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A Gay Bar Opens Upstairs. Downstairs, Burger & Beer Joint Loses Its Franchise
http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/restaurants/article131135579.html#storylink=cpy ^ | FEBRUARY 6, 2017 | CARLOS FRIAS AND STEVE ROTHAUS

Posted on 02/06/2017 7:16:26 PM PST by nickcarraway

A black tarp hangs over what used to be the Burger & Beer Joint in South Beach as well as a dark cloud over why it closed.

Three months after a gay night club opened on the second floor of the country’s first Burger & Beer Joint, the Boca Raton-based franchise has revoked the local restaurant’s right to use the name, menu and concept.

The locals say they are being targeted for leasing the upstairs to a longtime South Beach gay club promoter, and they point to a letter they were sent shortly after The Mix bar and lounge opened, which states the club “could have a substantial negative impact” on Burger & Beer Joint’s reputation.

“It’s outright discrimination,” said Carlos Ekneiro, one of three partners who own the South Beach restaurant, which is now operating without a name and concept. “How can they say because they’re doing gay events that it’s hurting their brand?”

The national company, B&B Franchise Group, says the restaurant at 1766 Bay Rd., is hiding behind a gay-rights issue and has a long history of flouting corporate rules, including the fact they opened any bar without first getting approval.

An attorney for B&B Franchise said Ekneiro and his two partners, fellow Venezuelan investors, never went through the proper approval process to open the club on the second floor, where the restaurant also has its kitchen.

B&B Franchise also canceled licensing at two other Burger & Beer Joint restaurants, one at Dolphin Mall, the other at CityPlace in West Palm Beach, also owned by Ekneiro and his partners.

“Variance of any kind is injurious to the brand — no matter what kind of bar is opened. It’s not something that would have been approved,” said B&B’s attorney Charles Forlidas. “We know it’s South Beach. We welcome the gay community.... It’s the fact they brought in a third party.”

Tony Ferro, a longtime South Beach club promoter, said Ekneiro approached him about opening The Mix and that he later met with a B&B corporate representative.

“They knew what we were doing. It had to be approved with them, which they did. They were OK with the whole concept,” Ferro said. “We don’t sell their food. We don’t brand ourselves together with B&B at all. I don’t see how they would associate us with them.”

Ferro said he had no idea why his bar would cost the restaurant its franchise. “When they told me, I was mind boggled,” he said. “The only thing I can think of was we’ve had a drag queen at the door. I’m really not sure.”

The after-hours club had a separate entrance and operated as an upstairs, 2,000-square-foot “speakeasy,” Ferro said, after Burger & Beer Joint had closed for the night.

Ferro said he’s never before felt discriminated against because he’s gay.

“It was chilling. In 2017, we shouldn’t be experiencing this. Especially in South Beach,” he said. “Gay dollars made B&B. We’ve been there since the beginning.”

A flyer touting “South Beach’s New Gay Hotspot,” sharing the restaurant’s address, was referenced in a letter the franchise sent Ekneiro’s attorney in early November, within weeks of The Mix opening on Oct. 27. The letter says the nightclub is an “unapproved use” that “could have a substantial negative impact on B&B and the associations made by consumers or the general public with the B&B System.”

B&B’s attorney points to the other stripped franchises, specifically the one in West Palm Beach, “and it did not have a gay bar in it,” Forlidas said. Proof there is no discrimination, he says, is that the group still runs two other franchises, one in Mary Brickell Village and another in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“If you operate well, we don’t have anything to say about it,” Forlidas said. “If they haven’t filed a lawsuit it’s because they don’t have any grounds to sue us.”

Ekneiro said the company has been using a host of “made up” reasons to cancel their franchise agreements, and that when they referenced the gay club, they went too far.

His South Beach restaurant reopened without a name Monday, as will his Dolphin Mall location on Wednesday. He says he is considering opening both with a new name: Freedom Burger or Liberty Burger.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food; Society
KEYWORDS: florida; gaybar; homosexualagenda; lavendermafia
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1 posted on 02/06/2017 7:16:26 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Ahhh... nothing personal, mate, but why exactly is this worthy of a thread on FR?

Try as I might, I fail to see how this in any way aligns with the core values of FreeRepublic.

Again, why is this worthy of being posted here?

Colour Me confused...


2 posted on 02/06/2017 7:28:50 PM PST by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzrims trying to kill them)
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To: Utilizer

Thd obvious solution is for the gay bar to have rear entry only.


3 posted on 02/06/2017 7:33:40 PM PST by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: Utilizer

“Colour”

Welcome to America.


4 posted on 02/06/2017 7:38:09 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (MAGA!!!)
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To: nickcarraway
It had to be approved with them, which they did.

You can produce paperwork backing this up?

If not then obviously they DIDN'T.

What a trio of whining pansies.

5 posted on 02/06/2017 7:41:21 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (Not a Romantic, not a hero worshiper and stop trying to tug my heartstrings. It tickles! (pink bow))
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To: nickcarraway

Do they sell Bowel Burgers Au Jus?


6 posted on 02/06/2017 7:41:57 PM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra (Don't touch that thing Don't let anybody touch that thing!I'm a Doctor and I won't touch that thing!)
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To: nickcarraway

Way too complex. Either you rent to poofters or you don’t. Keep it simple.


7 posted on 02/06/2017 7:42:31 PM PST by soycd
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To: nickcarraway

My suggestion would be for them to give up the burgers, go with a German theme keep the Beer and feature sausages.


8 posted on 02/06/2017 7:57:15 PM PST by PAR35
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To: nickcarraway
The after-hours club had a separate entrance and operated as an upstairs, 2,000-square-foot “speakeasy,” Ferro said, after Burger & Beer Joint had closed for the night. Ferro said he’s never before felt discriminated against because he’s gay. “It was chilling. In 2017, we shouldn’t be experiencing this.

50 years and gay bars are still running speakeasies. Mob involved as they were in the 1960s?

9 posted on 02/06/2017 7:58:11 PM PST by a fool in paradise (patriots win, Communists and Socialist Just-Us Warriors lose)
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To: nickcarraway

10 posted on 02/06/2017 9:35:23 PM PST by Proyecto Anonimo
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To: Utilizer

I found it interesting. To each his/her own.


11 posted on 02/06/2017 11:24:23 PM PST by kelly4c
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To: nickcarraway

Is the franchise agreement with a Chik-fil-A type owner, and a morals clause in the contract?


12 posted on 02/07/2017 11:28:44 AM PST by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Building the Wall, NOW!)
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To: Utilizer
Ahhh... nothing personal, mate, but why exactly is this worthy of a thread on FR?

We should not be ignorant of what the enemy is doing and how it affects those surrounding it, including ourselves.

13 posted on 02/07/2017 11:31:17 AM PST by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Building the Wall, NOW!)
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To: Utilizer

Are you the P.C. police enforcing LGBT hegemony?


14 posted on 02/07/2017 11:38:25 AM PST by nickcarraway
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

He might be my neighbour.


15 posted on 02/07/2017 11:44:45 AM PST by kanawa (Trump Loves a Great Deal)
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To: nickcarraway; All
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16 posted on 02/07/2017 11:50:47 AM PST by musicman (Brokeback Mountain? ..the movie where one cowboy says to the other..."Corn? When did you eat corn?")
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To: soycd
"...“How can they say because they’re doing gay events that it’s hurting their brand?” ..."

That's not mayo on the burger!

17 posted on 02/07/2017 12:46:31 PM PST by T-Bone Texan (:^)
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To: nickcarraway

Kitchen for the restaurant is in the bar. The bar has the same address as the restaurant. If they can’t see several issues with this, from health inspection to muddying the brand ID, then they’re being obtuse. This would have happened whether or not the clientele of the bar was gay.


18 posted on 02/07/2017 12:50:56 PM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: nickcarraway

When you put your name on a contract, maybe you read it first...

Obviously, according to the article the B&B owner is in violation of his terms...

Not surprising for Miami, lots of people think they are above the law...

Too bad the guy is whining.... it’s not a gay issue...

That will get him a cup of coffee and change for his trouble...


19 posted on 02/07/2017 12:54:20 PM PST by Popman
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To: kelly4c

Meh. Here in this little mountain town, I could not help but notice that more than a handful of the graduating girls went to their Senior Prom with another girl as their date.

I could not help but notice this as many of them were very attractive indeed, but felt no need to start a thread on it here or anywhere else for that matter.

I believe that is what ‘blogs’ are for, not that I post to any.

Glad you found it of interest, begorra.


20 posted on 02/07/2017 6:06:45 PM PST by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzrims trying to kill them)
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