Re: Loop Holes for Beer and Wine Service

Posted by sam sears, cec on May 10, 19101 at 20:00:15 :

In Reply to: Loop Holes for Beer and Wine Service posted by Randall Sansom on May 10, 19101 at 11:36:58 :

: I'm trying to start up an operation in the Houston, Texas area and I'm looking for ideas for beer and wine service. I just got off the phone with Texas Alcholic Beverage Commission and was informed that to serve even just beer and wine I needed a Mixed Beverage Liscense (at $3076) plus a caterers certificate(at $541). This is way more than I want to spend at start up. My question is does anyone no of any loop holes? Can I have the client purchase the beer and wine, which I will pick up and serve for a corkage fee? Any ideas you might have would be appreciated.

: Thanks,
: Randall

This used to be the case in my state, two things that you "could" do, first though, run this by your attorney....one - the client could purchase & provide their own liquor & you could charge a corkage or sell the set ups for a fee, charge a bartender fee of course,,,but you cannot sell by the drink......OR if you purchase the alcohol, & charge the client the exact price you paid, you are not "selling" or profiting from the sale of alcohol, which in my state used to be the standard,,, but then the statutes were re-written to say that you cannot "distribute" alcohol without a license, try either of these ideas, good luck...and by the way we finally got our own caterers license, which is substantiatly cheaper than a retail drink license....800.00 vs. 1,000ssss......sam

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