Liquor liability in California can be a difficult issue, and it makes sense to protect your restaurant with liquor liability insurance. This kind of insurance can be included in your overall restaurant insurance package to protect against any charges of negligence related to the service of alcohol on your premises and it will also indemnify the insured for any financial loss if legal liability is found. Even if you have already protected your restaurant business in this way, the experience of dealing with a liquor liability claim can be an unpleasant one, so you will want to put into place some risk management strategies to further decrease your chances of having to deal with a liquor liability claim.
How Can I Decrease Liquor Liability Risk To My Restaurant?
We suggest you follow some guidelines. You can create some policies and procedures that can have results and make sure to enforce them. These include:
- Ensuring that those serving alcohol are experienced and trained, and do not serve persons who are intoxicated
- Encourage carpooling, and taxi use at your establishment
- Ensure that your permits to serve alcohol are valid
- Comply with all California legislation regarding alcohol consumption (try http://www.abc.ca.gov/ for more information)
- Make sure anybody serving alcohol in your restaurant checks for a valid ID – No one under the age of 21 is allowed to consume or possess alcohol, so establish what kinds of ID your staff should ask for, and who will be checked for ID – for example those who are not obviously under the age of 30.
- Display your policies regarding alcohol prominently in your restaurant- this is mandated by law.
Following these guidelines will help your business to further lower its Liquor Liability risk – for further advice, contact Sutherland-Scherff today to speak to a Restaurant Insurance expert.
Sutherland-Scherff have put together some Top Tips to highlight ways of managing Loss Control for operators of restaurants. These Tips have been provided to help you identify potential hazards in your restaurant premises.
