A judge has ruled in favor of Columbia County over its decision to revoke the alcohol sales permit of Stay Social Tap and Table.
In an order signed Monday, Dec. 12, Chief Judge James G. Blanchard Jr. found the commissioners were within their rights and following a county ordinance when they voted to revoke Stay Social’s alcohol license because the restaurant failed to earn at least 50 percent of its total annual gross sales from food as opposed to alcoholic beverages.
Stay Social filed a petition for certiorari in Columbia County Superior Court contending commissioners based their Oct. 4 decision on faulty and unconstitutional reasoning. Blanchard granted a stay until a hearing and decision on Stay Social’s petition could be completed.
According to Blanchard’s order, Monday’s decision was not based on his review of the strength of evidence presented Oct. 4, but a determination as to whether the commissioners’ decision was based on substantial evidence.
Stay Social opened in August 2020 on Evans Town Center Boulevard across from the Pavilion. It received a total of $100,000 in loan and grant funds from the Columbia County Development Authority as part of its efforts to expand business in the county. A requirement of the funds was to submit certain financial reports to the Development Authority. One obligation required Stay Social to comply with all state and law laws.
The Development Authority staff determined Stay Social was not in compliance with the Columbia County code section that requires eating establishments to derive 50 percent of its gross sales from the sale of food. The report Stay Social submitted June 20 for the 2021 year of operation showed $421,491 in gross alcohol sales and $338,106 in gross food sales. The executive director reported this fact to the county’s administrative services director, according to Blanchard’s opinion.
Stay Social received notice by certified mail Sept. 6 of the county’s intent to possibly suspend or revoke its liquor license because of the insufficient food sales. Stay Social then submitted new numbers that moved a $38,033 deduction specifically into the gross sales of alcoholic beverages without an explanation why, Blanchard wrote. But Stay Social owner Renee Hajek told commissioners at the Oct. 4 hearing that it doesn’t give away alcoholic drinks. It would also violate the law if it did, Blanchard noted.
In his order, Blanchard found the commissioners based their decision to revoke the license on substantial evidence. He also found that the terms “eating establishment” and “50 percent of gross sales” were not unconstitutionally vague in the county’s code, and that Stay Social failed to prove its claim that the county treated Stay Social differently than other establishments with alcohol sales permits.
The allegation raised during the hearing before Blanchard that the county unfairly targeted Stay Social because of its drag show in June cannot be considered, Blanchard wrote, because it was not raised by Stay Social at the hearing before the commissioners.
With Monday’s court order, the Oct. 20 stay that allowed Stay Social to resume alcohol sales is dissolved.
