NORTHAMPTON — Brew Practitioners, a brewery in downtown Florence, received a cease-and-desist order from the state last week stating that the business is not permitted to reopen under the state’s current guidelines. But an owner of the brewery disagrees, arguing that offering popcorn and serving chips from a neighboring cafe is enough to meet state criteria.
Without food service, breweries are not allowed to open until Phase 4 of Gov. Charlie Baker’s reopening plan. But with seated food service and food made on-site “under retail food permits issued by municipal authorities,” breweries were allowed to open during Phase 2, according to the governor’s plan.
Getting a popcorn machine does not count, said city Health Department Director Merridith O’Leary, referring to Brew Practitioners. “They do not have a kitchen to prepare food. And they don’t have all the other necessary licenses to prepare food.”
On July 11, Brew Practitioners was allowed to open for the first time since March when they had a food truck there, according to Tanzania Cannon-Eckerle, the majority owner of the brewery. “We had a great weekend,” she said. The city sent a health inspector at that time, O’Leary and Cannon-Eckerle both said.
The following weekend, Cannon-Eckerle planned to open again. The business is next to vegan restaurant and bakery Cafe Evolution, and so the brewery bought individually packaged chips and salsa from the cafe. Cannon-Eckerle also bought a popcorn machine and planned to serve the snack. The business has a retail food permit, Cannon-Eckerle said.
Cannon-Eckerle said she informed the city she planned to reopen over this past weekend. Then she got the cease-and-desist order from the state Office of Labor and Workforce Development, which was first reported by MassLive. The letter, dated July 17 and provided to the Gazette by Cannon-Eckerle, says the brewery is not permitted to be open in Phase 1 or 2 of the state’s reopening plan.
The governor’s rules are in place for good reason, O’Leary said. “We see the bars in other states — that’s where a lot of other transmission is happening.” COVID-19 rates in Massachusetts are low, and “we have to keep it there, and we have to follow all of these orders,” O’Leary said.
Cannon-Eckerle took to social media to air her concerns about the cease-and-desist order on Saturday. “Is this reserved for black brewery owners or just female brewery owners,” the post reads. “I can’t figure out which of my labels has upset the health department so much.”
In an interview on Sunday, Cannon-Eckerle said she wrote that post while feeling frustrated. “I do not think at all that this is a race hate thing. And I do not think at all this is a gender thing.” But she said when a rule is “arbitrarily” applied, it can impact women- and minority-owned businesses.
O’Leary said that people have reached out to her and the Health Department saying the situation is not fair and they “never thought they’d see the city of Northampton making judgment calls based on race and ethnicity.”
That’s not the case, O’Leary said. The city and the Health Department are “pro-business and equality,” O’Leary said, adding that the department does everything in its power “to make sure everybody is operating, meeting the same minimum requirements that are set forth by law.”
O’Leary said she and her colleagues have been treated poorly. “We’re being called names I couldn’t repeat to you,” she said. The Health Department is enforcing the governor’s orders to the best of its ability, she said.
“We didn’t ask for this burden,” she said. “We don’t have the capacity to do what the governor has put on us.”
Cannon-Eckerle said she knows the city is trying to follow the rules. “I would like to emphasize that I understand the city has a job to do, and they are just trying to go by the letter of the law. I completely understand that. But I disagree that I don’t fit into that law, and I’m just trying to make that argument.”
If Brew Practitioners can’t reopen the brewery, Cannon-Eckerle worries about the fate of the business. About 5% of the brewery’s business is retail distribution, she estimated. “Trying to fit into some very severe parameters just to survive as a small business owner is not only my problem,” she said. “Small businesses, microbusinesses across the city, across the state, across the country, are all feeling the same thing.”
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com.