Cate and Chad Battles, owners of The Bywater, say the law is also a hardship on business owners. Although The Bywater operates as a lifetime membership club, Cate Battles says they currently have more than 20,000 membership applications on file, all of which must be directly accessible for ABC review any time the bar is open. Battles enters all the applicants into a computer spreadsheet, which staff members can access on iPads and iPods behind the bar and at the door.
NC ABC COMMISSION ISSUES OVER $118,000 IN FINES FOR JUNE
The North Carolina Alcohol Beverage Control (NC ABC) Commission recently reported that they issued over $118,000.00 in fines and/or suspended alcohol licenses for at least 5 days. The fines/suspensions were a result of the ABC June 8th meeting.
These actions were a result of violation cited by North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) agents and other enforcement agencies throughout the state of North Carolina to include local Sheriff Deputies. According to North Carolina ABC, 99 businesses licensed to sell alcohol were fined and/or their licenses suspended.
According to the records obtained from the North Carolina Alcohol Beverage Control Commission, eleven of the establishments received fines/suspensions, in whole or in part, specifically for violations related to the North Carolina Private Membership regulations and totaled $21,950.00.
The least of the fines were $1000.00, which is more than double the annual subscription costs of the Bar Membership platform.
And now, it’s happening all around the city but most people don’t know why. It all comes down to North Carolina A.L.E. law, but it hasn’t been strictly enforced in the last 10 years here.
The law basically lays out what types of places are allowed to sell alcohol. Restaurants can, but they need to make most of their money off of food. There is no real provision for a “bar.” Instead, there’s a thing called a “private club.”
According to state alcohol laws and regulations, all private clubs must have memberships. Some places even sell food but can’t qualify as a “restaurant” unless they sell 30% more in total gross sales of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
