Tisbury beer and wine licensing policies, rules, and regulations

Published: April 10, 2008

· The board of selectmen is authorized to grant annual and seasonal licenses for the sale of all beer and wine beverages to be consumed on the premises of restaurants, including those within inns and hotels, with a seating capacity of not less than 30 persons, to be consumed with meals only and only by patrons who are seated at dining tables.

· Every applicant shall file as part of the application a plan of operation setting forth in detail a description of the type of facility existing or proposed and the applicant’s experience or qualifications to operate such a business; a proposed opening date; any zoning, traffic or public health or safety issues presented by the application; and the applicant’s plans to address or mitigate such issues. Applicants shall also file with the plan of operation a menu or proposed menu, and the manner in which such food shall be served and a scaled floor plan of the premises to be licensed.

· The hours during which sales or service of beer and wine beverages may be made by any licensee shall be from 11 am to 11p.m. (12 a.m. on New Year’s Eve) on Monday through Saturday. Hours for Sunday sales shall be set by the board of selectmen in accordance with the provisions of the General Laws.

· No patron shall be served a beer and wine beverage until such time as the patron is seated for a meal. The board reserves the right to approve a licensee’s menu and further define what constitutes a meal consistent with these policies, rules, and regulations, in particular that the service of beer and wine beverages shall be secondary to the primary purpose of service of food. Single servings of soups, side salads, other side dishes, or desserts shall not be considered a meal, except that this requirement shall not preclude multiple servings to a patron from the above list or like items from constituting a meal. A meal shall not consist of items such as potato chips, corn chips, nuts, pretzels or other so-called "snack foods" customarily served with beer and wine beverages in a bar or cocktail lounge or any other edibles that are served gratuitously with beer and wine beverages. Menus shall reflect the requirement that beer and wine beverages may only be ordered in conjunction with the consumption of a meal.

· The board may require a licensee to furnish an annual financial statement from a Certified Public Accountant indicating a minimum percentage of gross sales for food at 65 percent and the percentage of gross sales for beer and wine beverages at 35 percent for the preceding year with any license renewal application.

· Notwithstanding the provisions of town entertainment regulations a licensed restaurant shall not have any television for patrons’ use with a screen that is larger than 36-inches in size.

· A restaurant licensee or employee or agent shall not offer or deliver any free drinks to any person or group of persons; Sell, offer to sell or deliver beer and wine beverages by the pitcher; Encourage or permit, on the licensed premises, any game or contest which involves drinking or the awarding of drinks as prizes.

· A restaurant licensee shall not permit any alcoholic beverages to be brought onto the premises by patrons or employees under "bring your own bottle" arrangements or otherwise.

· A licensee shall only allow patrons or employees of a restaurant to remove one partially consumed bottle of wine that has been purchased with a meal. The bottle that is removed must be placed in a one-time-user tamper proof transparent bag with the meal receipt attached to the sealed bag.

· There shall be no commercial products, displays, and/or signs, which advertise the sale of beer and wine beverages on the exterior of the licensed premises.