The Columbia County Board of Commissioners revoked the alcoholic beverage license of Evans Plaza tapas’ restaurant Stay Social Tap & Table during its meeting Tuesday evening.
The hearing concerning the café’s license started with county manager Scott Johnson calling up Development Services director Paul Scarbary to answer questions before the board.
Scarbary told the commissioners that he delivered the letter to Hajek’s establishment early last month telling her Stay Social was in violation of the county ordinance that specifies alcohol licensees must derive at least 50% of sales from prepared food rather than alcohol, based on information provided by the Development Authority of Columbia County. He also noted, responding to a question from Johnson, that his department did not conduct any further audit of the restaurant’s sales.
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Development Authority executive director Robbie Bennett then explained that the Authority’s staff had reached out to Hajek to review sales, and that on June 20 Hajek sent numbers up to April, and later May, for 2022. Bennett said that he, along with Development Authority chairman Rick Evans, examined the numbers and concluded that food sales were roughly 45% in 2020, about 47% in 2021 and approximately 46% so far this year.
Bennett also noted that the eatery had exceeded earning the $1.2 million in overall sales within its first two years required to receive forgiveness for its loan from the Development Authority, say that the Authority was “extremely proud” of Hajek for this accomplishment.
“We wanted to make sure we’re being good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” said Bennett. “But we also wanted to make sure we’re helping Ms. Hajek as much as possible and not putting undue burden on her through this process.”
Hajek told the commissioners that the numbers the Development Authority used were not official profit and loss reports, but working copies of her Quickbook reports, and had not been certified by her accountant at the time.
She even made sure to ask Johnson which local government agency was responsible for ensuring compliance, to which Johnson replied that the county does not conduct audits unless a potential violation is brought to its attention by another party—in this case, the Development Authority.
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“I was under the impression they were meant to make sure, financially speaking, that we were doing well,” Hajek said. “I thought it was very clear that his agency was not responsible for determining so and I even in my email says these are not certified; they’re not stamped by the company.”
Both Hayek and her accountant, Josue Garcia, speaking to the board, underscored Stay Social’s having opened in 2020, during the height of COVID, as an extenuating circumstance, saying the restaurant has yielded hundreds of thousands in revenue for the county since receiving its monies from the Authority.
“So $120,000 in sales tax revenue in the middle COVID, businesses are failing, and we’re still trying to stay open,” Garcia said.
Ultimately, after the hearing was closed, Commissioner Don Skinner presented a motion to revoke Stay Social’s alcohol beverage license. All other commissioners, except Chairman Doug Duncan, voted in favor of this motion.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
