{"id":461,"date":"2019-09-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/llb\/2019\/09\/12\/pennsylvania-liquor-control-board-puts-brakes-on-convenience-store-plans\/"},"modified":"2019-09-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T00:00:00","slug":"pennsylvania-liquor-control-board-puts-brakes-on-convenience-store-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/llb\/licensing\/pennsylvania-liquor-control-board-puts-brakes-on-convenience-store-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Puts Brakes on Convenience Store Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

On September 11, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (\u201cPLCB\u201d) issued a new Advisory Notice, Advisory Notice No. 24, regarding the on-premises consumption requirement for retail licensees in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This has been a long-standing policy that all licensees have followed, consistent with a 2009 Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that found an Eating Place Retail Dispenser License (\u201cE License\u201d) holder could not prohibit customers from consuming beer on-premises. However, with the influx of Restaurant Licenses (\u201cR License\u201d) being used by convenience and grocery stores, there has been a push by those entities to have that requirement nullified.<\/p>\n

A convenience or grocery store must meet the same Liquor Code definition of a \u201crestaurant\u201d as an actual restaurant, including the requirement to have food for 30 people, seats for 30 people, a health permit, AND to sell alcohol for on-premises consumption. There have been plans by convenience and grocery stores to stop permitting on-premises consumption at their locations, to the point that some have even announced corporate policy prohibiting consumers from consuming beer or wine on-premises. The PLCB has put the brakes on those plans in Advisory Opinion No. 24.<\/p>\n

The PLCB certainly did not agree with the nullification of that requirement, and, at its July 31, 2019, meeting, it adopted a new policy that expands the requirement for on-premises consumption. Previously, the long-standing policy was to permit a customer of an R License holder to consume, at most, one beer on-premises if they wanted to. Although an R License holder could not completely prohibit the consumption of beer on-premises, it could limit it to one beer only. Generally, this policy to limit the amount of consumption on-premises has been favorably viewed by municipalities when a potential licensee was undergoing a zoning hearing or inter-municipal transfer of a liquor license for a convenience or grocery store. However, Advisory Notice No. 24 has now changed this policy.<\/p>\n

What’s New<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The requirements for an R License holder are now as follows:<\/p>\n