As a bar owner, one thing that you might worry about is having underage people drinking in your bar. Allowing this type of behavior can boost your liability and put you at risk of losing your right to sell alcohol in your establishment, but cracking down on sneaky underage drinkers can be tough. Luckily, there are a few ways that you can reduce -- or hopefully completely eliminate -- underage drinking in your bar.
1. Make it a 21+ Bar
One of the best ways to reduce or eliminate underage drinking is to prevent those who are under the legal drinking age from entering your establishment in the first place. It can be far too easy for someone who is old enough to buy alcohol to sneak a few drinks to an underage friend, and although close monitoring can help, it can be tough to prevent it completely. By checking IDs at the door and only allowing those who are old enough to drink to enter the premises, you can help prevent this from happening.
2. Invest in ID Scanners
There are scanning devices that you can purchase that can check IDs for authenticity and can immediately give your bouncers and bartenders an answer as to how old the person who possesses the ID is. This can help prevent simple math errors, when a bouncer might accidentally think that someone is over 21 when they are not, and it can greatly reduce the instances of a fake ID being presented and accepted. Along with separate devices, there are even apps that can be installed on smartphones and tablets that can be used for this purpose.
3. Have a Strong Security Presence
Make sure that the people in your bar know that you are on the lookout for underage drinking. Post signs throughout the establishment that warn against this illegal behavior, and have ample security keeping an eye on things at all entrances and exits and throughout the bar or club. Having security cameras all over the premises is also helpful. Also, as an added benefit, having a strong security presence throughout the establishment can also help cut down on other undesirable behaviors, such as fighting. Plus, in the event that something does happen, being able to prove that you have gone above and beyond in attempting to prevent underage drinking can help reduce your liability.
You don't have to accept underage drinking in your bar as being inevitable. Instead, consider these tips for helping to reduce this behavior and to potentially prevent it altogether. The more you do to reduce underage drinking, the lower your commercial insurance costs may be.
Share8 April 2016
A few years back, I was faced with a serious dilemma. Our employees had started to strike for what they said were dangerous working conditions when everything was in line with the recommendations from our parent company. We knew that we had to make things right, so we started working as a team to make things better. It was incredible to see how big of a difference we were able to make. Within a few short months, we completely overhauled our business and our employees felt like we cared about them. This website is here to help you to create better employee policies.
