A house policy for customers is a public document posted in highly
visible locations in a bar. These policies are a set of house rules
and regulations concerning customers', entry, behavior, and alcohol
and food consumption while in the premises.
The house policy for customers informs patrons what to expect
if the rules are broken. The tone of the policy is always firm but fair.
Please see the samples.
House policies for staff are directly related to the house
policies for customers. They clearly set out management's expectations
of their staff in regard to the sale of alcohol and instructions for denying
entry and ejecting undesirables. Please see the attached samples.
House policies for SOP holders establish the bar business's
expectations of persons who rent space for liquor licensed events. There
is one sample to see.
Recently, the author of this report received a house policy
for doormen from a bar in Sault Ste. Marie. Like a house policy for staff,
it sets out how doormen at one particular location are expected to behave
when on the job.
At the beginning of the experience, the intention was to
help bars build as many house policies for customers as possible. Bars
who expressed interest in having a policy received copies of existing
bar house policies to peruse. With a policy in hand, the bar owner or
manager would check off the components liked, revise components that he/she
wanted left in but needed revisions to fit that particular establishment's
needs or wrote in new components. At one point, the consultant added a
FAS/FAE (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/Fetal Alcohol Effect) prevention component
for pregnant women to the sample policy. After the bar owner had written
all over the sample policy, the CAMH consultant would meet the manager
or owner to go over the draft to make sure it was clear, explicit and
acceptable to all concerned. The draft would eventually be rolled into
an attractive laminated version. A copy or copies of this final version
was given to the bar to be nailed up in prominent locations. Bars who
received house policies for customers also received a laminated BAC (Blood
Alcohol Content) chart.
The house policy for staff evolved from the policy for customers.
The first house policy for staff came about when an owner asked for one.
Such a policy had more detail, would be discussed each year with individual
staff and would be signed each year by each staff member. The first house
policy for customers was built from the ground up with input from the
bar owner. Eventually, the first policy for staff was finalized. Subsequently
versions were developed in the same ways as house policies for customers
took place. The house policy for SOP holders was a special case in that
the policy was developed for a commercial site that also rented space
for SOP events.
House policies for bar businesses are not the panacea for
excessive drinking and intoxication that is normal within bar culture
and nor the panacea for the myriad of problems so frequently associated
with bar related alcohol use. But used in conjunction with proper staff
training, staff supervision, LLA (Liquor Licensed Act) inspections and
enforcement and community pressure from groups like MADD
(Mothers Against Drunk Driving), they can help and they can contribute
to making people who frequent bars and people in the community safer.
For More information, contact:
Larry Grand, Program Consultant
Centre of Addiction and Mental Health
Renfrew Office
email: lgrand@renc.igs.net
phone: 613-628-9264
fax: 613-628-9263
Please answer the following questions.
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