Your bartender is swamped when a young man walks in and asks for a drink. Overwhelmed with patrons, the bartender quickly says “What would you like?” He gets a response and a couple minutes later the young man has a frozen strawberry margarita. Not long after, a bunch of unhappy officers walk through the door and head towards the bartender.
What just happened? Your bartender violated Massachusetts liquor laws by serving alcohol without carding him first. This story is not fiction but based on a real news story.
Back in August, a restaurant in East Bridgewater failed their liquor compliance check because of this. This left the fate of the restaurant in the Board of Selectmen’s hands. Fortunately for them, the Board let them off with a warning but their license could have been stripped.
Massachusetts does not view out-of-state ID’s as a valid form of identification, which leaves restaurant owners with quite the dilemma. Follow the law and keep your liquor license or ignore the law and cash in on the sales you would have missed out on.
Sting operations vary and not using one of the six acceptable forms of identification below absolves you from having any real defense should you be caught by the cops.
Signage, verbal reminders, and contracts are all great ways of making your operational standards crystal clear to your employees. As liquor compliance checks often happen without warning, it’s important to train new employees as soon as they walk through the door.
For more information, the Massachusetts Restaurant Association (MRA) gives a great overview of the Massachusetts ID law.
Need liability coverage for your restaurant? Contact Brian Kilcoyne at 617-612-6515 or email him at briankilcoyne@hkinsurance.com