Meow Wolf liquor license plans delayed

Meow Wolf ’s application for a full liquor license was put on ice late Wednesday by a skeptical City Council.

Councilors voted to postpone consideration of the popular arts collective’s request to transfer from a Hobbs restaurant a license that would permit onpremises liquor consumption and patio service at the House of Eternal Return exhibit on Rufina Circle.

Meow Wolf has offered beer and wine in the lobby area of the exhibit, provided and licensed by the nearby New Mexico brewery Duel, since it opened the attraction in March 2016.

Chief executive Vince Kadlubek said that adding full alcohol service at the interactive display and performance venue will enhance profit margins to the point that Meow Wolf could expand its food and beverage program to include a coffee shop, “grab-and-go” service from its food truck to a potential bar area and more.

“We’re a business, and we’re trying to evolve our business and have our own service,” Kadlubek said, adding that full alcohol service and added food-and-beverage options would warrant 15 new jobs.

The director of a nearby day care center wrote a letter to the council saying he would grant permission for a waiver from the requirement that a liquor-selling establishment not be within 300 feet of a school or child care center, and five community members, including author and House of Eternal Return landlord George R.R. Martin, wrote to the council to voice support for Meow Wolf as a positive economic driver that should receive the waiver.

But councilors expressed reservations about transferring a liquor license from outside Santa Fe and questioned whether Meow Wolf could obtain a different type of license. The proposal will appear before the council again Nov. 8.

“We need to talk to councilors about how we’re a different type of service and how we are not your typical type of bar when you think of a bar — that we are an increasingly positive thing for this city,” Kadlubek said.