Brewery Tip: Safe Alcohol Service In the Taproom

With festival season upon us, we can all look forward to the upcoming festivities and increased patronage to our breweries. With this increase in fests and fun, we may also expect an increase in hiccupy, wobbly customers who have over imbibed, and inversely decrease our fun (it’s science). Read my advice below, as both a brewery owner and brewery insurance and risk management consultant, on how to handle conflict resolution with intoxicated patrons. And I hope to see you at your brewery or mine soon!

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I’ve had the pleasure to work with 20+ breweries across Colorado and surrounding states over the past five years or so. Usually a pleasure, anyway… some of you guys smell weird. Anyway, most of my start-up clients have leaned on my experience as a brewer for advice when it comes to operations, licensing, beer quality (best part of the job), and, of course, risk management.

It’s always been fun to share what I’ve learned as an operator within the industry and a consultant to the industry. I’ve never really considered myself a very good teacher, but I’ve really come to enjoy this role.

One of the topics that has never come up in any of the conversations with the folks that brew the finest beverage on the planet has been that of conflict resolution. Specifically, resolving conflicts with intoxicated customers. The fact that this conversation has never come up didn’t occur to me until I started getting ready to interview taproom servers for our new brewery, Goldspot.

Obviously, the best way to resolve this situation is to have well-trained servers that can identify your friends that may have reached their limit. But that’s not always possible. Sometimes things are out of your control. You can have the best trained staff in the world, but if someone comes in having been over-served somewhere else, or they have a penchant for looking all cool on the outside while on the inside they’re a wobbly mess, you need to know how to take care of that person.

So, as I’ve been interviewing the awesome candidates that will hope to be presenting our liquid art to your flavor hole, the most important and telling question that I’ve asked these folks is this: How do you resolve conflicts?

I’ve compiled a short list of some of the answers that I’ve received, along with some stuff that I’ve compiled over the past few months as I build my own server training program.

    1.  If possible, don’t work alone/schedule a single staff person for late-night/closing    

         shifts. That stupid adage that your parents used to throw at you when you were 

         begging to stay out ‘til the wee small hours of the morning is pretty accurate. Not 

         everyone who’s out enjoying a drink after 10:00 PM is looking to get crunk. But when I 

         look at loss reports for my clients or prospective clients, most of the liability issues 

         involving intoxicated customers will happen after 10:00.

         Some of us are better at resolving conflict than others. Logic holds that if you’ve got  

         more than one person working, you’ve got a better chance of having someone there 

         who can successfully make the situation go away. Also, if one person is handling up 

         on an unwanted situation you still have another person to make sure that everyone 

         else is being taken care of properly.

         I also had an interviewee tell me that the bar he works at has been robbed three times 

         since he has been there. All three times is was when there was a lone worker closing 

         down the shop. Depending on where you’re located this might be a concern.

    2.  Address the person you’re concerned about directly. If they’re with a group of  

         folks that are otherwise being respectful, directly tell that individual that you won’t be 

         serving them any more alcohol that night and that you’d be happy to get them some 

         water or coffee (or Italian soda if you’re slinging suds at one of those fancy breweries).

         If they’re with a group, that group will usually take the initiative to make sure that their  

         friend stays cool and doesn’t cause any problems. From what I’ve seen, that party 

         usually settles up and leaves pretty quickly.

    3.  Be friendly when you approach them. Another old adage that came from Grandma 

         (so therefore not near as dumb as the stuff my dad told me) is that you catch more 

         flies with honey than vinegar. If you try to end a confrontation by being confrontational, 

         there’s a better chance that someone’s going to end up in a headlock than if you’re 

         nice.

         Don’t confuse being nice with being a pushover, however. You need to be confident 

         when you address them. Know that you are completely within your rights to make sure 

         that you, your clients, employees, and business are protected.

    4.  When in doubt, ask for help. If your beer is good, you’ve probably got several people 

         in your taproom. If your beer is good, some of those folks are probably regulars. If your 

         beer is good, those regulars probably love you and want you to continue serving them 

         your goodness in a glass. Those people are your allies and are usually more than 

         happy to lend a hand.

         I had an interviewee tell me that one of his favorite moves is to tell the offender that 

         he’s surrounded by people that like him (the bartender) more, and that if the offender   

         continues to be belligerent and hiccuppy, then he won’t be able to pay them any 

         attention. The guy that told me this is also 6’3” and weighs in at about 250 lbs, so he 

         can get away with talking this way. He also said that is his second to last move before 

         calling a cab and sending them on their way.

    5.  Make sure they have a safe ride home. Empower your employees to pay for cabs. 

         My employees will totally have the power to pull a $20 out of the drawer and hand to a 

         cabby to get home. One brewery owner that I spoke to has Über loaded on the    

         brewery iPad, and will arrange rides for customers that way.

         If they’ve got a sober friend who’s going to take them home, get that person’s contact 

         info and make sure that you document what happened. If anything happens after they 

         leave your establishment, you want documentation that you took the proper steps to 

         help them get home safely.

As a server of alcohol, it’s your responsibility to intervene if someone is getting out of hand. Luckily, this kind of situation is the exception and not the rule. Just remember to keep your calm, be confident, and be respectful. And, if you’re not 6’3” and 250 lbs and the situation is beyond your control, ask for help!

~Matt

Matt Hughes

Pure Risk Solutions

Office: 303-834-1001 | Mobile: 303.350.0287 | 

www.purerisksolutions.com 

500 Briggs St., Ste. 200, P.O. Box 1274, Erie, CO 80516

About Matt

Matt is the owner of Gold Spot brewery and an insurance and risk management consultant who has been a part of Colorado's craft brewing industry for close to a decade. He uses his unique expertise in both the craft brewing industry and commercial insurance world to help breweries across the country understand the risks they face, while running his own production brewery and taproom.

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• The “Domestics”: The 7 Essential Business Insurance Policies (that you should already have).
• The “Crafts”: Brewer insurance essentials that protect your brewery better than the standard commercial ("Domestic") policy.
• The 4 P’s: Four specific areas of your brewery that have unique coverage needs (“Craft”) that you most need to protect.

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The two most essential ways to Protect your Passion, or at least the opportunity to pursue it (patriotic pun intended), are through brewer-specific General Liability and Liquor Liability coverage.

We protect our passion (our breweries) by protecting ourselves from Third-Party Lawsuits. General Liability and Liquor Liability are essential to your business and your bank account. If you’re up and running, you should already have these, but there are important distinctions between general and brewery-specific coverage that can make or break the future of your business in the event of an unexpected loss.

Have you ever had a patron get hurt at your brewery? Or received a demand letter from an attorney representing someone injured by one of your patrons after they left your brewery? Then you know all too well how crucial these policies really are. If you’ve been paying the premiums but haven’t yet had to cash in on them, know that they’re worth every penny. With millions of liability claims filed each year, these policies protect your business and assets from unexpected loss, which is especially important because liability risks can be some of the most expensive business claims. 

What Does It Protect? A general liability policy can protect you against costs that result from bodily injury (to patrons), property damage, medical expenses, legal costs, judgments, and personal injury claims such as libel and slander. If you rent or lease your space, commercial general liability (CGL insurance) may also provide coverage for damage to that workplace.

How Much Do You Need? The typical General Liability limit is $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate for the year.

Tip: Umbrella policies can provide relatively inexpensive added protection, kicking in when you exhaust the limits of your business liability coverage.

Costs: Vary considerably depending on the specific risks of the brewery, but are traditionally based on annual sales volume.  As your brewery grows, it’s important to up your insurance coverage so that you have enough protection. Check in with your agent each time you consider expanding or changing your business.

What Does It Protect? This type of policy will protect the brewery from liability if someone files a claim regarding the sale of alcohol, such as someone being injured in a car accident after drinking at your tasting room. 

How Much Do You Need? A $1,000,000 limit is often recommended.  Even if an establishment is not found liable, the average cost to defend a claim is $150,000, and in Colorado the maximum limit for an award regarding the over-serving of a patron is $219,750. That’s just one claim! The nature of your business and its perceived risks will help determine your needs. Work with an agent who is experienced in craft brewery coverage when seeking business insurance quotes. You’ve put blood, sweat, and tears into building your company. You need coverage that works just as hard to protect it.

Costs: Policy costs vary widely based on your brewery’s size and location and, again, is based on annual sales volume.

Why Choose A Brewery-specific Policy? Whether you have a full service bar or offer beer tastings after tours, liquor liability is essential to cover damages to persons and property caused by patrons who claim to have been over-served at your establishment. The sale of growlers/bombers adds another brewer-specific exposure that should be addressed by your liquor liability policy. Some carriers don’t understand the craft brewing world and the environments they create. They run from businesses that they consider “bars,” because of the liability that they carry and this lack of a full understanding of the business. Be sure the carrier you are with is comfortable with everything that you are.

Finding Brewery-Specific Coverage: Confused about where to start? As an independent agent and brewpub owner, I specialize in customized insurance policies for breweries of all sizes. I can assess your liability risks and recommend the appropriate coverage, balancing both your risk management and cost saving strategies.

Contact me, John Jacquat, for a free policy assessment and make sure your brewery assets are properly insured. Or email me at john@purerisksolutions.com.