Timeline

7/1/23 We’re having our first golf outing! 9-Hole Twilight Golf Outing will be on September, 19th, 2023.

3/1/23 Drinks In The Seats is now a registered lobbying principle at the State of Wisconsin level! With proposed budget money being directed towards improvements to Milwaukee’s big-league ballpark, we want a say in there too to assure that in-seat beer vendors remain where they belong. For over five years now, we have been a registered lobbying principle with the City of Milwaukee, so this surely makes our scope of legislative influence considerably broader.

11/21/22 We are in the process of updating our store & donations page for easier access and stronger security.

6/1/22 Our push for an ordinance to require prepackaged alcoholic beverages to be opened prior to being served to the customers in large facilities in Milwaukee is back on the front burner. Please contact your Ald. if you reside in the city to encourage support!

6/25/21 In seat alcohol vending returns to Milwaukee’s baseball stadium! The same day that “100% capacity” was first permitted since the coronavirus began. In order to purchase an alcoholic product from one of the vendors, it must be in a cashless form. At this time, this concept is new to many of the fans as we will be available to do what we can to help them make a convenient payment thus keeping the option of purchasing drinks in the seats the best option possible. Missions & News Links

3/29/21 On the Milwaukee home opener for baseball (4/1/21) We will have a tent located at the Amstar gas station* on the northeast corner of Hawley & Bluemound Roads. You can purchase our shirts & masks there as well as visit with us before the start of the game (starting at 8am that day) so come and see us! *Our views do not reflect the views of Amstar’s.

11/30/20 Our newest product is here, masks! Our 2nd annual organizational meeting will also be taking place via Zoom! on 12/9/20

Masks

2nd annual meeting

3/13/20 With baseball now being delayed due to the coronavirus, we will be on top of things to make sure in-seat beer vendors get treated fairly when the season starts.

https://www.tmj4.com/news/national/coronavirus/milwaukee-stadium-employees-worry-how-they-will-get-by-during-coronavirus-pandemic

https://www.revenue.wi.gov/DORNews/DORonTapAIU003.pdf

2/29/20  Drinks In The Seats certainly is saddened and gives our condolences to everyone affected by the shooting at Molson Coors Brewery on 2/26/20. We are very proud to have originated in what should always be known as “The beer capitol of the world”. For the next few weeks, we have included a patch created by Lindsay Leinenkugel, simply stating Milwaukee Strong that could be found on pages throughout this website as well as our public Facebook page.

2/24/20 We have now endorsed Chris Larson for Milwaukee Co. Executive. We also are ramping up our push for a Milwaukee City Ordinance that would require alcoholic beverages served in cans & in bottles to be opened prior to being given to the customer in Class B alcohol licensed facilities that hold 2000 or more customers. That would include Milwaukee’s baseball stadium & basketball arena.

1/22/20 We made our first regular election cycle endorsements. As of right now, we will not be changing our endorsement of County Executive despite two candidates being removed from the ballot at this time.

Milwaukee area spring election endorsements

The latest DOR on Tap from the State of Wi Dept. of Revenue

https://www.revenue.wi.gov/DORNews/DORonTapAIU002.pdf

11/27/19 After a successful meeting involving Milwaukee Beer Vendors, talk progressed about furthering Drinks In The Seats® where it could potentially drop it’s “LLC status” and become a 501(c)5 labor committee or explore other tax-exempt alternatives. With Milwaukee elections soon about to happen, a couple issues that we’d like to see be pushed into city ordinances preventing behaviors that have been going against interests of in -seat beer vendors would be 1) An ordinance limiting all drinks served in Class B licensed facilities with expected customers of 2,000 or more to be of no more than 17 ounces per unit. Currently, while in-house rules prohibit more than two alcoholic drinks per  I.D. to be in that customer’s possession after a transaction. Concession stands that directly compete against the commissioned in-seat vendors are allowed to serve alcoholic drinks as large as 24oz per unit while in-seat beer vendors can sell drinks as large as 16oz per unit thus giving incentive for the customer to bypass the vendors in favor of the concession stands for a virtual “three beer sale”. 2) A city wide ordinance making it mandatory that any alcoholic beverage in a prepackaged container (e.g. can or bottle) gets opened prior to being served to the customer. This would in turn bring in an extra set of eyes (namely police working security at the stadium) to make sure every alcohol server is doing their job thus reducing the chance of one server “ruining it for all the other servers” or by someone (anyone) being seriously injured by an unopened can of beer being thrown across a large crowd.

10/29/19 On 11/19/19, We will be holding our largest meeting yet. It will be open to all Milwaukee Beer Vendors.

9/14/19 We slightly altered our stance on alcohol server licenses. This was done to accommodate for the traveling vendors as we intend to be nationwide. Go to:

Our stance on server licenses

9/12/19   We are happy to be including links of “DOR on Tap” to our website. This is a new periodical that has been put out by the Wisconsin Dept. of Revenue that provides state updates in the alcohol industry. Here’s a link to their first edition and continue to look for more editions on our timeline as they come out.

https://www.revenue.wi.gov/DORNews/DORonTapAIU001.pdf

9/2/19 We’re selling “clear stadium bags”. These see through bags will be accepted in any sports facility in the US, concerts too! With security being enhanced, you can get one of the bags we sell with our “.org” logo for a TOTAL cost of $10 from our site!  Go to https://drinksintheseats.org/index.php/product/clear-stadium-bags/

We are now working on a “registration page”, to bring on “members”, stay tuned for details.

6/1/19 A special election for the Milwaukee Common Council will be taking place in Aldermanic District #13  (due south side, garden district). Drinks In The Seats,PAC will make an endorsement in the primary of this race to fill the seat vacated by Terry Witkowski who recently retired. The primary is scheduled for July, 16th and a runoff election scheduled for August, 13th.

5/11/19 We have a shirt sale until 5/25/19 (now extended until the end of the year) with our lowest price ever! Our regular “any gender” shirts are now $8.99 including shipping & taxes. Buy a shirt

4/28/19 We continue to reach out in the community. We have now added the hashtag #DrinksInTheSeatsHelps to our Facebook and even Twitter posts that show us helping in the community. Earlier this month, we gave soft drinks and a few of our shirts to a church on the north side of Milwaukee. We have also helped in the past by sharing posts of a young lady who needed a transplant to helping a Mukwonago woman find her lost cat and other situations. We hope to expand the presence of #DrinksInTheSeatsHelps as our business-organization continues to expand.

We recently posted our objection to the abrupt cutback of in-seat beer vendors as Billy Joel took the stage at his Milwaukee concert on Fri 4/26. We are also monitoring and being proactive as to ensure any precautions that may be taken to prevent fighting during games when Chicago teams play at Milwaukee’s ballpark do not negatively affect it’s in-seat beer vendors.

1/23/19  The “official” launch date of the “beer Button app” at Fiserv.Forum happened on the January, 15th game. It looked like it garnered very little sales. While there were many “Beer Runners” equipped with iPod screens and the drinks being kept in zippered up lunchbox type coolers on hand to deliver the said beers, these “runners” looked bored and were seen just waiting in the entrances to the ramps/tunnels out to the seats with nothing to do. The Beer Button service is (so far) not available on the 2nd level of the arena and at least one of the runners admitted that they are not required to carry bartending licenses in order to have this job (they should be). The Beer Vendors there are required to have bartending licenses. We will watch this situation closely as we strive for the return of in-seat beer vending in this new arena.

We are on Twitter! Finally. You can find us @DrinksSeats. You can go to our site home page half way down to find our “follow” button. There, we also now have “like” and “share” buttons for our Facebook page that we have had now for over a year and a half.

1/9/19

A radio ad campaign began today pushing our opposition to job hurting “Beer Button” apps and the disrespect the In-Seat Beer Vendors have had to face since having to reapply for their jobs since leaving the old arena. While the vendors have been put back on commission pay from briefly being on hourly pay, they are still restricted to vending from carts on the concourses thus having to compete with on-concourse concession stands while they are being replaced by a different group of workers who deliver beer to fans who order from those aforementioned beer buttons on their smartphones.

12/24/18 

It’s been reported that the Bucks’ are “stubborn” about letting what would be In-Seat Beer Vendors vend in the seats at the new FiservForum.  There was vending that was allowed in the seats during a recent MMA fight there in an effort to alleviate the long lines that were created at the concession stands. Another anti-vendor issue we are looking at is this new “Beer Button” or “Beer App” that has been reported to be instated where fans could download a special app on their smartphones and a beer or a drink of some sorts would be delivered to the fan in their seat by a special person who is a NON-VENDOR whenever that fan chooses to order one. We feel that for the fan’s interest, such a service would take many more minutes to complete rather than just buying a beer (or certain drinks) from an ongoing vendor who is already right there. Also, it would have to result in more people walking in the aisles thus getting in the fans’ way and obstructing their views of game action.

11/23/18

After having our website up & running for almost two years now, we have finally included a “Donate Button”. There, you can give us money on a secure link to keep fighting for better conditions in the drinking industry that would in-turn benefit the working class. If you would rather prefer to support Drinks In The Seats® by the form of a check. Please write it to: Drinks In The Seats,PAC 825 North Rochester St. #209 Mukwonago, WI 53149. Any donations of $200 or more, you will need to list your occupation as well as your name and address as required by law.

There is still no in-seat vending during Bucks games at Fiserv Forum. We are getting word that the arena’s concessionaire is also fighting for it and this is just by pure coincidence (Drinks In The Seats is in no way working with or representing Fiserv Forum’s concessionaire, or any concessionaire for that matter). Actions such as a protest outside the arena is still a possibility.

Our shirts are on sale indefinitely for $13.99. Go to Buy a shirt! to get one, free shipping!

10/21/18

We are increasing movement on the Milwaukee Bucks decision not to allow in-seat beer vending in their new arena, Fiserv Forum. The new arena has been attempting to give fans use of a “beer app” on their smartphones that promises beer to be delivered to their seat within 5 minutes. Other anti-vending devices such as “Beer Jet” are also being introduced there. Demonstrations to counteract this arrogant anti-middle class decision could include advertising on social media/internet, radio, billboards, even protesting outside the arena. Go to Anti-Vendor Issues at Fiserv Forum or New Bucks Arena Beer Hawkers Kept In Dark (an older post) for more details as to what is going on.

6/6/18 

After review by the Milwaukee City Attorney, our objection (of the alcohol establishment license at Milwaukee’s largest stadium) will not be allowed due to the fact that it reflects generally a labor dispute and does not show any breaking of any laws by the stadium or the stadium concessionaire’s license holder. The above information was given to us by the Milwaukee City Clerk’s office. So rather than pursue just imposing limitations of an alcohol license of just one sports facility, we are going to get started on pushing for a city ordinance that would limit alcoholic beverages to just 17 ounces per unit in sports facilities located within the City of Milwaukee. The bottom line here is to help the In-Seat Beer Vendors or to make it harder for a sports facility to continue to go without In-Seat Beer Vendors as almost every facility now imposes a “two drinks per valid I.D.” serving limit. This also can be for a safer drinking environment since currently two 24 ounce beers served (the limit) is essentially a “THREE drink per valid I.D.” sale. If this said ordinance passes, then at a minimum, facilities such as the baseball stadium, the new arena, the hockey arena and possibly more would have to adhere to this ordinance. See below (5/13/18) as to why we are against 24 ounce alcoholic beverages served in concession stands at sports facilities.

5/13/18

We’ve recently (re)submitted an objection with Milwaukee City Hall to reduce competing sizes (we want nothing more than 17oz alcoholic beverages available as 24oz beers currently sold in concession stands w/ a limit of 2 per person at $8.75 each is creating an incentive for fans to bypass in-seat vendors who sell 16oz beers w/ a limit of 2 per person at $8 each. That’s 48oz at $17.50 total from a concession stand vs 32oz at $16.00 total from an in-seat vendor. 50% more beer and only pay about 9% more) & common brands of alcohol available in concession stands in an effort to level the playing field for the In-Seat Beer Vendors working at the city’s largest baseball stadium. Best of all, the original idea of eliminating alcohol from concession stands in the 3 general levels of the particular ballpark has been scrapped. If our newest objections get approved with the renewed concessionaire’s license in late September, it’ll be a win-win situation!

We also began a sale on our regular T-Shirts. Now thru June 15th, we reduced the regular price from $21.99 to $18.99 on our four-color Drinks In The Seats (either gender) T-Shirt. As always, that price includes taxes and shipping! Buy a shirt

12/10/17

Drinks In The Seats is now a registered trademark!

7/5/17

More area billboards are on the way! As the one that ignited us media attention goes down today (Hawley Rd & Bluemound Rd in Milwaukee,Wi), two others will go up for the month of August. One being on 84th Street displayed north as you are approaching a northwest entrance of the fairgrounds. The other being on Becher St. & First St. While the latter location will have the traditional look like the one above, the “fairgrounds area location” will include a picture of someone sporting our shirts. You can still see the above location at 37th St. & National Ave through mid-October.

5/28/17

Drinks In The Seats will have a booth at Mukwonago Maxwell Street Days during three of the four weekends when the annual summer flea market is held in June, August & September. Go to Maxwell St. Days for more info.

4/9/17

Our shirt sale is now up and running! Purchase them on this site, or look for us on Milwaukee (WI) streets near events all summer long.

3/24/17

Drinks In The Seats is now a registered Political Action Committee & Conduit with the State of Wisconsin.

2/22/17

Drinks In The Seats is now a LLC and registered with the State of Wisconsin.

1/18/17

We welcome Beth Beaudoin and Judith Valla who will be doing some treasury, bookwork and other work for us.