2017-12-07 Liquor Adjudication Board Minutes

Home

Takase: If they had told us the day they lost all their managers and asked if they could get someone else to come in, we probably would have let them continue to operate the way they were. It may be a technical violation, there was no sale taking place as far as we know. When the investigator got there, the signs were up. I can see that from their standpoint they're trying to comply with the Rule, but because they made no effort to get somebody qualified during the interim that we know of, we had to take a harder line with them. Fuke: What's the difference between Dispenser General license and a regular Restaurant license? Takase: A Restaurant license is a variation of Dispenser General. It requires the Licensee to provide at least 30 percent of their total sales in food. The other thing it does is it allows them to cater events off premises. It also used to allow them to re -seal wines, although the law has since changed so that even Dispensers can allow for re -sealing wines. The rationale was so that you don't have people feeling the necessity to chug their wine rather than leave it. Since they bought it, they can take it out with them. We can't really see the difference between a bar and a restaurant in that sense that just because you're a bar, you can't allow that, so now you're going to force those guys to try and finish it. We did away with that distinction. It's really just the catering portion that's the real difference now. There are certain other requirements when they transfer license. It's become much harder for a Dispenser General to transfer a license in terms of notice. When other Licensees transfer their license they can just do notice by publication. But the law is changed for Dispenser Generals. They need to do written notice. It was really meant for hostess bars in Honolulu. It was kind of a catch-all and everyone else joined in. Here, if they can make the food sales, and 30 percent is not too high, they will go to the Restaurant category rather than staying in the Dispenser General. It'll help them on the back end if they have to transfer their license. Giffin: In the end, which is more desirable? Takase: Probably a Restaurant (license) because it gives you a little more leeway in terms of what you can do. More and more catering off premises has become lucrative. Not that they can't cater their food, but they can also cater their liquor. That's the portion they're looking for. Giffin: Interesting. Smith: I remember a couple of years ago, Bite Me was a restaurant here, and they were getting ready to close. They had a similar situation which was they didn't have a person in active charge. The person was supposed to come to work but didn't, so he went down the list and they couldn't find a person to show up. In that instance, I remember we told him that if he had stopped liquor sales he would have been okay. Takase: Yes. Smith: In this instance, even if they had tried to make an effort to show there's no liquor sales, what's the distinction? DECEMBER 7, 2017 - LIQUOR ADJUDICATION BOARD MINUTES 25