3 Tips To Prevent Underage Drinking In Your Bar

Posted on: 15 July 2016

As a bar owner, one thing that you really have to worry about is underage individuals making their way into your establishment. This can cause a lot of problems for your business and can result in expensive fines and liability, as well as the potential loss of your liquor license. It can be tough to keep determined underage drinkers out of your bar, but luckily, following these three tips can help.

1. Prevent Underage Individuals from Entering Your Establishment...Period

First of all, in many cases, it is best to prevent underage individuals from entering your establishment in the first place. Some bars and clubs allow individuals who are 18 years old to enter the premises but not drink, for example. Even though this might seem like a good way to boost sales of things other than liquor, it can put you at an unnecessary risk, too. To help prevent underage drinking, a great first step is to check all IDs and make sure that no one who is too young to drink is ever in your bar at all.

2. Use ID Scanners

Some teens are surprisingly crafty when it comes to making fake IDs. Even though it is essential to ensure that your security team and your bartenders all know what to look for when checking IDs, it can still be tough to catch some fakes. Fortunately, you can now purchase a handheld scanner that is designed to verify IDs. Then, you will be using more than just sight and basic training alone to weed out anyone who might be trying to gain access and purchase alcohol with an identification card that is not valid.

3. Utilize Proper Surveillance Techniques

Making sure that your bar is always under constant surveillance is critical. Not only does it help with preventing underage drinking, but it can also help you cut down on fighting and other potential issues. Make sure that you have enough staff members around the property to keep an eye on things, and use surveillance cameras and other methods to keep an eye on what is going on. This can help you watch out for suspicious behavior and can help prevent someone who might be thinking about breaking the rules and drinking underage from actually doing so.

As you can see, there are steps that you can take as a bar owner to help prevent underage drinking in your bar. Then, you can reduce the chances of being fined or otherwise held liable for people drinking underage.

If you need to acquire a liquor license, contact Arizona Liquor Industry Consultants or a similar company.

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