Tap Room only in OR, Health Dept questions about food service

[Carrfred]

Hi there,
We are opening a 21 and older Tap Room only, and the local Health Dept official is struggling with that concept and is asking me to jump through every 'food' hoop. Has anyone else dealt with this? I have looked through the Food Sanitation Rules Book and I can't find where beer = food. thanks for any input Alex

[Braxtol]

Are you selling kegs wholesale and self distributing? Basically what happened to us in Lane County was that the Dept of Agriculture inspector was the bureaucrat we had to jump through hoops for due to the fact that our wholesale profit is greater than our retail.

[Carrfred]

Are you selling kegs wholesale and self distributing? Basically what happened to us in Lane County was that the Dept of Agriculture inspector was the bureaucrat we had to jump through hoops for due to the fact that our wholesale profit is greater than our retail.

We do sell kegs wholesale and self distribute, but we are adding the Tap Room by the pint sales. Up until now it has been the ODA regulating, but since we are selling by the glass now to the public, the Health Dept gets involved.

[ArchBridge]

Beer in Glass = Food

We do sell kegs wholesale and self distribute, but we are adding the Tap Room by the pint sales. Up until now it has been the ODA regulating, but since we are selling by the glass now to the public, the Health Dept gets involved.

We are just about to open our taphouse in Oregon City. Clackamas County Health said that once beer gets put in a glass it is food. You can apply for a limited restaurant license, which is cheaper than a full restaurant license, but the requirments are basiclly the same. Also with the limited you can only sell individually packaged items (i.e. you could only sell individual packs of pretzels you could not have a bowl of pretzels). There will be a bunch of items on the application that do not apply, you just need to make sure you are compliant with the regulations that do apply. It was a bit tricky, and as you mentioned no one seems to have an answer, because many municipalities have never dealt with this type of business. Bottom Line, yes you need a restaurant license.

Gene

[Carrfred]

Thanks Gene

So if I go ahead and get my full restaurant license (I'd rather have a bowl of pretzels than individual packs) do you know if I can add food items as I go? Thank you so much for the response re: beer= food, very helpful! Alex

[ArchBridge]

So if I go ahead and get my full restaurant license (I'd rather have a bowl of pretzels than individual packs) do you know if I can add food items as I go? Thank you so much for the response re: beer= food, very helpful! Alex

Yes, that is exactly what we are doing. You just have to notify the health department of menu changes and how items will be stored and prepped. Whether they require additional inspections will be up to your inspector (some are nicer than others).

Gene

[Oregone]

I'd qualify the above responses with the caveat that if the majority of your product is going into packaged sales (keg or bottle for consumption off of your premises) not draft on your own premises, you fall under ODA regulations, not health dept. Try getting a discourse going between the two folks from each instead of bouncing back and forth.

We had quite the go-around between the two agencies when we opened our taproom. Thankfully, our awesome ODA inspector not so politely told the health dept. inspector off in the end since she had no jurisdiction, but very much wanted to.

And we can offer pretzels in bowls. We just can't make them ourselves. Or sell them. Unless we want health department AND ODA supervision.

Remember that the regulations and regulatory bodies are often quite different for breweries and bars/restaurants/tap houses.

[ArchBridge]

I'd qualify the above responses with the caveat that if the majority of your product is going into packaged sales (keg or bottle for consumption off of your premises) not draft on your own premises, you fall under ODA regulations, not health dept. Try getting a discourse going between the two folks from each instead of bouncing back and forth.

We had quite the go-around between the two agencies when we opened our taproom. Thankfully, our awesome ODA inspector not so politely told the health dept. inspector off in the end since she had no jurisdiction, but very much wanted to.

And we can offer pretzels in bowls. We just can't make them ourselves. Or sell them. Unless we want health department AND ODA supervision.

Remember that the regulations and regulatory bodies are often quite different for breweries and bars/restaurants/tap houses.

Yes that is a good point, I was talking specifically about dealing with the health department as mentioned in the intitial post. I don't know about ODA, but I would imagine if you can just fall under ODA supervision you are probably better off. Also,
more regulations + more inspections = more headaches.