The SLA is diligently killing off the concept of BYOB for restaurants as evidenced by the latest report on Grub Street about Emporio's booze-less opening. Yup, no BYOB for them.
As we've previously reported, the current laws are asinine - a restaurant can't be BYOB unless they have a liquor license (not even if you have applied and it is pending) but if they never intend to apply, they are not under the SLA's authority and thus they can't do anything to stop you. The cops could, theoretically, but we doubt they'll be raiding anyone over this.
A much better idea would be to re-write the laws to allow any restaurant to be BYOB and to streamline the licensing procedure for restaurants. There was a movement to separate restaurants from bars and clubs but that seems to be up in the air. In the meantime, since it's clear people want booze with their dinner, shouldn't our state reps help foster a system that is a win-win for both customers and restaurant owners? Cause this cockamanie system is terrible for everyone and has damaged too many restaurants to count.
As we've previously reported, the current laws are asinine - a restaurant can't be BYOB unless they have a liquor license (not even if you have applied and it is pending) but if they never intend to apply, they are not under the SLA's authority and thus they can't do anything to stop you. The cops could, theoretically, but we doubt they'll be raiding anyone over this.
A much better idea would be to re-write the laws to allow any restaurant to be BYOB and to streamline the licensing procedure for restaurants. There was a movement to separate restaurants from bars and clubs but that seems to be up in the air. In the meantime, since it's clear people want booze with their dinner, shouldn't our state reps help foster a system that is a win-win for both customers and restaurant owners? Cause this cockamanie system is terrible for everyone and has damaged too many restaurants to count.
BYOB without a liquor license is always illegal, whether or not you're applying for license through the SLA. And even if you are, the SLA doesn't do anything to stop you. They'll just take note of the fact that you illegally allowed BYOB while your license was pending.
It's true that cops probably aren't going to go door to door with no-license restaurants to enforce the law, but if, say, you have an upstairs neighbor that you've pissed off, they can call the cops on you, and then they'll HAVE to investigate.