Limits on liquor laws

The honeymoon appears over for many in the restaurant industry who welcomed last year’s changes to the Liquor Licensing Act.

That buoyant mood has soured following recent revelations that restaurateurs will be forced to apply for a permit from the government if they want to serve customers alcohol without a meal.

Restaurateurs are also angry that additional conditions will be imposed on their licence if they want to serve customers alcohol without also selling a meal.

Those conditions include banning restaurants from serving alcohol to customers from a bar or servery area if customers cannot also consume food there.

However, if the bar or servery area is set up to allow customers to consume food, a restaurateur will be allowed to serve wine, even if that customer has decided not to order a meal.

Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor media and communications coordinator, Doug White, said the Freemantle Review, which formed the basis of the changes to liquor licensing legislation, recommended that an application process be set up for restaurants wanting to serve alcohol without a meal.

He said restaurateurs would not be able to apply for permits until April at the earliest.

Mr White said the objective of the permit was to ensure that the primary focus for restaurants was on the sale and supply of meals, and the conditions would prevent restaurants from becoming bars.

He said restaurants would need to apply for the permit every five years. Applications would have to be advertised and would be subject to objections from authorities such as the Health Department, the police, as well as other businesses and residents.

Several restaurateurs told WA Business News this week that a separate permit application was simply another layer of bureaucratic red tape.

They claim the Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor should approve the permits when restaurants initially apply for a restaurant liquor licence.

Balthazar and Duende proprietor Nic Trimboli said applying for a permit was unnecessary bureaucracy.

“If the legislation says restaurants can trade and sell alcohol without food, then why do we need to go through the process again? If you apply for a permit you will have to lodge your plans all over again,” he said.

Verve Restaurant co-owner Jo Mac Fie said she was disappointed by the conditions to be imposed on the permit.

She said she would not be able to host cocktail parties because the permit conditions required customers to be seated at a dining table in order to consume alcohol.

And she said the permit would also prohibit customers ordering drinks from the bar, which would further complicate service at her Woodside Plaza restaurant.

“It’s the Australian way to come and order a round of drinks at the bar, but my customers won’t be able to do that if we get the permit,” Ms Mac Fie told WA Business News.

One restaurateur, who declined to be named, said she would not apply for the permit because of the extra costs involved.

Mr White said the department would not increase the fee it currently charged restaurants for its 20 per cent extended trading permits, which is currently $345.

The department is also increasing the number of compliance officers by almost 30 per cent, with five staff members joining the 17-member team.

Other conditions of the permit include that a restaurant’s kitchen remain open and operating with the restaurant’s full menu available at all times, and the premises always be set up and presented for dining.

Mr White said other conditions for the permit were yet to be finalised, but that restricting restaurateurs who hold a permit from generating more that 40 per cent of revenue from liquor sales was under consideration.

“It is an example of the type of conditions that may be placed upon individual permits to ensure the predominant business focus of a restaurant remains the sale and supply of meals,” he said.

“The likelihood of this specific condition being applied is yet to be determined.”