jen-knight-levine-updates-council-on.html
(5) Town Administrator Jamie Hellen's update on the migrant status will also be shared separately as an audio segment
5. APPOINTMENTS
a. Police Department - Swearing In of New Patrol Officers
i. Officer Parker Luther
ii. Officer Joseph Medina
iii. Officer Robert Young
iv. Officer Martin Zimei
b. Police Department - Introductions
i. Kallie Montagano, Co-Response Program Manager
ii. Frankie, Therapy Dog
The recording runs 1 hour and 47 minutes. Let’s listen to the Town Council meeting on Oct 18, 2023. Audio link -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1086-franklin-ma-town-council-mtg-10-18-23
--------------
The Franklin TV video is available for replay -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-7D1fTJLhY
Town Council agenda doc -> https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif10036/f/agendas/town_council_agenda_10.18.23.pdf
Photo album of the police introductions and swearing in ->
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qanQvXdNFAvbQQN76
My full set of notes captured via Twitter during the meeting are collected in a single PDF for easier reading ->
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x70Z0z2GHI0n98J3Ybgu_Thk_TTo4Ese/view?usp=drive_link
--------------
We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
How can you help?
If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like something here, please let me know
Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.
I hope you enjoy!
------------------
You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
 |
| The expansion of La Cantina Winery is progressing & the license transfers were approved at this session |
spot - (noun) 1. a small round or roundish mark. 2. a particular place or pointeleven - (noun) one more than ten
 |
| Notice of Public Hearing - Transfer of Section 15 Wine & Malt Beverages Package Store License |
