Saturday, August 22, 2009

On the answering machine--update

The Pastor called me into his office today (yes, it's a Saturday, it was a church workday sprucing up the place, a job that never seems to end). Someone had called and left a message that went basically like this:

"Yeah, Hi. I go to the restaurant next door to the church. Yesterday I was there and wanted a glass of wine to go along with my food but they said they couldn't serve alcohol because the church is next door. I'm calling to see if there's something that you could do about that. They really need to serve wine with their food. So, hope there's something you can do to help them out and help me out. Thanks."

Ummmmm...couple of things here. #1, their being next door to a church doesn't seem to be the real issue. Rite Aid across the street sells alcohol and so does the liquor store next to that. I'm thinking a liquor license might not be what the owners want to get. #2. If you really need alcohol to eat the food at this establishment, I would find somewhere else to eat. Just sayin.

UPDATE: Songbird was right! CA code says:
23789.  (a) The department is specifically authorized to refuse the
issuance, other than renewal or ownership transfer, of any retail
license for premises located within the immediate vicinity of
churches and hospitals.

3 comments:

trinity said...

yeah I have eaten there. You do need the alcohol, just sayin :) In fact in your opinionated friends point of view you might need more than that if you actually plan on enjoying your meal.

Unknown said...

It's true they may have given the customer that information as an excuse, but I did serve a church that needed to give permission for a neighboring restaurant to receive a liquor license. So there may be something to it.

Brittany said...

Trinity--Yep, yep, yep.

Songbird--You're right, there might be something to it. Gonna do some investigating.