Friday, October 4, 2013

Effective And Responsible Alcohol Service Training

By Angel Dudley


Regardless of your position or title in the restaurant or bar business you need to know the legal liabilities and legalities concerning the sale and serving of alcoholic beverages. Opportunities for responsible alcohol service training are available in class rooms and on line. Personnel who serve or sell alcohol to the public must be able to spot a fake identification card and identify those customers who must be carded. They must also be able to spot troublesome patrons or those who abuse alcohol and handle the situation.

Many states have laws requiring that employees who serve or sell alcoholic beverages must attend these classes and acquire a certificate proving that they have satisfactorily completed the courses prior to employment. Most states also require that the training be repeated and the certification be renewed. The renewal requirement averages out to every three years.

Staff and owners or managers are required to undergo these programs separately. This insures that all personnel are trained properly. Managers and owners are taught what they need to do to implement policies that the employees must adhere to when serving alcoholic drinks. Employees are taught the laws and how to enforce policy in the most efficient and trouble free way.

When everyone has completed the courses and management has verified copies of the certificates all staff should receive a copy of company procedural policies. Most colleges recommend that you do extra training at your place of business. In-situ training has a better impact on people and will be easily remembered by most. It should be strongly impressed on your people what the consequences are for not following procedure while working.

When the courses are complete hand out an in-depth summary of the state and local laws involving serving alcoholic beverages. Take time to go over the laws and be certain that everyone understands them. The consequences of non-compliance are severe and ignorance of the is not a defense.

Hands on training regarding acceptable identification is a must. Your people need to be able to spot false IDs and also be comfortable asking for picture IDs from all customers who look younger than thirty years old. Unfortunately the problem of underage sales does not stop with the ID check. Some patrons may attempt to share their drinks with persons under twenty one at the table or if there is a patio area. Servers must be prepared to handle this situation comfortably and with as little commotion as possible.

Identifying customers who are overly intoxicated is another specialty area in a bar or restaurant. Refusing to serve someone who has already had too much takes a lot of finesse. Even then the customer may disagree with you and cause a scene. When this happens rather than confront the person the server should have a set of actions that include being able to call the owner or manager to settle the issue.

The owners and managers serve a large role in implementing responsible alcohol service training. They are responsible for signs stating the age of 21 as the legal age for service. They put the ID standards into effect. They also need to be active in the on going training of staff and making sure the tools to do the job are available and that the final word for service comes from them.




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