ABC law

September 26, 2011 by Nathan Hughes

Virginia ABC laws changing soon

*image courtesy of Alan Turkus (http://www.flickr.com/people/aturkus/)

A common complaint in the restaurant industry here in Richmond is about how outdated and difficult (and sometimes just plain nonsensical) the ABC regulations are, especially for start-ups. Well it might finally be time for that to change:

…the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control Board is for the first time in 20 years reviewing and updating all of its regulations in an effort to rewrite or eliminate any antiquated and burdensome restrictions. And they’ve asked the state’s merchants to help, giving them until Oct. 17 to propose changes.

Read more at the Washington Examiner

You heard them, folks. If you have an ABC license, then they want to hear from you! Be a part of the updates in the ABC laws. If you’ve seen what can be done better, now is your chance to speak up.

Where to speak up? I’m not exactly sure. I checked the Virginia ABC website and didn’t see anything specific about the initiative, but calling them directly would be a good place to start. If you do know the reporting process, please leave a comment with the information.

(Thank you to Richmond BizSense for pointing out this article in their morning email. If you’re not receiving it already, then you might want to rectify that.)

September 8, 2010 by Nathan Hughes

Official recommendations on the privatization of ABC stores

Virginia Governor, Bob McDonnell, has been getting a lot of news coverage lately over his push to privatize ABC stores statewide: RTD from 9/3/10, NBC12 from 8/19/10, Hburgnews.com from 8/26/10, Style Weekly from 6/29/10.

This proposal still has a ways to go and many levels of bureaucracy to push through before it becomes reality, but McDonnell ‘s senior staff members have been studying the issue to make recommendations. Here are their official findings (the full version), which were released today. You can find the presentations that were made through this link. (although it doesn’t look like it will stay the top story but for so long)

I pulled out a number of points from the press release that I found to be the most intriguing:

1,000 retail licenses will be auctioned off to the highest bidders
The licenses will be broken into three categories: 600 licenses for large establishments such as grocery stores; 150 for smaller establishments such as package stores and wine and beer shops; 250 for convenience stores/retail pharmacies
No one company will be allowed more than 25% of licenses within each level
1,000 licenses will still give Virginia 1.8 outlets per 10,000 adults, far below the private state average of 3.8 per 10,000 adults
Majority of new license holders will be existing stores; Virginians will primarily see new shelves in retail establishments, not new establishments.
332 licenses will be guaranteed for areas currently served by an existing ABC outlet
The additional 668 licenses will be granted based on population density
The wholesale side will also be privatized, allowing the Commonwealth to completely focus on law enforcement and regulation of distilled spirits
There is no tax increase in the privatization proposal
The Commonwealth will also make an additional $33 million on the sale of the ABC warehouse in Richmond and 19 state owned outlets
The number of ABC enforcement agents will be increased by 25%
The Commonwealth, through the ABC board, will maintain health, safety, law enforcement and marketing regulatory authority over private distilled spirit sales and distribution

Also, the point that has been making the most buzz lately is the idea of a 4% tax on the gross liquor receipts for restaurant operators. That seems to have been taken out of the recommendations (given the 9th bullet point listed above), unless it’s a matter of semantics and they’ve buried it by not calling it a tax. I didn’t have time to go through, but I’m sure there will be lots of other people combing through the details of this proposal word for word.

Another point that is of particular interest to me is the sale of the ABC main warehouse. I wonder who will be listing that? *ahem* Mr. Governor, I’d be happy to take a look at it for you!

March 23, 2007 by Nathan Hughes

Why There Are No Bars in Virginia

No, really — there is no such thing as a bar in Virginia. As a very deliberate result of the Virginia ABC Board’s regulations on the food/alcohol ratio, there are only restaurants that happen to serve food.

At the end of every year, restaurants must file
a mixed beverage annual report that details alcohol sales and shows the
ratio of food to liquor. ABC stipulates that each restaurant must sell
enough food and soda to account for at least 45 percent of liquor and
non-liquor sales, beer and wine excluded

A recent Food Fight article (which is the source of the previous quote) in Brick [EDITOR’S NOTE, 7/2/16: The Brick Weekly website is gone, so the links have been removed] gives a good overview of the impact this has on local business owners, and views from both sides. Mostly, it is a government regulation, and just like anything else with the Health Board or the ABC Board, as a restaurant owner it is better to just learn to live with the rules and jump through their hoops and just get back to making money.

God help anyone that can help change the system and these arbitrary limits, but it’s not worth trying to make waves until you are firmly established and can work from the inside.

I still don’t feel like I have a grasp on why this rule is in place, except for the typically cynical view that Richmond is behind the times and too much under the influence of the “Moral” Minority. The reasons that I have heard so far just ring hollow. (i.e., This law is not necessary for keeping bars from popping up on every corner. There are building codes and regulations on usage that can handle that.)

Something just feels wrong about my gut reaction against the regulation, so if someone can explain it, then please do. I’m all ears (or eyes, in the case of reading responses).

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