Page 15 - IAV Digital Magazine #426

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Utah Establishments Must Choose Between 'Bar' And 'Restaurant' Signs
By Cristina Flores
Salt Lake City — (KUTV) Starting May 9, Utah estab- lishments will have to display signs that indicate they are either a “Bar not a restaurant” or “Restaurant not a Bar”.
That’s a tough choice when many businesses serve both food and adult beverages.
“It’s very confusing,” said Kimi Eklund, owner of Kimi’s Chop and Oyster House in Sugarhouse.
Eklund offers fine dining in a very unique venue. Her restaurant is in an old post office build- ing. The center of the building is an upscale bar area where customers can enjoy cocktails only or have a drink before or after din- ner.
The bar area is flanked on either side by dining rooms where adults and enjoy alcoholic drinks and food and children can dine as long s they are accompanied by an adult.
The new sign at the
entrance says “Bar not a restaurant” which doesn’t accu- rately represent her business and has confused some cus- tomers.
She tells them noth- ing’s changed when they ask. But next year, she’ll be forced to change some of the rules.
Customers will no longer be able to roam around freely in her bar area and socialize because they will have to order food with their drink.
She feels like the liquor laws in Utah
are going backward.
“We are adults and adults should be treated like adults,” she said.
State lawmakers passed a series of changes to the liquor laws that include the signs. They are meant to make it clear to cus- tomers what kind of establishment they are walking into.
David Morris, owns Piper Down in Salt Lake. It is clearly a bar for people 21 and older but 40 percent of sales are also food – mostly Irish fare like corned
beef and cabbage and fish and chips.
Morris thinks the signs makes utah liquor laws seem even more strange.
“It makes us look silly again. Like we need help,” he said.
Morris thinks the signs will be espe- cially confusing to tourists who might think that establish- ments are either bars or restaurants but not both.
“I don’t think this is the right thing to do,” he said.
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