ABC Permit Training

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
615.216.7500
  • Our Programs
    • On Premise
    • Off Premise
    • On-Line Training
    • Student Awareness and Education
    • Corporate Alcohol Service Training
    • ABC Classes – Memphis
    • ABC Classes – Nashville
  • About Us
    • Services
    • FAQs
    • Our Guarantee
    • Our Difference
    • Blog
  • State Resources
    • RLPS
    • TABC
  • Contact
  • Become a Trainer

Training You How to
Sell and Serve Alcohol Responsibly

Cutting Off At the Bar – Bartender Training for Safety

December 8, 2018 by Aaron Heasley

Bartender Training for Safety – How to Protect the Public and Your Business from Excessive Drinking

We’ve all seen someone at a club or a bar who has definitely had too much to drink. Sometimes they are out with friends and it’s clear that the friends are “taking care” of the excessive drinker. Other times, the person is alone. In either case, it’s the responsibility of a bartender to do everything they can to make sure the public is safe from drunk drivers.

Yes, in addition to knowing how to mix drinks, entertain, have good customer service, be therapists, handle money, and keep everything clean and organized, bartenders and servers need to know when to cut someone off. It’s all a part of your bartender safety training.

There are a few reasons for this. One is, of course, legal. The implications of not cutting someone off can be huge and even business-ending for a bar or restaurant. But there is another reason, too. No one in your establishment is going to want to be around someone who is overly drunk. Sure, have fun. Drink until you’re “happy,” but not being able to stand or manage yourself makes for an unfun party goer.

So how do you know when it’s time to end it and cut someone off? Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Bloodshot eyes

The eyes are the window to the soul. When they are glazed over, tuned out, and/or bloodshot, all you can see is trouble. Make it a point to look into your patrons’ eyes. Make sure they can keep their eyes open and focus on you. If they can’t do that long enough to make their order, that’s a big red flag.

Slurred Speech

If you hear “GimmeanoderdrinkkkkKK,” it’s time to start serving water or soda. Slurred speech is a big indicator that your guest has had way too much to drink.

Poor Motor Skills

Falling, loss of balance, staggering, spilling drinks, knocking over things, and making a mess out of the line dances are all things each worker should be looking for. When you get to the point that you’re motor skills are impaired, you have reached your alcohol limit.

Aggressive Behavior

Of course if someone is trying to pick a fight, they need to go. But there could be more subtle aggressive behavior issues to look for as well. These include things like being rude to staff, yelling out in anger, being in someone’s face or grabbing at them, and overall being a drunk pain.

When you see these types of concerns, how do you then go about cutting off the guest from more alcohol? Here’s where diplomacy and tact come into play. Typically, the standard is for the bartender to start serving water, have the guest pay their tab, and call them an Uber or taxi cab. However, it’s doesn’t always happen so smoothly.

A few ways you can help the process along is to tell the customer when they are getting their last drink – “Here’s your last beer so make it a good one” followed by the check. Delivering the check is another signal that it’s time to close up. Perhaps you can switch them to food. Welcome them to come back the next day and be served again. Speak in a quiet but firm voice. Don’t draw attention from other patrons as that could be embarrassing. Be firm, but not aggressive in delivering your information.

Normally, your customers will appreciate bartender training and you looking out for them. Even if it means they don’t fully appreciate it until the next day. Good luck!

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Blog

Tips for Safely Serving Alcohol During the Holidays

October 31, 2018 by Aaron Heasley

How to Stay Safe When Serving Alcohol

The holidays are a great time to wind down relax and have fun. Its not uncommon that alcohol is a plenty around the holidays. Whether its at a restaurant setting, a wedding ceremony, a business event, a staff function or a party, alcohol is bound to be served for its role as a social lubricant. It helps to bring life to the event and ensures everyone has a great time. If you intend to host an event where alcohol is on the menu, its important that your bartenders or whoever is in charge of serving alcohol do so in a manner that ensures the safety of your guests as well as your establishment.

Tips for Serving Alcohol

There are risks to serving alcohol. Being responsible by adopting safe ways to serve can help mitigate these risks. For starters never ever be tempted to serve alcohol to an underage person. Children and teenagers below the legal age should have a kid friendly non-alcoholic beverage at hand to help them feel special and part of the event.

Serve Food

Start to serve food at the beginning of an event. An empty stomach will not go down well with the guests who will actually be drinking. Food, especially one that is high in fat and protein helps to slow down movement of alcohol to the small intestine and onward absorption to the blood stream. You don’t have to provide anything elaborate for food at the beginning. A few appetizers will do. A little food and a cup of coffee at the end will also help.

Keep Track of Guests

Gauge whether any of your guests are intoxicated. You have been serving alcohol for a while now. Its a good idea to check from time to time if your guests are alright or starting to get tipsy. A cool way to do this is by counting drinks. To do this correctly you have to know how much alcohol each drink you serve contains. Once you have this info keep tabs on the volume of drinks each of your guests has had. You can also estimate their blood alcohol concentration.By counting drinks and estimating the weight of your guest, you can get a rough idea of their blood alcohol concentration. Do not over serve your guest if you feel they have had enough.
Monitor the behavior of your guests. Have a chat with your guests and observe any changes in physical or behavioral mannerisms. keep an eye out for relaxed inhibitions, impaired motor coordination, weakened judgement and reduced time reaction time. Serving water to guests with these signs may be helpful. Also try to serve one drink at a time to guests. This helps to pace their drinking.

Limit Bar Hours

At an event with a bar, limit the number of hours the bar is open. Consider closing the bar at a reasonable time to signal the culmination of the event. A reasonable time maybe about an hour to the end of the occasion. This allows those who have had a little too much time to sober up before they are on their way.

Use Taxi Services, Uber, or Lyft

Offer to drop guests home or have a taxi service on speed dial. Despite your best of efforts, someone is always bound to overindulge. Be sure to do your part to ensure there safety plus the safety of other road users. Avoid a scenario where any of your guests goes drunk driving at all costs.

Use a Professional

Inquire about getting a professional bartender or catering service that can take care of the alcohol for your event. This helps you not have to worry about your guests knowing there are pros keeping a tab on things.

Filed Under: Blog

AimToServe.Net Advertising

September 26, 2018 by Aaron Heasley

Our spokes-models are drumming up business on social media. If you see one of our ads on Facebook, please comment and let us know how we’re doing!

https://www.aimtoserve.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/abc-permits-videos1.mp4

Filed Under: Blog

Class Photos

September 26, 2018 by Aaron Heasley

Here are some photos of the classes we put on. Many times, our new students don’t know what to expect. ABC Permits and AIMtoServe.net always strive to have a good time as well as inform our students on the latest laws surrounding serving alcohol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nashville ABC Permits Class

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Blog

TN Alcohol Regulatory Licensing and Permitting System (RLPS)

September 16, 2018 by Aaron Heasley

RLPS is the Regulatory Licensing and Permitting System through the Tennessee Alcoholic and Beverage Commission. This TN Alcohol commission is responsible for issuing alcoholic beverage related licenses for anything over 8% or greater alcohol content. However, TABC does not work with beer permits which are handled locally.

Some of the licenses you can apply for through RLPS include Retail Food Store Wine License, Direct Shipper, Wholesaler, and Non-Resident Seller License.

The RLPS was launched in January of 2018 which made it easier for the agency to process for licenses and permits in the state. While the state did accept some paper applications up until February 1, after that, all new apps have been done on RLPS. Those who needed renewals had to use the system after April 1.

So, what do you need to know about RLPS?

With your first renewal using RLPS, make sure you don’t start the renewal application until after TABC comes to inspect your place of business. This typically happens within 60 days of your renewal date.

Individual owner info, such as what used to be collected on TABC questionnaires and declarations of citizenship, need to be submitted in RLPS for both new apps and your first time renewing. Here you need to share acceptable forms of ID and failure to do so might mean you can’t get a license.

Since RLPS is brand new, you might need to enter more information than usual since your information is not yet in the system. But then it will be there for you in upcoming years.

Here is a list of the documentation you will need to apply for a TN alcohol license. Also, keep in mind that the system isn’t mobile-enabled yet so you’ll want to work on a full computer. The supported browser is Internet Explorer so don’t try to use Chrome or another. Make sure your popup blocker is turned off for TABC pages as well so that you can get the messages from the system as you go through the process.

Make sure your servers have the proper training they need as well. Contact us at Aim to Serve to find out what you need to do to run a compliant alcohol-related business.

Filed Under: Blog

Alcohol History of Tennessee

August 4, 2018 by Aaron Heasley

Understanding the Alcohol history of Tennessee can help you understand today’s laws and regulations. Being the buckle of the Bible Belt, Tennessee has an interesting history with alcohol. It all started in 1838 when Tennessee was the very first state to pass a law of prohibition against alcohol. This law said that you could not sell alcohol, specifically hard liquor, in taverns or in stores as a result of a movement against the negative effects of drinking. The law was a misdemeanor, which wasn’t quite enough to stop the flow of alcohol through the state.

Jack Daniels Distillery


One of the most important landmarks in TN is the Jack Daniels Distillery located in Lynchburg. It was started in 1866 by Jaster “Jack” Newton Daniel. It is the oldest distillery in the US and receives thousands of tourists to the site each year. However, it’s a dry county there so don’t expect to get liquored up on the tour. You can, however, receive several samples at the distillery under the guise of “educational purposes.” This is important research, after all.

Just because nationwide prohibition ended in 1933, didn’t mean TN was going to immediately jump on the bandwagon. Changes to drinking laws have been slow, with some counties choosing to remain dry or refusing to serve certain drinks, like liquor.

Drinking Age

In 1984, along with several other states in the country, TN raised the drinking age to 21 from 19. This was because the country passed The National Drinking Age Act. States that didn’t comply would have 10% of their federal highway budget removed.

Now there is a Tennessee Whiskey Trail, just a year old in June of 2018, that includes 25 distilleries across the state. Here’s where you can learn the most about local TN whiskey and all of the history and culture surrounding it’s production.

Alcohol in Grocery Stores

It used to be more difficult to purchase alcohol in TN, but with recent changes in grocery store allowances, you can now buy win and beers up to 10% ABV. But, you can’t buy liquor when you are getting your chips, dip, and hamburgers, and you can’t buy high-gravity beers. And forget buying anything on Sunday mornings. You have to wait until noon, and then you can just buy beer. So if you have plans for a Sunday BBQ, be sure to stock up and prepare for the difficulties of buying alcohol in TN on Sundays.

 

Filed Under: Blog

Top BAC Apps and Educational Tools

July 1, 2018 by Aaron Heasley

Being a bartender or being involved in alcohol sales means means you might be asked from time to time about blood alcohol content (BAC) from customers, friends, or curious family members. You should have a toolbox of BAC apps at your disposal. Once you receive your certification, you become the go-to person for everything alcohol related.

 

“How much alcohol is in a screwdriver?”

“Can I drink more if I eat first?”

“Will I get sick if I drink liquor or beer first?”

 

Some of the questions are silly, but others give you a chance to really impart some health education on how people can be responsible drinkers. Here are a few of the top BAC apps and educational tools in use today.

BAC Breathalyzer

A more surefire way to test BAC is with the BACTrack Breathalyzer App for iOS. You need the breathalyzer which connects the app to your device wirelessly using Bluetooth. One of the best features is that you can use it to test not only yourself, but your friends who are with you as well. Another nice feature is the ZeroLine which tells you approximately how long it will take you to get all of the alcohol out of your system.

The Virtual Bar

Available both online and as an app, The Virtual Bar from The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility is a good BAC estimator to explore before you go out for a night of drinking. You select your gender, height, weight, and age, and then the type of drink to consume. You also select how long you take to consume the drink, a minute (like a shot or chug), 15 minutes, or 30 minutes. This app also allows you to add food eaten which can be an important factor in BAC. When you begin drinking with food in your stomach, this slows the absorption of alcohol. So, you can see the difference between drinking on an empty stomach, or after a cheeseburger and fries. This app also tells you how long it will take you to get back to 0.000 BAC.

Duke University

The Alcohol Pharmacology Education Partnership at Duke University has an excellent comprehensive program for sharing information with high school-aged students. This is an ideal program for talking about drinking with your kids, nieces and nephews, or even first year college students. We hope they don’t drink because it’s illegal for anyone under 21 (under most circumstances), but parties happen and opportunities happen. Let’s arm them with the information they need to make safe decisions based on the facts.

You’ll want to keep your toolkit of alcohol education apps and materials handy as you enter your bartending or alcohol sales career. You never know who you’ll be able to help by showing how them how to enjoy responsibly.

Filed Under: Blog

Weird Alcohol Laws and Other Useless Trivia

June 4, 2018 by Aaron Heasley

Weird Alcohol Laws on the Booksweird alcohol laws

There are some fairly standard alcohol laws that most of us can get behind, like having a BAC (blood alcohol content) level too high to operate machinery and a legal age for drinking. But there are some others that make you say “Wait…what?” Here are just a few of the weird alcohol laws on the books around the country. Perhaps knowing a few of these tidbits will help you during your next night of local bar trivia.

Maine

Maine was the first state to prohibit manufacturing and sale of liquor in 1851. The ban only lasted 5 years, which was plenty long enough for those who like a little white wine with their melted-butter soaked lobster tails.

Then, ever since the nationwide prohibition, which was from 1919 to 1933, Maine legislators allowed communities to determine to their alcohol status. This leaves about 50 areas in Maine today that are completely dry.

But the whole state isn’t so stuffy. If St. Patrick’s Day lands on a Sunday, when one typically can’t buy alcohol before 9:00 am (cause you should be in church, you heathen!), they’ll look the other way while you buy armloads of beer at the crack of dawn.

Alabama

Keep the ladies off the labels and everything will be ok in Alabama. That’s right, in the heart of the Bible belt, you can drink your wine, but you won’t find any labels with “immodest or sensual” imagery. That would be just too much to bear! Now get me my Alabama Slammer or Yellowhammer and meet me on the side porch to watch this hurricane go through.

Ohio

“Feel free to drink like a fish in Ohio, but no matter how tempted you may be, do not give any alcohol to a fish.”

This oft-cited weird alcohol law is actually not true. There is nothing on the books in Ohio that says you can’t get a Bass as tipsy on Buckeye beers as you’d like. But it turns out there is some history with the strange, yet popular, non-law.

It wasn’t Ohio, but Oklahoma where there was a law on the books that you couldn’t poison to catch fish with “fish berries,” a native berry used to flavor a local distilled brew. Somehow, over time, it all got mixed up into getting fish drunk and a typo from Oklahoma to Ohio makes this one of the longest running alcohol myths to date.


South Carolina and Kentucky

Election day – A day where about half of the population will want a drink or two to celebrate, and the other half will want several more drinks to drown in their sorrows. Too bad if you live in South Carolina or Kentucky because there’s no drinking allowed on Election Day. But, go ahead and build up a hoard of liquor and beer in your home for that special day, because the law is actually just against serving it or selling it. Here’s to legal loopholes!

 

Filed Under: Blog

5 Basic Steps to Becoming a Bartender

May 24, 2018 by Aaron Heasley

permitBeing a bartender is a great job. You get to socialize, the shifts are flexible, and you earn tips. Do you want to become a bartender but don’t know what it takes? Try these simple steps to start your journey.

Get an ABC permit
ABC stands for alcoholic beverage control. These permits are obtained by taking classes, and they educate you in the art and business of serving alcohol. Having an ABC permit can help you stay well versed in the most current regulations so you avoid fines, insurance hikes, loss of your liquor license, or even business closure.

Memorize classic cocktails
Classic cocktails are going to be some of the most popular drinks people order, so it’s a good idea to know how to make them. Research some of the most popular cocktails so you have a good base knowledge of what your customers will order. Drinks like a Martini, Manhattan, Margarita, Bloody Mary, Long Island Iced Tea, Whiskey Sour, and an Old Fashioned are all considered classic cocktails.

Learn the lingo
If you’ve ever spent time in a bar, then you’ve probably heard some of the bartending terms that most bartenders use. You can learn these during your training, but it’s beneficial to know them ahead of time. Terms like “on the rocks,” “with a twist,” “up,” and “neat” are all phrases you should understand. You should also know terms like shaking, muddling, or stirring, and how they change the way a drink is made.

Practice, practice, practice
Before you step behind the bar, the best thing you can do is practice. You can throw a party with all your friends and play bartender for the night so you can really build up the skills and muscle memory it takes to become a good, quick bartender. Your friends can give you their honest opinion on how good your drinks taste so you can improve.

Try a barback position first
The barback is basically the busser of a bar. They lift heavy objects like kegs and other package orders, and they run around the bar making sure everyone has what they need. Becoming a barback is a great way to get familiar with the bar if you’re not quite ready to become a bartender yet.

There are approximately 65,116 bars, taverns, and nightclubs across the United States today. If you want to bartend at one of them, make sure you get your ABC permit, memorize the classics, learn the lingo, and practice. All of these tips should get you on the path to success.

Filed Under: Blog

4 Awesome Benefits of Being a Bartender

May 3, 2018 by Aaron Heasley

abcYou’ve been to a bar or restaurant where you’ve seen a bartender having tons of fun with their customers. Besides working with booze all the time, there are other benefits to becoming a bartender. If you have the skills to do it, here are some undeniable reasons being a bartender is an awesome job.

You always get to socialize

People come into bars every day, so you are always talking with someone. You get to meet all different kinds of people, and you never know what kind of entertaining conversation awaits. You also never know what kind of relationships you’ll form with the people you meet. You might make great networking connections, new friends, or even find the love of your life.

You get tips

On top of your hourly wage, most patrons will tip you for your service. The better your service, the better your tips will be. This gives you a great earning potential. You might take home a whole week’s pay in just one busy Friday night after all the tips you get.

The shifts are flexible

If you’re not the kind of person that wants a nine-to-five office job, then bartending might be the choice for you. You typically can work the lunch shift and be out for activities with your friends later, or you work at night and have free time during the day. Either way, you aren’t chained to a desk completing boring work every day.

You don’t need a degree

When you apply to be a bartender, the employer does not ask what your degree is in. Although you don’t need a traditional college degree to be a bartender, it helps to have ABC classes under your belt. An ABC license gives you the knowledge you need to be a safe, successful bartender. You learn almost everything you’re going to need to know when you’re actually behind the bar serving drinks to patrons.

The employment of bartenders across the country is projected to grow 10% from 2014 to 2024. This rate is faster than the average for all other occupations. It’s no wonder more and more people want to be bartenders. You get to meet people, get tips, the shifts are flexible, and the ABC training is way more interesting than studying for a college degree. Have fun on your new adventure as a bartender!

Filed Under: Blog

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »
615 Main St. Nashville TN 37206 | 615.216.7500 | info@abcpermits.com
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Our Programs
  • About Us
  • State Resources
  • Contact
  • Become a Trainer

Copyright © 2019 · Minimum Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in