The Chattanooga Beer Board met Thursday morning for the first time since March 5 with a virtual Zoom meeting. A new requirement for getting a beer license has gone into effect during the interval. Professional training in alcohol sales is now mandatory for restaurant, bar and store employees who sell beer. Because of the logistic problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the training is being waived at this time. For the time being, the beer board is allowing businesses three months to fulfill this requirement.
The regulatory bureau will follow up to verify training did take place after the grace period.
Calandra Smith, a recommended trainer in alcohol sales with the Hamilton County Coalition, said that training has resumed at her office with a limited number of people allowed at each training session. If desired, she can arrange to train using Zoom.
She will keep a data base of those who have taken the classes and when the training was done. That information will be available to the regulatory bureau at any time, she said.