GOVERNMENT WATCH: A ROUNDUP OF NEW LAWS AND REGULATORY ACTIONS AFFECTING RESTAURANTS

By Peter Romeo 2019

While the restaurant industry contends with the usual summertime rush, lawmakers and regulators have taken up a number of measures that affect the business in small and large ways. Here are a few of the developments a busy operator might have missed.

New Jersey sets higher liabilities in wage dispute

Restaurants accused of underpaying servers or supervisors will face higher potential penalties under a law that was quietly passed this month in the Garden State. If authorities decide that a server should have been paid a full wage instead of the lower amount allowed under tip-credit regulations, or a salaried employee is adjudged to be entitled to overtime pay, restaurateurs can now be required to pay the wages that were owed, plus damages equal to 200% of the underpayment, a fine of $500 and 20% of the wages owed, and an administrative fee of $250. The fines increase for second-time offenders. 

Those amounts are set for civil disputes. The Wage Theft Act also exposes employers to criminal charges of disorderly behavior, a charge that carries financial penalties of $500 to $1,000 and possibly up to 100 days in jail.

If an employee is fired within 90 days of formally accusing an employer of underpaying or stealing a wage, the dismissal is presumed to be an act of retaliation, which carries its own set of criminal charges and financial liabilities. The only rebuttal, according to the law, is “clear and convincing evidence that the action was taken for other, permissible, reasons.”

The measure also extends the statute of limitations on wage disputes to six years, from the current cap of two years.

Because of the potential awards for employees who contend they’ve been stiffed on pay, the Wage Theft Act is expected to make New Jersey a choice location for filing unpaid-wage claims, according to a host of legal experts. “It will likely have seismic repercussions for employers operating in New Jersey, and will make New Jersey a destination venue for wage and hour class-action litigation,” the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius wrote in a news alert to clients and the legal community.Continue Reading

HOW TO ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS TO YOUR RESTAURANT

Serving the best food in the world doesn’t always mean a full restaurant every night if no one knows just how good your food is. Sometimes you need to do a little extra promotion to attract more customers to your restaurant. Once they’re inside and trying your food, they’ll keep coming back time and time again.

ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS TO YOUR RESTAURANT

The easy part is making them fall in love with your food. However, we need to get those people in the door first in order for that to happen. 

Here are a few fun and efficient ways to get more customers in your restaurant in order for you to build a loyal following. 

LEAVE SMART FLYERS

Don’t waste your time and money on a generic flyer with every special, event and picture you can fit on it only to leave it out hoping people find it, actually read it and convert into a customer. Just distributing your menu doesn’t cut it anymore.

Instead, distribute what we call a “smart flyer” to attract more customers to your restaurant. A small, targeted flyer with one simple message and promotion. Make sure your offer lasts at least a month so that people can find the time to actually use it. What offer you use is up to you. If you’re including a coupon, give at least 20% off. You can also try giving away free appetizers or desserts.

You definitely don’t want to annoy people with your flyers. Distributing them weekly will annoy your customer base and make them less likely to visit your restaurant. Also, most flyers left under windshields will end up in the garbage. Present your restaurant in a professional way and you’ll see the benefits.

CREATE PARTNERSHIPS WITH LOCAL BUSINESSES

Start conversations with local businesses in your area. Many of them get catering for special lunches or meetings on a regular basis. Offer them a discount so that they order from you and make sure that you hand them your full menu in person.

This can create an ongoing revenue stream for your restaurant to increase your bottom line every month.

OFFER DISCOUNTS (20% OFF, 2 FOR 1…)

Giving people an extra incentive to try your restaurant for the first time is a great way to turn them into loyal customers. Usually an offer of at least 20% off is good enough. You can also try 2 for 1 deals, free appetizers and anything else you can think of that would bring more people into your restaurant.Continue Reading

Craft Distillers Want Florida to Relax Liquor Rules

By Julie Gargotta

for full article click below

WINTER PARK, Fla. — An unprecedented meeting brought distillers from all over the state — from Jacksonville down to the Keys — to Winter Park on Wednesday, hoping to craft a unified message to bring to Tallahassee.

• Orlando-area businessmen say distilled spirits too tightly regulated
• Distillers across state came together to create Florida Craft Spirits Guild
• This is in response to state's restrictions on spirts, beer, the group says
• "This is the biggest meeting of craft distillers in the history of Florida," said Paul Twyford, Winter Park Distilling Company's co-founder. "We want to have an environment where we have the ability to grow our businesses, to hire more people and create more consumer choice."
  In 2010, Twyford and Andrew Asher began making distilled spirits, vodka, and whiskey. A year later, the pair got into the distilled spirits market. 
  It was the first "legitimate" whiskey distillery in Orange County, Twyford said with a chuckle. "This is a labor of love."
  Asher recalled how it all came about.
  "We were sitting around over lunch thinking about how much we like to drink distilled spirits. 'Wouldn't it be cool to make them as well?'" remembered Asher. "It's something we could put our hands on. It's tangible and (we could) say, 'We made this.'"
  Asher, an attorney by trade, said that his background has come in handy in navigating the "maze of regulations" when it comes to the industry.
  Liquor in Florida is tightly regulated. You have to have a license to make it and a license to sell it. If you own a bar, restaurant, or liquor store, you have to have a vendor's license.
  And in between the manufacturing and selling — to those licensed to sell to the general public — is a layer called "distribution," which is also licensed, Asher said.
  He said that although businesses can procure a full liquor license, which in Orange County can run upwards of $250,000 to $300,000, those are not available to those who manufacture spirits at the same time. 
  In 2016, the pair branched out and founded their Bear and Peacock brewery, making and serving craft beer alongside the distilling company, where they created whiskey, bourbon whiskey, vodka, and rum.
  Their two businesses were brought under one roof and one name: the Brewstillery.
  But the rules that govern the brewery and distillery are very different. While customers can saddle up to the long, wooden bar and order a pint, they cannot order a cocktail made with their house rum or vodka. Instead, they can only ask for free samples of the spirits at a small gift shop window; a glass wall and doors separate the transactions. 
  

'Lost Palate': How an Unfortunate Situation Became the Unlikely Inspiration Behind Goose Island's Newest Beer

A brand ambassador's cancer diagnosis led to an unlikely concoction that became so successful, it's about to launch nationwide

By Lauren Petty

 

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Last year, 33-year-old Jonny Coffman was told he had less than a year to live.

"Three to 12 months realistically," he said. "They said, 'We would be shocked if you saw 2019.'"

A brand ambassador for Goose Island Beer Company, Coffman was battling metastatic melanoma. At Lurie Cancer Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Coffman tried a new immunotherapy drug and underwent radiation.

"Unfortunately, one of the side effects is its impact on his taste buds," said Dr. Sunandana Chandra, Coffman’s oncologist at Lurie Cancer Center.

"I have never eaten cement, but I can imagine that’s what it would taste like," Coffman said. "Anything, pizza, steak, mac & cheese — it tasted the exact same."

The beer lover couldn’t taste a thing for months, until one morning when he mixed oatmeal with Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, mangos and honey.

"I could taste the cinnamon first, then the juiciness of the mangos and the honey. It was love at first bite,” Coffman said.

Coffman was so excited about his breakfast concoction because he could actually taste it. But he also had a bigger idea, to brew it as Goose island’s first hazy IPA.

"It’s the hot style. We’ve never made one and Jonny loves them, so of course we were going to accommodate," said Todd Ahsmann, president of Goose Island Beer Company.

Coffman worked with the Goose Island Brewmasters and came up with "Lost Palate."

The canned beer is being sold in the Goose Island Tap Room with some of the proceeds going to the Lurie Cancer Center.

"Emotional...emotional because it was something I ever thought if it did happen, maybe brew a two barrel batch of it," Coffman said of the beer being made in his honor.

Since then, two amazing things happened: the immunotherapy drug worked, leaving Coffman cancer-free and "Lost Palate" is set to launch nationwide. 

"We decided the beer turned out so good and Jonny’s health is back, so we are going to launch it nationally come the beginning of the year and continue to donate proceeds to the Lurie Cancer center," Ahsmann said. 

"People are drinking it in Chicago, liking it, and now when I see people, they can smile and be happy because I’m cancer-free," Coffman said.

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Facebook to Expand Restrictions on Sales of Alcohol

Original article from: www.beerandbrewing.com

Much to the surprise and likely disappointment to the countless beer trading groups that are active on Facebook, the social media company announced earlier today that it had updated its policies to prohibit the sale of alcohol (and tobacco products) between private individuals. 

The site had already prohibited the sale of alcohol and tobacco in its Marketplace section of the site, but this regulation change extends it into groups and what the company calls “organic content," which includes comments and posts. 

CNN first reported the change on Wednesday morning and Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine independently confirmed the policy shift with Facebook. 

“We are updating our regulated goods policy to prohibit the sale of alcohol and tobacco products between private individuals on Facebook and Instagram,” a Facebook Spokesperson wrote in an email to Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine. “Our commerce policies already prohibit the sale of tobacco or alcohol in places like Marketplace but we’re now extending this to organic content.” 

Facebook has become a go-to for beer traders with public and private ISO:FT groups surrounding nearly every major city and region as well as individual breweries. Online beer forums and other Internet sites still do a robust trading business, but the sheer size of Facebook and Instagram, the first and sixth largest social media sites in the world, make them obvious fertle ground for beer trades.Wednesday’s announcement comes on the heels of Instagram beta testing the hiding of its “like” counter, which was designed to make that platform less of a popularity contest but has frustrated some influencers, who rely on those numbers to help promote products on behalf of companies. 

This change only applies to the sale of alcohol and tobacco, and it's unclear how Facebook intends to apply these rules to bartering and trading, but posting pictures in groups dedicated to appreciating or discussing the products is not restricted. So for now those glamour shots of Naturdays you have loaded up from this weekend’s bash are good to post.

Can a cocktail made with wine-based liquor still be called a cocktail?

Original article by. Jean Le Boeuf via News-Press

Q: Why are restaurants allowed to advertise “cocktails” on their websites and menus when clearly they do not have a full-bar license? These offerings should be called “mocktails” or “wine-based cocktails!" I feel deceived. — Sincerely, Sandy M. 

A: Sandy, I share your pain. Nothing ruins Taco Tuesday like ordering a margarita only to have a glass of syrupy wine water delivered. 

Sadly, there's not much recourse.

While the Department of Business and Professional Regulation does enforce so-called "truth in menu" laws — rules that ensure your Gulf snapper is indeed Gulf snapper and not Asian-farmed tilapia — those regulations don't apply to what can or can't be called a cocktail. Cocktails must contain alcohol, yes, but the strength of that alcohol doesn't matter. 

As the department's communications director Patrick Fargason pointed out via email, "the term 'cocktail' isn't defined in the Beverage Law.

"According to DBPR’s Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, simply calling something a 'cocktail' wouldn't rise to the level of misrepresentation any more than calling something Butterbeer without there being any beer present would."

The "Melon Dramatic" is a nonalcoholic mocktail served at Husk in Greenville, South Carolina. (Photo: JOSH MORGAN/Staff)

There are, however, some basi1. Drink at big restaurants. Most restaurants must have more than 150 seats (inside and out count) in order to secure  a liquor license. If you're at a restaurant with fewer than 150 seats, then it probably only has a beer/wine license — hence the wine-based substitutions. That said, it's not impossible to be small and sell liquor. The owner of Nevermind in Cape Coral, for example, has a full-liquor license purchased through Florida's liquor license lottery. That allows him to sell full-test gin, rum, you-name-it, even though he only has a few-dozen seats.

Grapefruit rosemary mocktail (Photo: Courtesy Henry Ford Health System)

2. Look for a bar. If a restaurant has a full-liquor license, that's a huge moneymaker. They'll want you to know about it. You will almost always find a traditional bar setup at a full-liquor restaurant; bottles on display alongside draft taps and the like. Don't see a bar? You're probably getting a wine-based cocktail.

3. Ask. If a little side-street taqueria is offering margaritas, or if a mom-and-pop diner has Bloody Marys on the brunch menu, I will ask the server: Is it made with tequila/vodka or with wine-based liquor? Servers will almost always tell you the truth. If they're unclear, ask a manager. I'd much rather have a mimosa than some unexpected wine-based cocktail that will sit unfinished.

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Heineken fined $1.25 million for NY state liquor law violations

Global brewing giant Heineken USA will pay a $1.25 million fine to the New York State Liquor Authority for violating state laws prohibiting gifts to retailers that carry their beer.The authority found that Heineken USA, the American division of the big Dutch brewing company, illegally provided special patented draft systems to more than 800 bars and restaurants to help persuade those retailers to carry Heineken products.The system, called BrewLock, only fits Heineken beer kegs or those from Heineken-affiliated brands, like the Italian beer Moretti. 

Each BrewLock is worth about $500.State liquor laws prohibit alcoholic beverage manufacturers or wholesalers (distributors) from giving away anything of value to “artificially incentivize sales,” according to a liquor authority news release.
In addition to the BrewLock giveaways, which occured from 2014 to 2015, the liquor authority accused Heineken of illegally using a third party to conceal a transaction with at least one retailer for a different Heineken draft beer system called Blade.