Background

Village staff were recently approached by an entrepreneur seeking to open a package liquor and cocktail kit supply store “Cocktail Boutique” in Arlington Heights. Their business model envisions an upscale boutique providing all the ingredients needed to host an at-home cocktail party in the form of packaged products. Additionally, the store wants to regularly host ticketed cocktail mixology classes to educate and broaden their attendees’ comfort level of at-home cocktail preparation. It is anticipated that classes could feature up to three signature alcoholic drinks, as well as the potential for non-alcoholic cocktails, or “mocktails”, for consumption during the class. Their pricing strategy is to make the classes accessible to as many people as possible but expect to charge a minimum of $50 per class. Premium classes would cost more and light food may be served as part of the class.  Finally, at this time, the business would not serve made-to-order alcoholic drinks (i.e., bar service) outside of the signature drinks during ticketed classes but the owner did express an interest in potentially having the opportunity to allow on-premise consumption. 

Under the current Arlington Heights Liquor Code, businesses serving alcohol for onsite consumption must also have a kitchen to provide food service and have at least 25 seats at tables available for patrons, among other requirements. While this Cocktail Boutique would meet the requirements to obtain a Class B or BB liquor license to sell packaged liquor, it does not plan on providing kitchen service or having 25 seats at tables which means it cannot obtain a liquor license for onsite alcohol consumption during the ticketed classes.  A new liquor code amendment will need to be approved by the Village Board in order to allowing this new business concept the ability to open their business in Arlington Heights.

As part of this request, staff reached out to existing business owner Robert Owings of Vintages Wine - A Fine Wine Merchant located in downtown Arlington Heights.  Several years ago, Mr. Owings expressed interest in being able to offer limited on-premise consumption for educational classes or events for those that wanted to learn more about wine or champagne.   While tasting samples are currently permitted, the economics doesn’t typically work out to open full bottles of wine for a few people who can have limited sampling.  Similarly, the economics wouldn’t work for a cocktail establishment to prepare all the ingredients necessary for a specialty cocktail drink that can only be sampled. 

Mr. Owings also shared that as a small business he would gain other benefits from possessing an additional on-premise license which includes access to a number of wines that are not otherwise available to them and they would get slightly better pricing which would make them a stronger and more profitable business.

Options to Consider

In the past, the Village Board granted supplemental liquor licenses to businesses in unique situations and has created new liquor classifications. Village staff is supportive of creating a new liquor license classification or supplemental license for Class B & BB licenses. If a majority of the Village Board is agreeable to creating a new classification, potential requirements/restrictions may include:

•onsite alcohol consumption must exclusively take place as part of a ticketed class;

•the number of alcoholic drinks an individual may consume during a class is limited to up to 3 drinks;

•the number of classes an individual can attend per day is limited to one;

•limit to the length of classes and/or business hours;

•classes must be taught by Basset-certified instructors;

•light food/appetizers must be available during all classes;

•the price of ticketed classes must be above a certain dollar amount;

•where appropriate, classes must occur in a semi-private space that is clearly defined as separate from regular shopping spaces

It is understood that the Village Board may be interested in applying other requirements/restrictions.

If a supplemental liquor license is created for Class B or BB liquor license holders, potentially other businesses that fall into this category would be eligible to offer limited on-premise consumption. This includes grocery stores, convenience and liquor stores, and other businesses that sell packaged alcoholic beverages.

Next Steps

Staff is looking for direction from the Board as to whether or not there is a consensus to modify the liquor code to create a new liquor classification to allow limited on-premise consumption for establishments that provide package sales of alcoholic beverages. If a Village Board recommendation is made then staff will prepare an ordinance for the Board’s consideration at a future Village Board Meeting.