Sophie Bolich

Little Caesars Gets 10-Day Suspension

Pizza chain's Capitol Drive restaurant must close from July 2 through 11.

By - Jun 21st, 2023 05:24 pm
Little Caesar's. Photo taken June 21, 2023 by Sophie Bolich.

Little Caesar’s. Photo taken June 21, 2023 by Sophie Bolich.

The Grantosa location for Little Caesars will be closed for 10 days as a result of a suspension handed down by the city.

The Milwaukee Common Council voted unanimously at its June 20 meeting to suspend the restaurant, 9230 W. Capitol Dr., for excessive littering.

The suspension will go into effect on July 1, when the current license expires, and continue through July 11.

“The issue with this business is mainly litter,” said Alderman Lamont Westmoreland at a June 6 renewal hearing before the Licenses Committee.

Photos submitted to the committee show the business’s parking lot strewn with trash, including numerous pizza boxes, beer cans and other debris.

The alderman said he has been in conversation with licensee Rose-Marie Walker, who is based in Michigan, for several weeks without results.

“I think I’ve been more than fair with communicating to them the issues that we have with complaints coming in, photos being submitted,” he said. “It has not been addressed.”

Westmoreland also raised concerns with the business’s parking blocks, which were not properly secured after the surface lot was repaved. He said cars frequently push the blocks forward onto a public sidewalk, which creates issues for disabled and elderly passersby.

“If I’m being honest, I’m sick and tired of holding their hand,” Westmoreland said. He recommended a 20-day suspension for the business, but said he’d be willing to cut the consequence in half if leadership at Little Caesars could create and follow a plan to keep the property trash-free.

Melissa Daniels, a corporate employee from Chicago who attended the hearing in person, said that starting June 6, the area will be swept three times daily, adding that the restaurant plans to hire a new general manager.

In response, Alderman Jonathan Brostoff moved to renew the license with a 10-day suspension.

Little Caesars, a corporate-owned business, did not file written objections and did not give testimony at the June 20 meeting of the full Common Council.

A representative of Little Caesars did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

The “Hot-N-Ready” pizza purveyor has operated for more than 15 years at the address, selling its signature pizzas, breadsticks and chicken wings.

The restaurant has five additional locations throughout Milwaukee. Walker is the agent for all of them.

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Categories: Food & Drink

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