Stern words for Country Inn owners at Warren Town Council meeting
Restaurant closed unexpectedly last November, putting dozens out of work with no prior notice
The Warren Town Council voted Tuesday night to let the holder of the former Country Inn liquor license keep it for another four months, extending it for a second time this year despite some harsh …
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Stern words for Country Inn owners at Warren Town Council meeting
Restaurant closed unexpectedly last November, putting dozens out of work with no prior notice
The Warren Town Council voted Tuesday night to let the holder of the former Country Inn liquor license keep it for another four months, extending it for a second time this year despite some harsh words for the company.
A representative from MarJam, Inc., appeared before the council to ask for a second license extension, which the company has not used since it closed the Country Inn without notice last November. The closure put approximately 90 people out of work with no prior notice; one girl who had been brought in for her first day of training Sunday, Nov. 11 found out Monday morning, Nov. 12 that her job was gone. Others were left unexpectedly jobless after working for the restaurant for as long as 30 years.
On Tuesday, the representative told the council that the liquor license is a valuable asset that Mar-Jam needs to keep to help consummate a deal with a local interest that has plans to open a new restaurant there.
“Everything’s on track to get the deal done (but) we can ill afford to lose the (liquor) license.”
Council members seemed amenable to extending the license until the yearly renewal date for all licenses in November. But their eventual approval did not come without some stern words set off by audience member Andre Asselin:
“You’re being very cooperative,” he told the council. “How cooperative were they when they closed and put everyone out with no notice at all? Why are you so nice to them when they were so horrible to the people who worked for them? Why?”
Councilor John Hanley replied:
“That is a valuable piece of real estate that contributes to our tax base. I’m not happy with the way they closed it either, but we can’t bite off our nose to spite our face.”
Council president Keri Cronin added that as far as being unhappy with Mar-Jam’s lack of notice to its former employees, “we did make that point when we gave them the extension last time.”
The Mar-Jam representative noted that the interest party also runs the Sakonnet River Grille and Four Corners Grille. The deal would be a lease-to-buy arrangement, he said.
