Stay Social Tap and Table could be facing revocation of its alcohol license.
On Sept. 6, Paul Scarbary, director of Columbia County’s Development Services Division, sent owner Renee Hajek a letter notifying her that the county is “initiating actions to suspend or revoke” the eatery’s alcoholic beverage license due to its not receiving 50% of its annual sales from food rather than alcohol.
Chapter 6 of the Columbia County Ordinances requires that restaurants with alcohol licenses must derive at least 50% of its revenue from prepared food sales in order to keep the license.
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The Evans restaurant, which opened in August 2020, received $100,000 funds from the Columbia County Development Authority to help it launch, as part of the Authority’s Destination Retail Incentive Program. Of those funds, more than $37,000 was a loan and more than $62,000 was a grant.
According to the promissory note for the funds, one stipulation of the grant required that the café make $1.2 million in sales within its first two years, while also following all state and local laws—particularly Chapter 6 of the ordinances.
“The only reason we are in this situation is based on the Destination Retail Incentive,” said Robbie Bennett, executive director of the Development Authority, noting that the Authority only audited Stay Social’s sales because it was the two-year mark as outlined in the promissory note.
Columbia County does not have a system in place for tracking businesses’ sales reports to ensure they’re in compliance with county ordinances, said county manager Scott Johnson, but rather responds to reports of noncompliance.
“We don’t require restaurants to submit sales reports,” Johnson said. “What happens is we are required by the code to conduct an audit if either we get a complaint, or staff become suspicious that they may not meeting their 50/50 alcohol versus food sales.”
Hajek believes the matter to be a misunderstanding, and said sales for 2021-2022 exceed the ordinance’s requirement.
“I’ve never had any worries about us meeting our goals, once we worked out the kinks from opening in COVID,” Hajek said, who noted that “annual sales” implies numbers from January to December.
Hajek further stressed that Stay Social opened an 45%, during the height of the COVID pandemic, and that the café “brought in County revenue during a period when most didn’t.”
Hajek plans to argue her case before the Board of Commissioners at its meeting Tuesday, in which a scheduled hearing on the potential license suspension—requested by Hajek—is on the agenda.
Johnson said that three outcomes are possible from the hearing: the board votes to revoke the license completely; is satisfied with the information Hajek provides, votes not to revoke, and be finished with the matter; or consider offering the establishment some time to fulfill the ordinance.
“There’s a possibility that the board may say come back to us in three months, six months,” said Johnson. “Some period of time where we would monitor closely her food and beverage activity to make sure that she was in compliance.”
Were Stay Social’s alcohol license to be revoked, and the business ultimately closed as a result, there is no codified contingency plan regarding the funds it received from the county, or whether it would owe the Development Authority the monies, said Bennett, as the current situation is unprecedented.
“I’m going to be an optimist,” said Bennett. “From our standpoint, we want to see her succeed. We want to see her do well. And I don’t think there’s anybody who doesn’t want to see local businesses succeed. So we’ll have to wait and see what the commission decide on Tuesday.”
The Board of Commissioners will hold its meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 4, at 6 p.m. at the auditorium of Building A at the Evans Government Center Complex at 630 Ronald Reagan Drive.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
