Great stuff, Stacey. I think I know what I'm going to riff on from this post for my own upcoming entry!
Re: Wine Bars closing early, I suspect it's the particulr liquor license they're going for and the rules surrounding it. Here in Los Angeles, you have to be a full retsaurant or bar to serve past 10pm. So the tasting room where I work closes at 9pm (so we have that hour of grace period rather than just kicking people out.) That service time limit came with our liquor license. And so most wine bars in LA have these hours - 9pm close most days, usually earlier on Sundays. Likely, whatever the closing time in whatever area, those hours are being demanded with whichever license they're trying to hold. And if they wanted to be more of a night time operation, they would have to go through all the neighborhood hearings, etc. to make that happen.
Yeah, I do get the licensing thing. And maybe there isn’t enough demand for later hours. Around here I’d be delighted with a 9 or 10pm close; by the time I get home from work I have maybe a half hour before most places here close at 7pm. Ultimately I just don’t think the goal of the wine bars in this area is to build a community atmosphere.
I actually think the demand is there, but it's not something alcohol businesses can just do in America. It would probably take united effort from most tasting roo.s pushing local government to make the change. And if there's one thing wineries and wine bars largely suck at, it's united efforts.
Hm. It seems like the process would be the same as opening any bar or restaurant with a liquor license. It’s difficult and expensive, but it happens all the time. But you’re right about united efforts, and I also think it’s just easier to fit into whatever the dominant definition of a wine bar is rather than pushing into another category. One would have to have a vision beyond selling wine to motivate them to do that.
My understanding is that a wine bar license is very distinct from a bar or restaurant (food handling + alcohol) license. It comes with its own requires hours of service - as mentioned before, my own tasting room can’t serve past 10pm, that’s a requirement of the license type, and a limitation imposed on us by the neighborhood council (so not even the city - the specific neighborhood.) If you want to be a straight up “bar” the expectation is later hours, louder noise, more potential for disorderly conduct and inebriation, etc. I know if wine country this is a major factor for why wineries are only given certain hours of operation. And wine bars tend to not be far behind.
I know there are stricter definitions for tasting rooms, I’m just not sure how they apply to wine bars. I guess if I ever have the money to open one, I’ll find out! Lol.
Great stuff, Stacey. I think I know what I'm going to riff on from this post for my own upcoming entry!
Re: Wine Bars closing early, I suspect it's the particulr liquor license they're going for and the rules surrounding it. Here in Los Angeles, you have to be a full retsaurant or bar to serve past 10pm. So the tasting room where I work closes at 9pm (so we have that hour of grace period rather than just kicking people out.) That service time limit came with our liquor license. And so most wine bars in LA have these hours - 9pm close most days, usually earlier on Sundays. Likely, whatever the closing time in whatever area, those hours are being demanded with whichever license they're trying to hold. And if they wanted to be more of a night time operation, they would have to go through all the neighborhood hearings, etc. to make that happen.
Yeah, I do get the licensing thing. And maybe there isn’t enough demand for later hours. Around here I’d be delighted with a 9 or 10pm close; by the time I get home from work I have maybe a half hour before most places here close at 7pm. Ultimately I just don’t think the goal of the wine bars in this area is to build a community atmosphere.
I actually think the demand is there, but it's not something alcohol businesses can just do in America. It would probably take united effort from most tasting roo.s pushing local government to make the change. And if there's one thing wineries and wine bars largely suck at, it's united efforts.
Hm. It seems like the process would be the same as opening any bar or restaurant with a liquor license. It’s difficult and expensive, but it happens all the time. But you’re right about united efforts, and I also think it’s just easier to fit into whatever the dominant definition of a wine bar is rather than pushing into another category. One would have to have a vision beyond selling wine to motivate them to do that.
My understanding is that a wine bar license is very distinct from a bar or restaurant (food handling + alcohol) license. It comes with its own requires hours of service - as mentioned before, my own tasting room can’t serve past 10pm, that’s a requirement of the license type, and a limitation imposed on us by the neighborhood council (so not even the city - the specific neighborhood.) If you want to be a straight up “bar” the expectation is later hours, louder noise, more potential for disorderly conduct and inebriation, etc. I know if wine country this is a major factor for why wineries are only given certain hours of operation. And wine bars tend to not be far behind.
I know there are stricter definitions for tasting rooms, I’m just not sure how they apply to wine bars. I guess if I ever have the money to open one, I’ll find out! Lol.