Getting Through Your Divorce and on With Your Life

Protect Your Precious Liquor License

20 January 2015

Celina Henry

Your liquor license can be one of the most valuable assets of your business. In fact, the sale of alcohol often makes up a large percentage of the profits in many restaurants. So losing your license could be very detrimental to your dining business. And, of course, the loss of a liquor license can be absolutely devastating to a bar or a nightclub.  Unfortunately, there are several reasons why your business could lose its license, but many of them are preventable.

Make Sure Your Employees are Well-Trained

It is extremely important that your employees understand the liquor laws of your particular county and/or state. You may even want to set up a separate training session for your employees to stress that your business could:

• Be fined if an employee were to serve an underage person alcohol.
• Also be fined if it serves or sells alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person.
• Be liable if an underage or intoxicated person is served alcohol and then gets in an accident that causes injuries. In this situation, the party serving the alcohol could face jail time or even be sued in a civil suit. For example, in Oklahoma, two bartenders were charged when an extremely drunk patron left their establishment and was then hit by a car. 
• Lose your liquor license. After a certain number of violations -- which can vary depending on where you live -- your establishment's liquor license could be suspended or revoked. 

Your employees should also learn during the training:

• How to spot falsified and/or fake identification cards. If your employee is not sure if an ID card is real, have them compare it to their own. 
• To check the picture and the information on the ID against the person offering it. It's not uncommon for underage drinkers to take an older person's ID to go out for a night, so your staff should carefully vet the ID against the patron. 

What are Considered Signs of Intoxication?

You or your employee should not serve any party who exhibits any of the following symptoms:

• Staggering, stumbling or having trouble walking.
• Slurred speech or talking nonsense.

New App for That

An app was released in 2013 that allows users to scan the bar codes on U.S. and Canadian identification cards to see if they are legitimate. The app also reveals the hair color, birthday and other pertinent information of the person that the ID belongs to. This can be extremely useful if a fake ID is utilizing a real person's ID bar code. While this app is not free, it could very well pay for itself if it does catch minors trying to sneak into your establishment with fake identifications. 

Security is Important

It is not uncommon for establishments, such as bars, to lose their licenses if they are the scene of a violent incident. For example, a club in Charlotte, North Carolina, had its license suspended after a fatal shooting. And a popular bar in Washington, DC also had its liquor license suspended after five people were stabbed in the establishment. In the D.C. case, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board determined that the bar did not have sufficient security for the size of the crowd and that the bar was also over its capacity. If you don't want to jeopardize your license, you should always:

• Hire enough security personnel. And don't forget to bump up your security if you'll be hosting a popular event.
• Monitor your establishment's capacity. 
• Continuously remind employees of the importance of ID-ing every patron. You never know when your business might be part of a compliance check. 

When it comes to your liquor license, it is always best to be proactive by ensuring that your employees are well versed on the laws regarding serving and selling alcohol.  

Share

Search