Your liquor license is almost certainly related to particular sales hours. So if you’re selling alcohol at 3:24 a.m. when your license expires at 3 in the morning, you’re in big trouble. Make sure you understand the pouring regulations in your region since they differ by area.
Various local jurisdictions in the same state may have various guidelines. Realizing such minor details can make all the difference between maintaining your liquor license and losing it.
There is usually nothing you can do to modify the operating hours or pouring rules outlined in your city’s liquor business regulations. Alcohol sales beyond the government’s authorized operating hours are one method of forfeiting your license quickly. The operating hours differ from one location to the next.
In Maine, for example, you cannot sell liquor before 9:00 a.m. on Sunday unless it is St. Patrick’s Day when you can start selling from 6:00 a.m. In Indiana, you cannot start serving liquor without providing food services to at least 20 customers. Hot soups, hot sandwiches, coffee, milk, or even carbonated beverages are the basic minimum for food.
Other Ways You Can Lose Your Liquor License
Every bar’s worst nightmare is losing its liquor license. The following are significant ways to lose your bar’s liquor license:
-
Table of Content
Serving Minors
This one is frowned upon everywhere. In the United States, the drinking age is 21 years, and serving barely legal customers has severe repercussions. Verifying a photo ID before serving is the most effective way of guaranteeing that you don’t break this law. You and your employees must know how to spot fake proof of identity. This is how to pinpoint a fake ID instantly.
- Learn the distinguishing features of your state’s ID then you can pinpoint anything that doesn’t fit.
- Using a magnifier, examine the microprint.
- Examine the ID’s edges for peeling.
- Consider if the individual in the photo appears to be the same age as the individual on the ID.
- Verify that the facial structures, as well as characteristics, are identical.
- Search for nervousness in the cardholder.
If you’re unclear, ask the individual queries like one‘s zip code, how to utter their middle initial, or their horoscope – and don’t serve them till you’re certain they’re of legal drinking age.
-
Over serving
Serving someone who is by now intoxicated can have severe repercussions. When drunkenness causes an accident, injury to a person, or, in the worst-case scenario, death, your lounge, and sometimes even you personally may be found responsible and you might permanently lose your liquor license.
Many bartenders’ training encompasses how to detect an extremely drunk client. If you’re not sure what else to search for, below are some signs of a drunken customer:
- Speech impaired.
- Disorientation or confusion.
- Coordination problems.
- Reflexes that are stalled.
- Breathing is slow and infrequent.
- Vomiting and nausea.
Serving or ingesting alcohol may be barred in your establishment’s restrooms, areas for food preparation, store rooms, stairway, corridors, or outside zones. It is your duty to make sure that patrons do not enter such zones with a beverage in their hands.
Signs reminding customers to keep their drinks within the drinking areas are effective deterrents. Since your company’s reputation is at stake, you should make it clear that there aren’t any variations on this standard.
-
Untrained Service Personnel
Many states do have ServSmart or SmartServe system that calls for all employees that serve alcohol to be certified. Should they be apprehended trying to serve without the state-mandated instruction, you’ll find yourself in the firing line. Verify for the necessary certification prior to actually employing, since a bartending license is considered necessary.
-
Unruly Behavior
Illegal gambling, abuse, public inebriation, as well as causing a disturbance are all grounds for having your liquor license evaluated and rescinded. Below are some strategies for defusing a conceivably violent scenario:
- Allow the client to speak away from the other guests.
- Maintain as much composure and friendliness as possible.
- Don’t interrupt the client around others.
- Provide the customer with some water.
- Pay heed to whatever the client is saying, but maintain your firmness.
- Assure the client that they have a safe ride home – speak with their pals or offer to request a taxi.
Conclusion
Although the legal drinking age in the United States is 21, every state possesses its own unique liquor law “isms,” such as allowing minors to consume alcohol in the presence of a responsible adult or for religious justifications. It’s critical that you understand the relevant laws relating to selling liquor in your city and county.
Remember that negligence of the law is not a legitimate explanation and will not get you out of distress. Whenever it comes to alcohol, take precautions.