City ordinance requires course in liquor safety: law mandates training before license is renewed

Nation's Restaurant News, Oct 12, 1987 by Karen Bruno

City ordinance requires course in liquor safety

Law mandates training before license is renewed

A new municipal ordinance here requires restaurant and bar owners and managers to take a course in responsible alcohol service.

"There has been a positive response on the part of bar owners here,' said John Randall, chairman of the board of selectmen, which passed the ordinance, the state's first such regulation, without dissent from the community's roughly 30 bar owners. A brawl in a local bar had precipitated the order.

"This is an easy way for us to help the owners brush up on their knowledge,' Randall said.

The decree states that the manager or owner must take the course if he wants to renew his liquor license. Operators of convenience stores that sell liquor are also required to take the course. The Responsible Hospitality Institute in Springfield, Mass., a nonprofit organization, is providing the training.

In addition to city or town laws such as the one passed in Ludlow, the state legislatures of Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Michigan have created statutes whereby responsible business practices constitute a legal defense in liquor liability cases.

And in a more narrowly defined example, a statute in Texas says that if the bar or restaurant has trained its servers in a state-approved program, the establishment will not be found liable if someone sues.

"The Texas statute is addressing the problem of programs supported by liquor wholesalers or distributors, such as the TIPS program,' said James Peters, director of the Responsible Hospitality Institute, referring to a server-training program funded by Anheuser-Busch and Miller.

"Insurance companies are beginning to offer better rates to restaurants and bars that demonstrate responsible business practices,' Peters added. "This is another force bearing down on restaurateurs.'

A procedural how-to

The six-hour Ludlow class shows restaurateurs and barkeeps how to develop written policies and procedures for responsible beverage service.

The guidelines for accountable business practices were defined in 1985 by the federally funded Prevention Research Center in Berkeley, Calif. Among the outlines are designated-driver and dial-a-ride programs; alternative beverage selection; availability of food at all times; server training programs; and the avoidance of irresponsible promotions, such as Happy Hours.

Peters added that server training is only as effective as the support that it gets from management.

"Servers often complain that although they have been trained to serve non-alcoholic drinks or serve food with drinks, only a small selection of soft drinks may be on hand, or the kitchen will close early,' he said.

Utah and Oregon are the only states that have a statute mandating that all restaurant employees attend an approved server-training program.

"Responsible restaurateurs, who were perhaps hurt by competitors' irresponsible practices, such as happy hours, will benefit from the business practices guidelines,' Peters said. "Everyone has a cleaner set of rules to operate by. And the insurance companies are happier.'