Selectmen Approve New Manager for Waxy O'Connor's

A new manager is coming to Waxy O’Connor’s and he’s promising to clean up the establishment with better food, a changed menu, and activities to show they are a restaurant and not a pub.

For selectmen Ginny Coppola and Jim DeVellis, it was the same story from a new man.

On Tuesday, the Selectmen voted 3-2 to approve Alfred P. Karnbach as the new manager for Waxy O’Connor’ss for six months. After six months, the manager will meet with the selectmen again and obtain a full approval if there are no violation. Chairman Lorraine Brue and John Gray voted against the motion due to the extra stipulation.

“I think it’s a separate issue with the penalty phase. To put that condition on him, I don’t think that tool is necessary for positive change,” Gray said.

Karnbach comes to Foxboro with 30 years of experience in the restaurant business. As the Director of Operations for Waxy’s, he is tasked with turning around a restaurant that has been plagued by problems and liquor license violations since its opening in 2008.

“It needed to be run like a restaurant, not like the saloon, I know what the opportunities are in that location. I know it has a problem in that location. I don’t think it’s the culture of the company, it’s the mismanagement and those players are no longer with that company,” Karnbach said,

He told the selectmen he expects to be the manager for 6-12 months. At that point Waxy’s will hire a new manager that Karnbach said he would work with for about a month before leaving.

Despite promises to turn around the troubled establishment, DeVellis said that he has heard those words before from previous managers and wanted to see how Karnbach would be different.

Attorney Frank Spillane, who was representing Waxy’s, asked the board not to condition or add to their approval since Karnbach was not involved with the restaurant during their previous liquor license violations.

Karnbach and the rest of Waxy O’Connor’s will be back in front of the selectmen on Nov. 16 for the punishment portion of their liquor license violation hearing.

During a compliance check performed by Foxborough Police in September, an underaged operative was served a beer by a bartender at the restaurant. Next week continues the hearing which started on Dec. 8 when the board found that the restaurant did serve the alcoholic beverage to a 19-year-old during the sting.