Open Bar or Drink Station... Help!!!!

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  You need to inform the other person that she was out of line. Not me. It does not say that I can not tell anyone to not respond to my discussion. Thank you.

You can always have open bar for cocktail hour or until dinner for example and then start charging. I have seen thay done plenty tastefully

View Quoted Comment Most places do not allow this due to liquor license laws.

Well that escalated quickly. Lol.

Alcoholic drink stations are a bad idea at any event not being hosted in your own home. IMO, drink stations at any respectable venue should be reserved for water, lemonade, punch, coffee, etc. Any sort of alcohol (whether made in large batches or being served by the glass) should be monitored by a professional.

And, as a caterer, you should check with your servers to see if they will actually keep your booze stations refilled. Most catering companies, the one I work for included, staff based on what the needs are for that specific contract. Being thrown a curveball (ie - asking them to do anything outside of that contract) can lead to service being effected in other areas because now they are expected to take on additional tasks and may not be staffed appropriately to do so.

Yeah and I've already flagged you at least 3 times. You're now being flagged again for name calling.

View Quoted Comment Great!! Thank you! That sounds like a good idea!

View Quoted Comment Buttercup is not an insult. Nice try though.

View Quoted Comment She can copy and paste the CGs but doesn’t know what any of it means. Not one single name calling or offensive thing.

OP, you can’t ask for an opinion and call everyone rude when they don’t agree with you. The only people you’re praising are the ones blindly agreeing it’s a good idea. I worked in food service for a long time. I have worked weddings. Many many weddings. I know what I’m talking about. I gave you very true and honest advice about how your plan could go wrong and you’re stomping your feet like a 5 year old because I’m not saying THIS IS A GREAT IDEA 🌈
if you can’t handle open and honest advice you have a little growing up to do before getting married.

View Quoted Comment Very good point. The caterer I work for (in CO) is insured, but works under the liquor license of each venue. Most of the staff are TiPS certified bartenders (excluding anyone underage). Our company would in no way take part in this booze station idea. The only alcohol that we would serve beyond the bar would either be wine service for dinner or champagne for toasts. No way in hell would we take on the liabilities involved in a self-serve booze station.

View Quoted Comment This all falls under the venues insurance. Typically, most venues, are anything happening under their roof is their liability. Which is why 99% of places will not allow this type of service. Someone over serves themselves , drives home, kills a family, the venue is on the hook for that. An incident like that can cause a venue to close. And if a bartender WILL be there for beer and wine, that bartender is on the hook for it because they can’t prove if the bartender or the un-attended jug over served them.

View Quoted Comment I'm not 100% on that one. I would think it would depend on the venue and whether or not they have a liquor license. I've never worked at a venue without a liquor license, but I'm sure they're out there.

If she's not using certified staff and there is no liquor license at the venue, I would think she could be held responsible, but I have no legal expertise to support that.

Don’t be cheap. Fork over the money for a bar and let people order what they actually want. I’d be pissed if I went to a wedding and was forced to drink sugary jungle juice crap all night.

View Quoted Comment Which loops right back around to my point that any licensed bartender will absolutely not. And any adequately insured venue will not allow it either. Especially if they DONT have a liquor license. I’m not 100% sure, but I’m pretty sure you can’t legslly serve liquor in a place that isn’t licensed to do so. Heavy heavy fines associated with that.

View Quoted Comment I'm guessing that either this "venue" is someone's backyard OR OP was told she can bring in her own alcohol (as in supply alcohol for the bar), but twisted it into thinking that she can just bring in booze and serve it however she sees fit. Which, if the venue wants to keep their doors open, will put a stop to that idea real quick.

View Quoted Comment Yea I gathered that when she said “they said we can have alcohol” I think she ran away with it and didn’t think about legal ramifications that come with serving.

I would suggest having a bartender serve drinks. If you want to just do the premixed cocktails, those can be set at the bar (poured by bartender) and the bartender can also serve the nonalcoholic drinks.

OP, I don't see anyone name calling...
Anyway, you've gotten good advice. Not sure why you're upset.

My concern with a station would be who is refilling it or what happens when the dispenser runs out? Is the venue in charge of that as well as with other catering stuff? I'd say use a bartender.