Have you ever heard of a restaurant encouraging BYOB? I stopped into a small NJ pizza joint (with table service) where the menu said (at the bottom) “bring your own spirits”! I can understand that they don’t have a liquor license, but I’ve never known a restaurant to say “BYOB”! Would they have the same responsibilities as any liquor-licensed establishment? For example, would they have to card (i.d.)? Would they have to watch how much their customers drink?
Have any other SDopers seen other restaurants announce this?
Just asking…
BYO is very common here in Sydney. The majority of restaurants use this system, especially the smaller, suburban ones. Some are “fully licenced”, and sell alcohol, and others operate both systems.
They used to be more popular (or commonplace) than they are now. Generally, these places sell ‘set-ups’; tonic, soda, ginger ale, etc. Usually, these places sell 3.2 beer and wine also. A couple of reasons immediately come to mind as to why you may have encountered this:
In some areas/states it is more expensive to get an ‘unlimited’ liquor license;
Some cities have strict limits on the number of establishments that may sell hard liquor. In these cities, should a business that has an unlimited liquor license sell out or go out of business, said liquor license can go for an astronomical sum.
When/where I was growing up in Oklahoma, you couldn’t buy liquor by the drink. It was against the law for bars to purchase alcohol. However it wasn’t against the law for private clubs to sell you a setup of tonic or orange juice, etc. They would also take your personal bottle that you brought with you, put your name on it with a piece of masking tape, and conveniently mix your drinks for you. The reality was they had a lot of “smith” and “Jones” bottles ~wink~wink~ and Smith & Jones were nice enough to let you drink off of their bottles. In other words, when liquor by the drink wasn’t allowed, you could still buy mixed drinks. Oh yeah, all the restaurants had “private clubs” in them. Which meant that you paid a buck or two to get the manager’s business card that also says “member” on it or something like that.
You can buy liquor by the drink now… but the beer in Oklahoma is still 3.2 beer. On a side note, this coming tuesday is a vote to outlaw cock-fighting. Oklahoma is one of three states where cockfighting is still allowed.
Here in PA, if a restaurant can’t get a liquor license, or hasn’t yet gotten it, a nice restaurant will encourage you to bring your own. They may charge an uncorking fee, or maybe just not care.
In Ohio, a few strip clubs have used BYOB to get around the fact that you can’t have full nudity and sell alcohol. So they only sell soft drinks and juices and let customers bring their own alcohol. One place tried to charge a corkage or “pouring” fee, I think they called it, but they still got busted. Apparently, the fact they were charging customers to pour their own alcohol was enough to break some law about serving alcohol.
I have been to such bars in Iowa. We just backed up a pickup truck with a quarter-barrel in the bed and kept having to go outside to refill pitchers. No cork charge in this case. And it was a strip club.
I know of just one place around here that I’ve seen do this, so I think it’s rare. It’s a sort of soul-food restaurant, and they encourage you to bring your own beer. I don’t know if they let you bring hard liquor, though.
On the topic of getting around not having a liquor license, there was a story on the news about a bar in Connecticut a while ago whose liquor license had expired. Their gimmick was to give away a free beer if you purchase a bite-sized candy bar (for $2, I think). I think they got fined anyway, since it was obvious what they were trying to do.
Then, of course, there’s the adult video store that gets around a local ordinance about only being able to have X% of shelf space dedicated to adult materials. So, they call themselves “The Cup Store” and offer paper drinking cups for sale, though obviously no one’s there for the cups.
There’s a restaurant that I go to which has a BYOB policy. The town it’s in used to be totally dry regarding liquor sales, but not long ago allowed restaurants that got liquor licenses to serve alcohol. This particular restaurant never had a corking fee before or after the change, probably to encourage customers to come there rather than going to the next suburb over for dinner. They do now have a liquor license, but still allow people to bring in wine bottles, with no fee.
There was a rib place in Jackson, WY that was BYOB. Rumor was, they used to have a liqour license, but lost it. But what did we know–we were a bunch (about 200) college students on spring break.
Well, in Atlanta there are a few BYOB restaurants. These are usually small “Mom & Pop” places that are just starting out and cannot afford the beer\wine or liquor license (yet). There is one in particular that I visit fairly often and they’re happy to open the wine for you (no charge).
As cstamets mentioned, some strip clubs don’t have liquor licenses due to state laws or zoning issues. There’s one such club in Atlanta called the Coronet Club, and since they don’t sell liquor there, none of the state laws regarding nude dancing apply. So you can do full nudity and men and women can dance on teh same stage together, etc.
Here in Texas, you are permitted to bring your own alcohol into restaraunts that do not sell on the premises. There is a popular Italian food place in Houston that just happens to be across the street from a school, and can not sell alcohol, so BYOB.
For taverns with limited licences, that can only sell beer and wine, typically called “Ice Houses,” you can bring your own hard liquor, and they will sell you a “setup.” Which is a soft drink of your choice and cups of ice.
When I was at Baylor University, there was a pizza place directly across the street from campus. They had a large sign that said, “We are not allowed to serve alcoholic beverages, but YOU ARE WELCOME TO BRING YOUR OWN IN.”