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Archive for the ‘Alcohol Sales’ Category

As a retail liquor license holder, you are aware of both the benefits and responsibilities of serving alcohol. To help you better control the risks and enjoy the benefits, the state of Florida enacted the Responsible Vendor Program. This voluntary program can protect your license, your customers, and your employees when implemented correctly. The RV program works to ensure proper alcohol service by your employees in an attempt to minimize risk to your customers and the public. By following the guidelines as presented under the State of Florida Responsible Vendors Act, you not only have the benefits of a protected clientele, business, and employees but also the benefit of a possible reduction in your insurance liability premiums. Further, the state of Florida promises not to suspend your license if someone on your staff makes a mistake, and the state may even give you a break when it comes to fees or fines for your employee’s actions.

DIY Steps to become a Responsible Vendor

How do you obtain Responsible Vendor status to qualify for these benefits? We can help you with our simple, do-it-yourself guide specifically tailored to help you both attain and retain your Responsible Vendor status. We make it easier for you:

•  To comply with the Florida Responsible Vendor Program
• To maintain your liquor license
• To train you staff
• To potentially save money

We provide online training for both employees and managers  without inconvenience or cost to you.  The easy-to-access format encourages learning and keeps costs down– no special appointment, equipment, or instructor is needed. Participants take the training at their convenience needing only a computer with internet access.  Our system provides all the information and steps that you need to take the worry out of Responsible Vendor compliance.

We have built the training around the knowledge gleaned from over 41 years of industry expertise to help you efficiently and effectively comply with minimal complications. With our high-quality, extensive alcohol compliance training, we provide you with the information you need to be in compliance but also with the tools you need to stay there.

We have published the necessary steps on our website. Please visit us today for our simple step-by-step guide for compliance that you can do yourself with minimal hassle and maximum results.

The Serving Alcohol Team

Website: http://servingalcohol.com
Blog: http://servingalcohol.com/blog/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Serving-Alcohol-Inc/194744653554
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ServingAlcohol

Be famous, post a picture of yourself or your friends, performing one of the many necessary duties when serving or selling alcohol, on our Facebook page!  If we like it we will include it in our profile pics, website or our training material.

Serving Alcohol Inc (http://servingaclohol.com):   Characteristics of Underage Drivers Licenses

Serving Alcohol Inc (http://servingaclohol.com):   Characteristics of Underage Drivers Licenses

Keep your establishment safe and keep current by taking our Responsible Alcohol Manager Training.

Although this is nothing ‘new’ it has been getting a lot of press lately. We are posting this only to raise the awareness of the alcohol sellers and servers that control environments where underage persons may use this approach to hide alcohol use.

Here is a link to one of the many articles:

http://www.keloland.com/videoarchive/index.cfm?VideoFile=111011drunk

You can do a search on You Tube if you are interested in finding out more.

Learn more and be safer visit us at servingalcohol.com

FTC Requires Packaging Changes for Fruit-Flavored Four Loko Malt Beverage
Marketer of Supersized, High-Alcohol Beverage Agrees to Stop Allegedly Deceptive Claims to Settle FTC Charges
Source: Federal Trade Commission
Oct 3rd
The marketers of Four Loko have agreed to re-label and repackage the supersized, high-alcohol, fruit-flavored, carbonated malt beverage, to resolve Federal Trade Commission charges of deceptive advertising.
The FTC alleges that Phusion Projects, LLC and its principals falsely claimed that a 23.5-ounce, 11 or 12 percent alcohol by volume can of Four Loko contains alcohol equivalent to one or two regular 12-ounce beers, and that a consumer could drink one can safely in its entirety on a single occasion.
In fact, according to the FTC, one can of Four Loko contains as much alcohol as four to five 12-ounce cans of regular beer and is not safe to drink on a single occasion. Consuming a single can of Four Loko on a single occasion constitutes “binge drinking,” which is defined by health officials as men drinking five (and women drinking four) or more standard alcoholic drinks in about two hours.
“Deception about alcohol content is dangerous to consumers, and it’s a serious concern for the FTC,” said David Vladeck, Director of the agency’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Four Loko contains as much alcohol as four or five beers, but it is marketed as a single-serving beverage.”
The 23.5-ounce Four Loko cans are the size of about two regular beer cans and are non-resealable. The FTC complaint alleged that on one company website, consumers were encouraged to enter a “photo contest” in which they posted many photos of people drinking directly from the 23.5-ounce Four Loko cans. In stocking instructions, Phusion urged merchants to place the cans where other refrigerated, single-serve alcoholic beverages are displayed.
The administrative settlement requires Phusion Projects to include disclosures on containers of Four Loko, or any other flavored malt beverage containing more alcohol than two and-a-half regular beers, stating how much alcohol – compared to the amount of alcohol found in regular beer – is in the drink. The order also specifies the location and appearance of the disclosure. For example, the disclosure for a 23.5 ounce can of Four Loko with 12 percent alcohol by volume would state: “This can has as much alcohol as 4.5 regular (12 oz. 5% alc/vol) beers.”
Starting six months after the settlement takes effect, Phusion Projects is required to use only resealable containers for flavored malt beverages that have more alcohol than the equivalent of two and a half regular beers.
Also, the settlement bars Phusion Projects from misrepresenting the alcohol content of any beverage, and from depicting people drinking directly from the container of any product containing more alcohol than that found in two and a half regular beers.
In November 2010, the FTC sent warning letters to marketers of Four Loko and three other caffeinated alcohol drinks. Citing incidents “suggesting that alcohol containing added caffeine presents unusual risks to health and safety,” the FTC letters warned that marketing of such beverages may constitute an unfair or deceptive practice that violates the FTC Act.
Phusion Projects, LLC and the other companies subsequently agreed to remove the caffeine and other stimulants from the products.
The administrative complaint against Phusion Projects, LLC also names principals Jason Freeman, Christopher Hunter, and Jeffrey Wright as respondents.
The Commission vote to approve the administrative complaint and proposed consent agreement was 5-0. The FTC will publish a description of the consent agreement package in the Federal Register shortly. The agreement will be subject to public comment for 30 days, beginning today and continuing through November 2, 2011, after which the Commission will decide whether to make it final. Interested parties can submit written comments electronically or in paper form by following the instructions in the Invitation To Comment part of the “Supplementary Information” section. Comments in electronic form should be submitted using the following weblink: \https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/phusionprojectsconsent and following the instructions on the web-based form. Comments in paper form should be mailed or delivered to: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex D), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. The FTC requests that any comment filed in paper form near the end of the public comment period be sent by courier or overnight service, if possible, because U.S. postal mail in the Washington area and at the Commission is subject to delay due to heightened security precautions.

NOTE: The Commission issues an administrative complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. The complaint is not a finding or ruling that the respondent has actually violated the law. A consent order is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by the respondent that the law has been violated. When the Commission issues a consent order on a final basis, it carries the force of law with respect to future actions. Each violation of such an order may result in a civil penalty of up to $16,000.
The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call
1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s website provides free information on a variety of consumer topics. Like the FTC on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Source: BND.com
BY CAROLYN P. SMITH

One day after U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin came to East St. Louis and said the nightclubs and liquor stores in East St. Louis are a source of the violent crime in the city, Mayor Alvin L. Parks Jr. on Thursday announced his decision to stop the sale of package liquor at 1 a.m.

The new curfew is slated to go into effect Friday morning.

The 1 a.m. cutoff time for package liquor sales includes gas stations, grocery stores and standalone package liquor and convenience stores, Parks said. Those businesses were all notified Thursday.

And Parks said anyone caught violating the new curfew will face a minimum fine of $400.

Parks said it was not Durbin’s visit that triggered his decision. He said he had been contemplating closing the package liquor stores at an earlier time for a little while because of all of the negative behavior around them and the violent crimes that have been occurring in recent weeks at local gas stations.

“I am concerned about the safety of the citizens and the illicit activities taking place around some of the establishments. I am also concerned about the image that this kind of activity gives the city,” Parks said.

Several people praised the mayor’s decision.

“I think that’s a great idea,” said Elizabeth Tolliver, executive director of the East St. Louis Housing authority. “This will help with the loitering from the people fraternizing the stores. Package liquor stores are in close proximity to our developments,”
The 1 a.m. curfew will make it less likely that people will loiter in the housing projects, Tolliver said.

Ricky Eastern, Precinct 3 committeeman, said the move is something that is needed to help curb crime and cut down on loitering.

“That’s a good thing, especially in the John DeShields and the John Robinson Homes on Bond,” Eastern said. “It will keep a lot of drunks and drug activity out of there. It will stop a lot of hanging out. People will be in the house earlier for safety reasons.”
Eastern took his late father Robert Eastern Sr.’s precinct committeeman seat. “If my father was alive, I know he would be happy to hear this news. I want to continue doing the things he was doing,” Eastern said.

Yolanda Brazier, who is vice president of the John DeShields Resident Council, also was pleased with the news.

“It’s a start,” she said. “We just have to take it from there, now and see what’s next.”

On Wednesday, she had suggested the city ban sales at 10 p.m.

Also on Wednesday, Parks had said he was considering an 11 p.m. ban but instead went with a 1 a.m. ban. Previously, the stores could sell alcohol until 3 a.m.

Parks did not change any hours of operation for nightclubs.

Durbin, D-Springfield, said Wednesday that “although the population of East St. Louis has decreased in recent years, the violent crimes and homicide rates in East St. Louis continue to continue to rank among the nation’s highest. In 2010 alone, there were 31 homicides in East St. Louis and surrounding communities.”

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