Underage sales happen because your employees feel a pressure to be quick (especially when very busy), because of a pushy customer, because your employee has of a lack of attention to detail, knowledge or they simply don’t care – there is no “reason” for them to take the extra step. Your employees need to understand what HAPPENS when they are caught serving a minor and how much it can hurt your business and them, personally. Serving a minor is a Class 1 Misdemeanor and can result in $2,500 fines and/or 12 months in jail! They’ll lose work hours from court time and they’ll have a criminal record for the rest of their lives. Just for being lazy and/or untrained. Those repercussions are for them, personally – and for you, the business, the fines and repercussions can be even stiffer. You’ll have an ABC Administrative Hearing, heavy fines AND you can have your license suspended or revoked. There can even be civil penalties against the establishment. There is a better way (a much cheaper and easier way) to keep you both out of jail and out of trouble with Va dept. of Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority. And when your employees have quality training and knowledge – it is powerful. Their confidence grows and they become a higher-quality employee to you. All for only $29.95 or $39.95 (depending on specialization for wineries or breweries)!
First off, how does anyone know that you are serving a minor? How do you get “caught?” And did you know that 377 businesses were “caught,” last year? How were these businesses caught, serving a minor alcohol? Well, the VA ABC hires underage buyers to try to buy alcohol from restaurants and retail locations. The buyers cannot wear makeup to make them look older. They cannot say they’re 21 (so they cannot lie). They just have to be ID’d and if someone fails to ID them, BOOM! This underage “Agent” (yes, they are VA ABC employees) must be with an ABC Special Agent that can/will immediately issue a summons to the server and/or the business. Then, the real trouble begins.
And it can all be prevented……easily.
ABC Consulting’s TOAST Academy’s training is available, online. So it can be part of your hiring process. They attend orientation and sit down at a computer and step through our course. Create an employee policy that says when they complete the training, they can start serving. This process can help you have higher-quality employees, a better training program than your competition and can even help you with court costs and fines, should the unthinkable happens: getting caught serving a minor. Take training here.
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