A Wanaka restaurant has been given a stern warning and a trading suspension from authorities after it admitted to serving alcohol to two underage customers last year.
As a consequence, the Lake View Seafood Restaurant must close its doors for four days next month. This punishment was handed down at an alcohol regulatory and licencing authority hearing in Queenstown in early August.
The customers, two volunteers aged 17 at the time, entered the restaurant and ordered a glass of red wine and a bottle of beer. Both were served without being asked to show their IDs. The staff member who served them admitted to the police that she believed they were 22, and did not ask to see their IDs.
The only certified manager on the premises at the time was Guijing Chen, who is also known by the name Ivy Chen, who told police she was not in the restaurant at this time. She informed the police that staff had been trained to check the age of anyone who appeared to be underage, and acknowledged that the law required staff to verify the ages of any customer who appeared to be under 25.
This has constituted a failure of adherence to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012. The restaurant’s first violation came in April last year, where it was subsequently penalised for serving a bottle of spirits to customers dining in a private area of the venue. Chen was directly responsible for this.
According to the Act, any establishment or manager who accumulates three negatives within a three-year period must face an application for the cancellation of their licence or certificate.
It was reported that the restaurant’s repeat offending influenced the decision for authorities to impose a longer suspension period than would usually be enforced.
The authority decided the suspension would take place from the 15th to 19th of September. Reports have also suggested that the suspension would also result in significant financial consequences for the Chen Family, who own the restaurant.
Chen will also be suspended from managing the restaurant for six weeks, from the 8th of September to 19th of October.
The suspension was requested by the New Zealand Police, who did not seek the cancellation of the restaurant’s liquor licence.
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