The Mountain Home City Council voted Thursday night to allow restaurants inside the city to serve mixed drinks with a permit from the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control Division. A restaurant previously was required to have a private club license to serve such drinks.
The City Council voted 7-1 to change the city's requirements regarding mixed drinks. Restaurants must still obtain a permit from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration's ABC Division in order to legally sell beer, wine and mixed drinks.
"ABC still has all their authority," said attorney Ted Sanders, who appeared before the City Council on Thursday night on behalf of two restaurants asking the Council to consider changing its mixed drink regulations. "ABC will still regulate and enforce things like it always has. This doesn't let just anyone sell drinks."
The city previously required restaurants that wished to serve mixed drinks to have a state-issued private club license, which required the business to establish a nonprofit corporation that would actually sell the drinks to would-be customers. That nonprofit corporation had to be in place for a year before the private club license could be considered by the state, and additional regulations required the nonprofit corporation to actually own the bar area where the mixed drinks would be sold.
Allowing restaurants to sell mixed drinks with an ABC permit would streamline the process and be more cost-efficient for startup restaurants, Sanders said.
A restaurant that hoped to serve mixed drinks will have to submit a copy of its menu as part of its ABC permit application. The state is looking to issue mixed-drink permits to restaurants that serve complete meals, Sanders said.
"So if you are a bar and just offer snacks and such, then this permit wouldn't be for you," he said. "They want to see that you're serving actual meals."
Council members Bob Van Haaren, James Whalen, Jennifer Baker, Wayne Almond, Paige Evans Dillard, Jim Bodenhamer and Eva Frame each voted in favor of changing the city's rules on mixed drinks, with Don Webb being the Council's lone dissenting vote.
The Council also voted 6-2 to enact the mixed drink rule changes immediately. Most actions by the City Council take 30 days to go into effect unless otherwise approved with an emergency clause that waives that 30-day waiting period.
The expedited rule change would allow the two petitioning restaurants file their ABC applications sooner, Sanders said.
Council members Webb and Frame voted against enacting an emergency clause.
"Sometimes it feels like we're just pushing things down people's throats without giving them a chance to look at it and respond," Frame said in the Council's discussion on changing the city's mixed drink regulations.
"drink" - Google News
August 10, 2020 at 08:44AM
https://ift.tt/3ikqgS8
MH Council changes mixed drink regulations - The Baxter Bulletin
"drink" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2STbaKe
https://ift.tt/2VWmZ3q
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "MH Council changes mixed drink regulations - The Baxter Bulletin"
Post a Comment