Stay Tranquilo - Fritz & Franz Owner Harold Neuweg Speaks Out on Coral Gables World Cup Controversy

Episode Date: June 9, 2026

For over 30 years, Harold Neuweg has helped build one of South Florida's most beloved gathering spots through Fritz & Franz Bierhaus. From Oktoberfest celebrations to legendary World Cup watch parties that have brought thousands of fans together, Fritz & Franz has become a staple of the Coral Gables community. In this episode of the Stay Tranquilo Podcast, Harold shares the incredible story behind Fritz & Franz, how a small restaurant evolved into a South Florida institution, and why soccer has always been about bringing people together. We also discuss the recent controversy surrounding World Cup watch parties in Coral Gables, Harold's decision to withdraw his plaza application, his concerns about the future of community events, and why he's considering selling the iconic business after more than two decades in the same location. 🍻 Topics Covered: The origins of Fritz & Franz Building South Florida's premier soccer destination 24 years of World Cup watch parties Oktoberfest and community events in Coral Gables The power of sports to unite people The recent World Cup plaza controversy Entrepreneurship, leadership, and resilience What's next for Fritz & Franz If you've ever attended a World Cup match at Fritz & Franz, celebrated Oktoberfest, or simply appreciate small businesses that help build community, this is an episode you won't want to miss. 🎙️ Subscribe for more conversations with entrepreneurs, athletes, community leaders, and game-changers living life the Stay Tranquilo way. #StayTranquilo #FritzAndFranz #HaroldNeuweg #WorldCup2026 #CoralGables #Miami #SoccerCulture #Entrepreneurship #SmallBusiness #Hospitality #WorldCup #StayTranquiloPodcast #Community #SouthFlorida #SportsCulture Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm not going to move forward. I'm not let them belittle me. I'm not going to kiss the ring. I'm not going to go on my knees. I knew that. So I sent an email to the mayor. I said, Mr. Mayor, the train has left the station. I'm officially restoring the application for the placer.

Wow. And you know what happened? I felt absolutely relieved. The stress was gone. The rock in my back was gone. I felt like, why didn't I do this? The first, May 5th, May. Exactly.

Instead of. It was a no winning situation. Welcome back to another episode of Stay Tranquilo. Today we are at the beautiful Fritz and Franz in Coral Gables, joined by Harold Novak. Appreciate you for having us and being here to host us at this beautiful spot. Andre, I'm glad you guys are here. I'm glad you have me on the show and I have a lot to talk about. Absolutely. I appreciate you coming and setting up and let's do this. Absolutely. Fritz and Franz is a place that I frequent often, especially obviously around World Cup time and the big game, so definitely want to touch on that. But cheers.

I've had many of these multiple times while I'm here. Brost, as we say in Austria, German, Prost. Delicious, delicious, delicious, delicious. But I appreciate you for having us, and World Cup is here, right? You guys have been a staple in the Miami community for a very long time. Not only around World Cup, soccer, big sporting events, right? This is just a place that people feel like at home when they're here. Talk to us about the journey that you've been on when you opened and what the inspiration was behind Fritz.

I started actually in 1993 when I had a tiny small restaurant on Alka, three blocks from here. It was called Mozart Stouber. It was a tiny little restaurant. And I always wanted to do some kind of event. And I went to the city of Cor Gables to the manager and asked, what is it to take the street for a three-day event? And he said, no problem, sign up the application. We get it approved by the commission and you can set up on, as long as you do everything by the book, we have no problem.

And we did start with actually not the October Fest, but we started with a blues festival, because I'm a big blues lover. I like the American music form. And we did a very good blues festival, a three-day event, and it was very successful. And that was, I believe, in May. In October, that same year, we set up Octoberfest. And we did a three-day October fest. We brought a band from Austria, and we set up a tent, and we had beer bar.

And again, it was a tremendous success in the city of Krober. Gables. So it was kind of like, wow, we're building something here. And I realized this is going very well. So every year from 1994 till I moved over here, we did Oktoberfest on Alcasa and Blues Festival. And in 1994, we also showed the first World Cup in the tiny little restaurant. I remember one TV. And we bought the rides at that time from St. Hunter. And we set up on, we had like 50, 60 people in the restaurant. That's all we can hold. And we shot the World Cup.

And we realized nobody in Miami knows about soccer at that time. So we had our customers, our followers. And when we moved over here in 1999, we opened Sajmo Blues Bar Grill here. This venue with the TVs and everything gave itself up to Champions League, European Championship,

Cop America. and the World Cup. And eventually a year later, we moved the event. And I said, I believe 2000 was World Cup, I believe. No, it was the Euro. European Championship. Yeah. Okay.

And we put the European Championship outside. It was a tremendous success. Two years later, in 2002, we had the first World Cup on the Plaza. And it was an incredible success. Some people were happy. And we played the music. and we had all the games showing, it was tremendous. So we moved forward 24 years doing Coppa, European Championship,

Champions League, finals. All of this was set up on the Plaza. We have a giant screen, 16-foot big screen, not only inside the restaurant, but also outside. We have speakers, we set up beer pass, and it's a party. Oh, yeah. It's a huge party. I think you were in many of them.

And I believe in 2006, when Argentina I think we did about 2,500 people here. Wow. There was including we had Mary Gray and was just a tremendous party all day. And I remember CBS, NBC and ABC and ABC were broadcasting it. They came at 4 in the morning setting up the buses where they transferred the live shots from the Fritz of Franz Piers. And during the game, half-time

show, I get a phone call. A friend of mine is on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, right? And he tells me, you won't believe it. I'm watching Fritzen Franz Beer House live on ABC from Carl Gables. He said, I couldn't believe it. Your bar is on live TV during the halftime show of the soccer final, World Cup final. Unbelievable. So it was very successful. That's incredible. As you mentioned, I've been to multiple of these World Cup events out here, and it is a party, right? And it's a party where it doesn't matter who you're rooting for, right? You're just here rooting for your team. You got one side that might be Argentina and the other side that's Colombia or one side USA, the other side Germany.

It doesn't matter who in the world is playing. It is packed to the brim. And I think people like to come here because of the environment that it is, right? You want the energy around you when you're watching your favorite team play, whatever sport it may be, right? People are traced up in the national jerseys, you know. That all brings out who we are as people. people, okay? We are actually friendly people. All we want to do is leave us alone. We want to have some fun. On weekend, even if we don't have the language with each other, we understand soccer. We understand a

World Cup party. And we understand that we actually all want one thing in this world. Absolutely. Right. So that's the incredibility about soccer, brings the people together. My point is always, If you want to have world leader who are for peace, have soccer people and musicians, rock bands. They bring peace into the world. And soccer brings peace together. So, yes, that's absolutely on family. People come with the families, with their kids, and I have kids to say, I was here 20 years ago when you had your first workup. And now it's 20, next generation.

Now it's 26, 27 years old. Yeah, no, it's a beautiful sight to see. And I think that's a perfect transition as to what's occurring. now you know with the city of of coral gables specifically right you've been here you've showcased what what community that you're able to bring here in a very safe way in a very fun way right kind of the perfect blend of of what everybody wants right you feel safe you feel at home but you're also having a phenomenal time when you're here but unfortunately there's been a little bit of clash between you and the city of coral gables talk to us about what what that's been like has

this been something that's been going on for a while or is this something as a more recent no I think this is going on for a while because the city put some very strict rules on noise ordinance. And at that time, I think it started like 8 or 8, 9 years, 10 years ago. We had to stop doing the Blues Festival, which was also a community event where everybody came, no admission, just a free to the public event. And needless to say, I hardly ever made money with the Blues Fest, but I'm a big blues lover. I pay the pants.

I like, as long as I break even, I'm okay with that. So, Bluthfest was always like, okay, why are we doing this? Because I really love the music. Absolutely. Then we stopped having Blues Festival. And then a few years later, we stopped having Octoberfest, which was a stable in Corgiabas, 32 years October Fest.

And we're not having that anymore because of noise ordinance. Wow. And I remember we had that our 20, I don't remember, was it, five, six years ago, our last one. We had a band from Vienna, a very good bank. It cost me $10,000 for the band, plus five hotel and eating or drinking. And it's pretty expensive.

We had three bands from Austria. Wow. And the city put a code enforcement right across the street. And the code enforcement officer told the bands, please stop playing so loud, turn it down, turn it down, turn it down. So the band from Austria said, Harold, you know, we love to, but we cannot perform like this. Of course. So this was the last year, October Fest we had.

Wow. And that was six years ago. And now the city wants to basically make it difficult for us to do the World Cup. On this, the reason for that is a vindictive act by the mayor. The mayor two years ago didn't want to renew our lease. In 24, May 31st, our lease basically ran out with the city. See, this is my landlord. And says, look, we're not going to renew the lease for you.

And the city came up with all kinds of ideas that I didn't pay the rent, I owed this, I was not clean enough, this place doesn't belong in the city, it's not fancy enough, this was the attitude from the city. And blaming me for all kinds of things which were untrue, they lied to the media, the assistant manager at that time, the spokesperson for the clerk gave us, lied to the media that I owed the money. And at that point, I said to the manager at a city commission meeting, if I owe your money, how much they owe you? And he couldn't answer that because I didn't owe any money at that time. But the city had to vote on it if they want to extend my lease or not. And luckily, we had very good support by Melissa Castro, Commissioner Castro, Aria Fernandez, and Kirk Menendez.

These were three commissioners who absolutely supported the idea of French of France and France So the city had to vote on it to give us another extension for the lease, or let's negotiate, which we did. Of course, we paid a much higher price now than we used to be, but we said, okay, fine, market value will be okay. And that was, I think, the mayor had to say yes, otherwise he would have looked good, and that was lying in his stomach for two years. And at the city commission meeting on May 5th, mayor walks by me, I get up,

shake his hand and I say good afternoon Mr. Mayor and the mayor said are you here for another discount which I have never been for a discount to the city and he said no I'm here for the plaza set up for the World Cup watch party and he said to me you shaft it down my throat I didn't have to ask him what he meant I knew exactly that this is still lying in his stomach two years ago right and I realized maybe it's time to just get up and walk away but I didn't I went in front of the commission. I was there from 9.30 in the morning. They took me at 5.15.

City commission, when they see somebody in a private matter, it used to be the mayor, the commissioner would say, oh, Harold is here. He's a change the age one. Let's move him up. He needs to go back to the restaurant. Of course. This was a normal thing.

This was a city commission meeting. It was not a trial. So on May 5th, it was a trial. And the mayor let me wait. until 515, 520, and he pulled me up. And then he made me look like a little schoolboy that I didn't do my homework. I don't have a plan how to do this.

Safety issue, noise issue, garbage issue. And again, only lies. Safety issue, 24 years of doing events without any incident. Right. Garbage issue, it's nothing. We call waste management, we have three extra, two extra pickup, whatever we need.

It was never a dirty plus. was no issue. Noise issue, yes, I cannot control when the USS course, you should hear it in Miami Beach, right? You're supposed to hear it in Miami Beach. Right. This is the fun place to be in South Florida. Yes, it sounds like a stadium,

but this is what the people want. Right. So all these points, what he said, these are issues we have to address, and he deferred it on May 5th. So I prepared a speech for the May 19th, May 19th meeting where I wanted to tell the public and the commissioners what he actually said to me,

you shaft it down my throat, and how I felt the bar and all these things. And then I decided, maybe it's not a good thing to do. Right. I'm not politically correct. As you know me, and we have seen each other many times.

I say what I think. Absolutely. And I don't lie about anything because I don't have to. So I, last minute, I hired an attorney. And I explained the situation. and there was Amanda Hahn, very good attorney.

And she also recommended maybe Harold, it's not a good time that you go. I go for you and I bring this across and we get this done. So she went to the city commission meeting and trying to talk. We added, we had a plan B, which was only 11 days, July 3rd, I mean 16 days, July 3rd to July 19th, but only 11 days because there's some days where there's no soccer games. Of course, yeah. So I added, because we get so many phone calls at the beer house, in last minute for the commission meeting, I added six more days, six more games.

Because USA, we wanted to show the three group games. And Germany, because the phone calls were just getting, I want to book a table, I want to do this, we're coming, 20 people, we have 40 people. We are 12 people from Orlando. We're coming down. Wow. 40 people from Fort Myers in the past, we're coming to your place. Things like that.

Yeah. So I said, you know, we have to add this days. So for the Tuesday, the city commission meeting, it was not in the agenda, but we asked to add this days. And the commission went, hey, well, you cannot do that. You didn't do your homework. And why did you not ask before? And I said, look, I wasn't there. But my attorney told them, this was the last minute.

The phone calls go crazy. We're adding this. We are here to talk about it. Exactly. Right? This is what we like to have. At the end, the mayor deferred it again. And the mayor, vice mayor understand, on Commissioner Richard Lara, they're all, whatever

the mayor does, they do. And they deferred it, right? So the mayor said, I need to sit down with the police chief and the fire chief and himself to talk about the safety of the issue, right? In past 24 years, we went to the city commission, we got approved resolution, They get approved. And then we went to the police chief. We'll say, how many officers do we need?

These are the games. When do you need them? And we did it. There was never an issue with that. Okay. So we did that. Fire department, we never had fire department in 24 years. It's not a closed environment so we cannot move the barricades.

If something happened, all the barricades get open and people can live. So it was not an issue either. And I waited then the next day and I see e-mails. from the mayor, from the city, from the police chief, has Harold responded to the meeting? And I didn't respond the whole day, which was May 20th. On May 21st, I see an email from the mayor, which says, has the counsel for Fritz of Franz Spearhaus

responded after my multiple question asking him to come to the table? And he copied in the email, I think half of the city hall. Right? Meaning he wants to make sure his back is safe. Of course, yeah. You know what I mean. So I responded because I already knew at that time, I'm not going to move forward. I'm not let them belittle me. I'm not going to kiss the ring.

I'm not going to go on my knees. I knew that. So I sent an email to the mayor. I said, Mr. Mayor, the train has left the station. I'm officially restoring the application for the placer. Wow. And you know what happened? I felt absolutely relieved.

The stress was gone. The rock in my back was gone. I felt like, why didn't I do this? The first May 5th minute. Exactly. Instead of. It was a no winning situation. And on top of it, the city wanted to charge me $70,000 for the police, for the fire,

and for the use of the plaza. 70.70. Wow. So that's what they wanted to have. Impact fee was for the police, was instead of $68, is $100 an hour. four hours minimum and four police officers minimum. And for this 26 games. And that 70,000 was for the whole duration of the...

No, no, it was only for 26 games. Oh, wow. Not for 104 games. Right. For only 26 games. Figure out if you do like... Yeah, the math. Yeah, it's a lot of money.

And I told, I had a meeting with Commissioner Anderson where I thought she would understand what I'm talking about. And I did, I said, I need to sell 7,000 people. just for you guys. Right, just to cover that. I was thinking about how much is 7,000 beer. You line them up a miracle mile up and down. Exactly.

So that's when I pulled the plug. And I did say, I would say I pulled the plaque. Okay. And now I am in control of the plaza again. And the only way I would set up the plaza is I want the mayor of car was Vincent Lago to resign. Yeah, it's big. But if I am not going big,

nobody will listen, nobody will talk about it. And what we've seen in the community, it's a big issue right now. And they know, and we, I would say, 95 of the people, the comments, I read everywhere. They are pro, Fritz and Franz Pia House and the coach party. And you know, there's, of course, a few people

controlled by the mayor's media agenda. Yeah, fine. Of course. You cannot win everybody. Absolutely. But yes, I want the mayor of instance. Lago to resign. And the day he resigns, we will set up the plaza for the people.

Because the people in Corregabos, people in Miami, people in South Florida, they want this. And I want to say one thing. More to the city of Corregor's on the hopefully they will listen to me. Friday, June 12th, USA is playing Paraguay at 9 p.m. at night. We all know that Latinos don't go out at 6. if there's a party at 9 starting, right? They're going to be out, and they're going to come to this plaza in droves.

And if the city is not ready to control the people on the plaza, because now without the setup, it's out of control, and out of our control. I think the city will wish that we have a controlled environment, a wish that we set up like we did the last 24 years, and wish to control the people on the plaza, not stepping out on the street, having four police officers who control.

I always have police officers. We always paid for that off duty. But this time we don't. Right. Because it's not our plaza. Right. If people say that barbecue's out there or beer cakes, it's not something we can do.

It's out of your control. It's not our event. Essentially anything that's considered the plaza is right outside of these columns in front. Yes, that's correct. We have our tables, which is regular business operation. We have from one end of the restaurant to the other end, And we will do just fine.

Right. And we will not reserve these tables because it wouldn't be fair to the people to reserve everything. But you have to come early. And you have to come all together. Meaning if there's a group of eight. Yeah, one can't come and then hold it down. You can hold the whole tables. Yeah.

It would be unfair to the people who are here. Yeah. And we said that's a rule now we have. And if 10 of you are here, I sit here right away as long as we have room on. Absolutely. It's very smooth. Yeah. Yeah, so you're, I wouldn't say concerned, but what the situation essentially could unfold through all of this is that come Friday, the 12th, when USA is playing at 9 p.m., you're going to be operating within your walls, but people could be coming out and just congregating in the area and then wanting to watch the game from there because you have the TVs outside, and then people kind of stand out and watch.

Well, we have in every window, you see here. We have a TV going out, and they're very good TV, so people can stand 20 foot away and still see the game. Plus they're here. The atmosphere is still going to be here. Of course, yeah. But they probably will bring their own drinks, right? Which is an open container low in the city as well. We're not supposed to, but there we bring the own,

that we bring their own food, that we'll bring food from water, which is all okay. It's nothing to do with us. Of course. That's a public place, as the mayor said, it's here for the public. Got it. But it will be uncontrolled that soccer night. Yeah.

Yeah. No, it's an unfortunate situation to say that. It's very sad. Yeah, it's unfortunate. Yeah. And my, you know, my biggest thing as a fan, as a, you know, as a resident of the city of Miami, right, they don't live here in the Gables, but I frequent the Gables often, right? It's the community aspect of all of this.

It comes once every four years. It's not like this is going on all the time. It's a massive celebration. And this year is unique, right? We're a host city. USA place at home. And you're a host city. We're a host city of Miami.

We're also host country, right? So it's all these extra elements that is like, why now? Why couldn't we just put our differences aside and let's help the community out, right? That's the unfortunate piece of it. It goes back two years. That's all it is. It goes back two years. And it's a mayor which is like very hurt his feelings. Yeah.

Right? And he doesn't care about the community. He cares about his feelings. And he said, okay, I'm not going to make it easy for this guy. I bet you he will never thought that I will pull the plug. I bet you the city did not think about it. that it gets to the point where I say, okay, enough is enough. Right.

Stop doing this because I'm not a little boy, and I have done this 24 years. So safety issue, I know better than anybody in the city. Only if the city puts an event like this together, they need 100 employees to do that, right? And outsource everything. Yeah, of course. Outsource the TVs and outsource the sound and all that. They need everything. Yeah.

It costs maybe $200,000 to do an event like this. Right? Ask me to do one-day event. much it costs, you know. So it's so lit, it's so low by this mayor in the city of Corregables that, you know what, I talked to people and I said it's his problem. He started this problem. And they all said the same thing. Yeah. Nobody likes this guy. I said, why is nobody standing up to this guy? Why is nobody standing up to this guy and say, look, enough is enough? Right. So I'm standing up to the guy and enough is enough, Mr. Mayor.

I want you to resign, leave the people, the blasa to the people, and we're going to have a good time, and that's the end for me. I'm not going to go to the front of the city commission anymore. I'm not negotiating with anybody's city. I don't have to. I'm running my restaurant. And the other thing is the city is the landlord, my landlord here. So don't make my life difficult now, right?

Exactly. Because it's not going to be well for the city if you make my life difficult because of that. Yes. Yeah. So for you, it's now peace of mind, you know, operate, provide still a venue and a space for the fans. I make sure that people have a great time. Exactly. I make sure we do everything by the book. 100%. We're not going to go out of doing something crazy. We're not going to go on the plaza. We're not going to use the... We don't advertise. We don't advertise at all to come here.

We don't need to. People can't. So I'm not going to make something extra to make this unsafe place. We will have security. We will have better. The barricades up, and we tell everybody, we'll be signs up. Please do not walk outside the barricades with your beer. We're going to do that. And we try, and we saw it last Saturday. We had PSG and Arsenal.

It was very good. I could have used maybe a couple of guys for security. I didn't know we have so many. And we sent about 200 people away. I said, please go to Graziana, go somewhere else. Because we are full. Right. And once we're full, that's it.

There's nothing we can do. Yeah, absolutely. So post World Cup, what does Fritz and Franz? I know there's been talks that you're going to sell and maybe move. Is that still an option? Yes. And again, it's that at one point you get fed up with the city, with your landlord, and say, look, again, enough is enough.

And I believe I can put this Fritzel van Spears anywhere in Miami or in this point anywhere in South Florida. And we're going to do great if the city doesn't interfere with us or the landlord doesn't interfere with us. Right. And this is what's happening. And this is also the point. June 5th, after that meeting, after it was deferred,

I called my realtor, we listed it, and I say, blow it up. Let everybody know, I'm selling because I don't want to deal with the city of Clark Gables, with this mayor anymore. I don't. And since they're my landlord, I would have to deal with it the next 80 years we have here. I don't want to do that anymore. Because, you know, I have a business to run. This is family operation.

I don't have time to sit with lawyer and say, what's my option? Exactly. Or have meetings with the city directors and director of this. I tell you, we are here since 1999. You know how many people I had as a landlord? Probably a lot. Maybe like 15, 20 different people. And then it goes always back to the commission.

Right. And I had like, what, six different mayors, 25 different commissioners. And everybody is your landlord. Right? You don't want that. No. I don't want that no more. Of course.

I'm a hardworking guy. I'm in the kitchen most of the time when it needs to. I'm happy when the customer is happy. But I do not need this anymore. So that's why, yes, the place is up for sale. And I don't think anybody would take over the beerhouse. I think they would look at the location, look at the leaseholds and look at all the improvement

and whatever they want to do. It's fine with me. And if that's the case, we're going to move Fritzel Fund's Bee House, maybe just across the street somewhere up and down 37 Avenue. And we don't lose one customer. Exactly. Because by the time we do this, media is going to blow up again. Oh, of course.

The moment you say, hey, we're going across the street or we're going here, everybody's running over there. And then when you look at the Tampa Bay Times, which wrote this iconic Florida restaurant, and I compare an iconic restaurant with Joe Stangreb and Slap with Chos in Key West. It's amazing. Right? And the mayor of Clark Gables is kicking us out, basically.

He's saying, no, he's going to negotiate. I want to sit down with Harold. Mr. Mayor, I don't want to sit down with you anymore. No more talking. It's over. Don't ask anymore to sit down with me. It's over. Right? So yes, we, it's on the market. I had another meeting with realtors this morning, and it's very much on the market. Whoever wants this can have it. But personally, I'm done with the city, and as much as I love call gave us, because it's a great city, right? With this mayor, I do not want to deal with money. This commission, I would say 60% of the commission of 66%.

I do not want to deal with, right? And that's what it is. And I think it makes aware all the people in South Florida, what is going on there? Why has this come to this situation? Was that necessary? Right? Wasn't there just, I remember Jim Kaysen,

when he was the mayor of court gave us and I went for an application, he said consent assignment. Done. We all know how this is going to do it. And then there was Walters Fawley one day, and there was the Kurdike, Commissioner Kordaik, and there was a gentleman applying for Octoberfest licensing, Carl Gables, right? And Kadek said, I don't know why you're here for.

We have an Octoberfest. Harold is doing a great job. We don't want to say, in Octoberfest. Why would we do that? And they deny this application 5 and O. Wow. That was City Commission working with the businesses, working with the small business, working with the people who know what to do. Absolutely.

I always said it's incredible. Yeah, yeah. Well, look, I think at the end of the day, it always works out for the better, right? Fritz and Franz has that presence and has that notoriety in the community. And we're going to be here to support. Like I said, we've been here. We're going to continue to come. And I think it's good to always just have a transparent conversation across the board

and be able to share that. But Harold, I really appreciate you sharing a little bit of insights, a little bit about your story. And we're excited to continue to support Fritz and Franz. and be here for the World Cup, absolutely. And just thank you very much, appreciate it. I'm glad you listened to me, Vainte here a little bit. I feel great about it. That's where this stays tranquil Ossa comes in, you know.

Hopefully that Ventureen helps you out in that way. Like I said, once I said no to the plaza, I feel, tranquil. Tranquilo. I love it. We'll feel tranquil after this too. Cheers. Cheers.

Cheers. Brue.