Cronies Health Permit Revoked Over Outdoor Dining Defiance

AGOURA HILLS, CA — On Saturday, the Los Angeles County Health Department has revoked the the health permit of Cronies Sports Grill, a local chain whose Agoura Hills location has made national news by defying the county's outdoor dining ban.

Although the restaurant will now need to reapply for the permit, owner and manager Dave Foldes told Patch that the restaurant has appealed the decision, and is continuing to operate as usual.

"We've appealed it, and there's an injunction, and we're really just trying to get our day in front of a judge," he said. "It really doesn't change much - eventually we would probably have to reapply for those things all over, but I see the Health Department every day, and they don't really change their approach or their tune."

That approach for now has been daily fines of $500, Foldes said. He could not name a grand total, but he has been receiving the fines for nearly three weeks, so it is estimated to be around $7,000, in addition to the legal fees the restaurant has been paying. A letter from the City of Agoura Hills, the second time the city has publicly addressed the topic, also reported that the State Department of Alcohol Beverage Control is conducting an investigation that may result in a suspension or revocation of the restaurant's liquor license.

Still, Foldes said that the restaurant has been attracting good business, and expects to remain solvent for the foreseeable future. He said he can "easily" afford the fines that hasn't had to lay off any staff, which is part of the reason he opposed the ban in the first place.

"We were functioning with what we've got, and I go back to we were worried we were losing the business," Foldes said, noting that business has increased since defying the ban. "We don't do a lot of takeout, but it definitely wouldn't pay the bills. We know that, because we had to do it for two and a half months in March."

Foldes said that Agoura Hills, which does not have its own health department, has backed off from a more aggressive initial stance. He claimed that the city threatened to shut off his utilities - a charge the city has neither confirmed nor denied - but has now said it will turn matters over the LA County Department of Public Health.

City Manager Nathan Hamburger released a statement last week saying that the city was "disappointed" in the restaurant's "dangerous disregard for the well-being of others in Agoura Hills in light of the pandemic," and said there would be "long-term and severe consequences for their Health Code violations."

Foldes said he in turn felt disappointed in the city for not supporting local businesses. "There's so many other steps they could've taken other than making it a battle like publicly, I'm not saying they didn't need to do their job, but they finally reconsidered and are letting us deal with LA County," he said, arguing that aside from the outdoor dining ban, he has been following all safety protocols. "Their biggest problem was phone calls, and you can tell people over the phone we're on it, we're handling it, this is an LA County Public Health thing, and they're handling it."

Foldes says he has seen a great amount of support and disapproval from the wider community, though he said he feels there is more support for Cronies than not, and said that the outpouring of support he's received has been "the best part." On Dec. 7, over a hundred people rallied in support outside the Kanan Road location, and last Friday, another group protested at the intersection of Kanan and Agoura roads for an overtly political "Open the State" rally, which lasted for about two hours and ended without incident, according to Foldes.

Foldes said that he does not like overtly political protests being staged in his name. The Dec. 7 rally saw several giant Trump flags and many diners wearing red "Make America Great Again" caps.

"I can't stand it - it doesn't help us," he said. "I realize that certain people on one side of the political spectrum love what we're doing, because they're all about 'freedom' and 'standing up' and all that stuff, but we've got our feet on the ground, and it has nothing to do with politics...we've been accused of being political, but we didn't encourage it, we didn't ask for it, this was all stuff done outside of us."

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