Teens in the Youth Empowerment Society visited Beer Board session
photo by Gail Perry
Chili’s Grill & Bar at Northgate Mall was on the Thursday morning agenda of the Chattanooga Beer Board twice. One time was for a violation of serving beer to a minor on March 18 and the second was to apply for a new license because of an ownership change.
The hearing for the charge of an underage sale has been postponed until the beer board meeting on July 2, but the charge has already resulted in changes at the restaurant.
Franco Gunnell has been moved into the position of general manager of the Hixson restaurant. He is replacing the general manager that was terminated after the incident. The area director at the time of the underage sale is also no longer employed by the restaurant. “The management structure has shifted to ensure this doesn’t happen again," said Mr. Gunnell.
He told the board members of other actions that Brinker OpCo, LLC, the owners of the business, have put in place to prevent underage sales. Mr. Gunnell said only servers that already have an ABC card licensed by the state of Tennessee are hired, and there is no longer a training time allowed. And, he said there is a corporate program of self-shoppers to check that servers ID everyone. If it is found that age verification is not done, that server will be terminated immediately. The checking and validation procedures have been created "because we do not want to be in this situation again," said the manager.
The business also came to the board meeting seeking a new beer permit due to a change of ownership because of corporate restructuring. The new permit was granted after consideration of the safeguards that are now in place to prevent alcohol sales to anyone under 21. Only board member Andre Harriman voted no.
The Hamilton County Coalition is an organization that partners with the Chattanooga Police Department to monitor the sale of alcohol. One purpose of the organization is to increase awareness of drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse. It also helps by assisting in training for neighborhood groups and schools. Calandra Smith, prevention and safety coordinator, has assembled a group of high school age students known as the Youth Empowerment Society (YES). There are 14 youths participating in the program from grades 9-12 and that come from different schools throughout the county. They will assist the police as undercover buyers once they reach the age of 18.
This group came to the beer board meeting on Thursday to observe and learn. One question asked of the group was why they choose to volunteer in the program. Kendra Anderson answered that she joined to help teens or others that are looking for a role model.
Vice Chairman of the Beer Board Christopher Keene thanked them for what they are doing - “trying to do the right thing and making your parents proud.” He told them they would grow up to be community leaders.
The next beer board meeting on June 16 will deal with the over-serving case at Fanatics Sports Bar and Grill, 7601 East Brainerd Road, which ended with a deadly parking lot crash earlier this year. The customer leaving the bar had been over-served and was found to be highly intoxicated, police said.