You would agree that full-service restaurants depend on selling Alcohol to gain more profit. Well, there were recent changes to state laws that allowed many operations to sell Alcohol as part of the delivery and take-out orders.
Restaurants need to know that following guidelines and alcohol server safety tips would be critical in applying legal regulations and avoiding legal liability issues. One example is obtaining an Alcohol certification Colorado or any other state. It is also for keeping the patrons and staff safe.
So, no matter how you serve alcohol to guests, you can follow these 8 smart tips and best practices to sell Alcohol responsibly and legally.
1. Understand the Laws
Understanding the local laws, state, or federal laws about the selling of Alcohol is of great importance. This includes the delivery and take-out alcohol services. The laws are in place to protect the community from the fatal, dangerous, and worst consequences of selling alcohol illegally. The Alcohol Certification Colorado or certification in any other state will help to give sellers a better understanding.
Keep in mind that there will be no greater safeguard against lawsuits for servers and sellers than ensuring they are well-equipped and trained to handle such incidents on the premises.
2. Set A Strict Policy And House Rules For Serving Alcohol
Before a seller can drill down to fine detail, they should be able to set policies and house rules in handling and serving Alcohol. Maintain and write these policies when selling, and employees should be able to refer to the policies quickly whenever they have questions in asking IDs from customers.
Without these rules, the customer might be seeking legal action. It would be best to set house rules and policies if ever they got questions. Advise employees to:
Set a strict drink limit and implement it Prevent serving multiple drinks to any customer Never forget to check IDs for both customer ordering drinks and for whom they may be ordering drinks.
3. Come Up With Measurements For The Amount Of Alcohol In Any Mixed Drinks
One tip that would help employees serve Alcohol responsibly is ensuring all the mixed drinks are made with very carefully measured portions of Alcohol.
This is an easy mechanism that will help them keep the drinks consistent, avoid making a given drink with too much Alcohol, maintain costs down, and avoid having customer unruliness and drunkenness.
4. Do Not Accept Excuses
Servers should also be trained well enough not to accept excuses from customers with no valid ID. It is easy for servers, cashiers, and bartenders to be tempted not to check IDs to save time, avoid confrontation, or if a person is obviously over 21 years of age.
Underage customers trying to buy Alcohol without ID can be convincing. Yet, you should always follow the law and the written policy of the company about checking an ID.
5. Keep An Eye Out For Minor Customers
In most countries, it would be forbidden to sell alcoholic beverages to persons under a certain age. The same goes for people surrounding them; you should always be vigilant with guests who buy drinks and Alcohol for minors. This could happen by switching drinks or pouring a shot into non-alcoholic drinks. Ensure that minors don’t consume Alcohol at your restaurant, as it’s your responsibility.
6. You Are Personally Liable For Alcohol Sales
Remember that you can be held personally liable for the illegal selling of Alcohol. Even servers and managers are held liable too. Selling Alcohol illegally may lead to civil or sometimes criminal charges against the restaurant owners, managers, and servers.
7. Do Not Serve Intoxicated Guests
It would be hard to know when a person is drunk or even understand the amount of Alcohol they consumed. Those who already have alcohol certification Colorado or any other state should know or recognize signs of intoxicated customers.
When a customer is behaving disturbingly must be intoxicated. Always remember that serving Alcohol to intoxicated persons is illegal because you can’t serve a drunk person, especially if he is a danger to himself or the surroundings.
8. Excellent Guest Servicing Skills
Of course, never forget to be nice and approachable when you ask for customer IDs, especially when you decline sales. Explain to the guests that you are following the law in selling. You can just offer non-alcoholic drinks instead.
Wrapping Up Alcohol Awareness
Training and certification will always be the key to ensuring that everyone in your business knows about responsible alcohol selling. It is about the law and the safety of customers.
Ensure that your employees know how to set strict rules, and that is by training them to avoid issues. That way, you will always be confident and continue to serve Alcohol safely and responsibly because you will never go wrong if you know the dos and don’ts in Alcohol serving industry.
