What you need to consider if you have a licensed venue.

What you need to consider if you have a licensed venue.

As your patrons begin to return to your venue, it important to make sure you are sticking to the rules required for all licensed premises regardless of a pandemic, otherwise a huge fine, or even worse, could be on its way.

Here we look at a few recent incidents to explore the most common issues that land licensed businesses in trouble.

Irresponsible service of alcohol

Serving alcohol to a minor or an intoxicated person is a common offence with very costly, sometimes deadly, consequences. In 2015, a South Australian hotel and its manager were fined $40,000 and $10,000 respectively after serving a drunk patron who died in a car crash on the way home. Venues can also face civil action launched by victims and their families so it is important to regularly check you responsibilities as a licessee.

In NSW, you can apply and review your role as a licensee here and upkeep you and your staffs certifications. If however, you staff does make a wrong decision, there are ways to mitigate the risk. Poor decision making from employees is something you may be able to can guard against with management liability insurance.

Simply removing a patron from your venue can be problematic too. The industry has seen a Sydney restaurant fined $2,200 by police for leaving two unconscious women on the street after serving them 16 shots of Soju within 40 minutes. The restaurant faced further sanctions from the NSW’s Liquor and Gaming Authority whose director of compliance operations told the ABC: “it’s hard to imagine a worse case of a venue failing in its obligations to prevent misuse and abuse of alcohol.”

Disturbances and violence

Take a look at key decisions made by Liquor & Gaming NSW and you’ll see disturbances are a very common problem for licensed venues. Venues are frequently investigated for ‘“unduly disturbing’” the ‘“quiet and good order’” of their neighbourhood and can be required to reduce opening hours in certain parts of their premises, undertake remedial works and deploy security staff, all of which can be expensive and inflict significant opportunity costs.

Alcohol-related violence on premises, meanwhile, is commonly met with fines, precinct-wide lock-out laws, trading hours being cut back, or licences being revoked – not to mention serious and costly reputational damage for your business.And violence can occur in even the most unassuming of places – recently a Brisbane karaoke restaurant licensee was fined $40,000 after an “extremely violent” brawl broke out.

“Whilst, insurance is only part of the solution you should also consider having with robust risk management, compliance and training”

Advertising

Inappropriate advertising can get your licensed venue in a spot of trouble too, as one Newcastle pub discovered earlier this year after advertising a competition encouraging patrons to “win their height” in vodka drinks.

“This promotion posed an unacceptable risk of excessive alcohol consumption,” the state’s director of compliance operations Sean Goodchild told the Newcastle Herald.

Most states and territories also have licensee restrictions on ‘happy hour’ promotions, raffles, theme nights and prizes. So it pays to check before you get too generous.

Mitigating risk

Even if you’re doing everything in your power to reduce these risks, the fact is: an untrained or rogue employee/ or patron, an irresponsible nearby venue, or a simple mistake can prove very costly for a licensed venue.

This is why it’s important to have a good business insurance solution in place – like public liability, management liability, business interruption and events insurance.

Whilst, insurance is only part of the solution you should also consider having with robust risk management, compliance and training.

For expert advice on the best insurance solutions for your business, talk to your Steadfast broker.

*All examples are based on specific circumstances to the particular situation which may vary from situation to situation.

“According to Roy Morgan Research, 36.6% of Australians aged 25-34 years have heard of Airbnb, and 13.1% would consider using them for their next holiday [1]”

It’s little wonder then that global success stories such as Airbnb and Uber are inspiring local entrepreneurs to have a go.

Sharing platforms allow people to share just about anything, from their car (Car Next Door, Drive My Car), caravan (Camplify, My Caravan), parking space (Parkhound, MonkeyParking) and labour (Airtasker, TaskRabbit) to petcare (Pawshake, DogVacay).

And if the platform that would transform your small business doesn’t exist? Why not hire an app developer and run the idea past some friends to test the market?

“As the sharing economy evolves and transforms the way we do business, the opportunities to expand into new areas, are only just beginning”

Regulatory challenges

While the sharing economy offers individuals like Bird the opportunity to start a business, the pace of change has caught regulators and lawmakers off guard. Airbnb has faced legal challenges over the terms of its leases and noisy guests[iii], while Uber drivers have had to fight to be covered by insurance[iv].

There is also some confusion around the issue of tax. The ATO recently released guidelines on the sharing economy and tax, which you can read here.

Insurance companies are also beginning to respond to the evolving needs of the sharing economy with new products, especially where assets such as a car or home are used for mixed private and commercial use[v].

As the sharing economy evolves and transforms the way we do business, the opportunities for enterprising individuals to kick-start a business, or for existing businesses to expand into new areas, are only just beginning.

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[i] Roy Morgan Research[ii] Budde Comm[iii] www.smh.com.au/business/property/apartment-dwellers-lose-out-as-airbnb-here-to-stay-court-rules-20160722[iv] www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-uber-review-racq-pressures-government-20160731[v] ACCC 2015, p.14.

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