Ian Juul, owner of Mooney’s Irish Pub at Hillside Sedona, worries that all bars across the state of Arizona are paying the price for a few bad apples.
“To paint us all with a nightclub brush, it’s not fair,” Juul said, referring specifically to bars in Scottsdale that recently came under fire for not adhering to social distancing protocol. “Businesses are at stake. Employees are losing their income. We’re losing product. What’s next? We get to open in a month and then are forced to close again?”
When Juul heard Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey issued his newest order on June 29, in which he forced the closure of bars, gyms, movie theaters, water parks and tubing operations for 30 days starting that night, Juul knew he needed to make changes — and fast.
“I was a bit annoyed that we got the message at 4 p.m. and were told that we had to close by 8 p.m.,” he said. “We went into Tuesday with the idea of shifting gears.
When the mask mandates were being discussed we canceled all of our live music and upped our game to follow all the CDC guidelines.”
In his order, Ducey wrote that bars with a Series 6 or Series 7 liquor license, which primarily sell or dispense alcohol, “may continue serving the public through pick up, delivery, and drive-thru operations as provided for Series 12 liquor licenses in Executive Order 2020-09.”
Bars that do not comply risk fines and suspension of their state-issued liquor license.
Juul acknowledged that in a bar atmosphere — as opposed to a restaurant — people often walk around more as they interact with others. Because of that Juul said he knew Mooney’s needed to take a new approach.
“We decided to turn it all around and be a restaurant,” Juul said. “No walking around. We’ll meet you at the door and seat you and tell you that you need to stay seated. We were so close to meeting that 40% food threshold that you need to qualify for a No. 12 license. We have a No. 6, which we inherited when we bought the bar. It doesn’t put any food requirement on you. You don’t have to sell anything or 90% could be food. Nobody cares.”
Juul said when the latest closure happened they were in the middle of the process of leasing the vacant unit next to them in order to expand their kitchen. If they choose to seek a series 12 license, it could take upward of four months to obtain.
“We’ve been putting things in place to become a restaurant,” Juul said. “What I’m struggling to understand is if you’re a restaurant with a No. 12 license, you can continue — there are no restrictions put on you. But if you have a No. 6 license and are serving the same amount of food, we weren’t even given a chance to show that we can comply.”
Juul said that over the five-hour period on June 30 when Mooney’s acted as a restaurant instead of a bar, food sales were up 35%. Staff was only selling alcohol if food was purchased and any bar-like activity was ceased. Capacity was capped at 30%. Staff took time to explain the change in the business model to their frequent customers. However, before the night was over Juul said he was informed Mooney’s was not allowed to continue operating in that manner.
“All I’m asking is to give us a chance to comply [with restaurant standards],” he said. “If they come … and we have live music and our dance floor is packed, well then I had it coming. But that’s not what we’re trying to do at all.”
Juul said he was told that he could appeal Ducey’s order on bars through the Arizona Department of Health Services. There’s a form he can fill out but it would not be available until July 17. If approved, Mooney’s would be eligible to reopen on July 28 — a day after Ducey’s order is set to automatically expire, making reopening with AZDHS approval moot.
“So it looks like we’re stuck with being closed for a month,” Juul said.
Other Bar Closures
Like Mooney’s, PJ’s Village Pub in the Village of Oak Creek is feeling the sting of Ducey’s decision. It, too, holds a series 6 liquor license.
Upon closing on July 1, general manager Nicole Lehnertz contacted the Arizona Department of Health Serivce. She was then told to contact the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office to see if they would be enforcing Ducey’s decision. She was told YCSO would be educating the business owners if they were called. Finally, she heard back from the state’s liquor board, which made things very clear.
“From what I was told it’s very black and white,” Lehnertz said. “If you stay open you’re playing with your license.”
PJ’s offered to modify its closing time so that no alcohol would be sold past the restaurant hours. Even with that, the concern was that if someone from the liquor board were to walk in following a complaint and see at that moment more people drinking than eating, PJ’s liquor license would be suspended.
Similar to what’s being done in Phoenix, where gym owners have pulled together to fight Ducey’s decision, Lehnertz said she’s been approached by other local bar owners to do the same. But as she pointed out, by the time they even received a hearing, the temporary ban would be over.
PJ’s received funding through the federal Paycheck Protection Plan when it was forced to close the first time in March. That helped cover some salaries and pay the bills but Lehnertz fears that there may not be any funding available this time being that this was a state-ordered mandate and not a federal one.
“It’s pretty depressing,” she said. “I’d say 90% of restaurants [that hold series 12 licenses] offer the same as we do yet they get to remain open. To pick and choose like this doesn’t seem fair. How can we compete with restaurants who can still serve the same drinks we can and allow people to come inside? It was very hard to sit back this July 4 weekend and see no money coming in while other places were packed.”
Once Ducey’s order is lifted on July 27, Lehnertz said it will be nearly impossible for her to not be constantly looking over her shoulders because of the unknown.
“The constant fear is, what’s next?” she asked.
