Last week, Governor Snyder signed a new law permitting certain liquor licensees to apply for and obtain a new “catering permit” (MCL 436.1547). The catering permit allows existing licensees to provide and serve liquor at private off-site events. Previously, even if a licensee was providing food service at an off-site event, the licensee could not also provide and serve the alcoholic beverages, so the event organizer had to obtain those separately.
To be eligible for a catering permit, the licensee must be a “specially designated distributor, specially designated merchant, or holder of a public on-premises license,” AND must also be a licensed “food service establishment or retail food establishment.” For example, the following types of businesses might be eligible for a catering permit: a restaurant, hotel, or banquet facility that caters offsite events; or a grocery store that sells liquor and provides catering.
A catering permit holder may use the permit at multiple events and locations simultaneously, and there is no limit on the number of catering permits issued in a particular city or county. A permit holder must complete an MLCC server training program before beginning to use the permit. The catering permit application fee is $70 and the annual permit fee is $100.
This new law was originally part of the Sunday liquor sales law that went into effect late in 2010, but Governor Granholm vetoed the catering permit section from that law. It was recently reintroduced and quickly became law.
For additional analysis of the new law, see the Michigan House and Senate analysis.
