Last month, the popular downtown eatery and cocktail bar Little Jumbo received a $7,000 fine for serving alcohol to a minor.
The incident occurred in March of last year when a 17-year-old youth agent with the British Columbia Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch (BCLCRB) along with an adult liquor inspector covertly attended the restaurant to see if they would follow standard procedures in asking for identification from a minor.
According to the hearing report, the inspector and minor agent arrived at Little Jumbo shortly after opening at around 5 p.m.
The inspector went into the restaurant first and asked to be seated at a table and the minor agent came in just a few minutes afterward and was seated at the bar.
Once the minor was seated, the inspector moved from his table to a different table where he would have a better view of the interaction between the bartender and the minor agent.
The minor ordered a beer from the bartender, who did not ask for identification, before pouring the alcoholic beverage and setting it in front of the minor.
Following the drink being set in front of them, the youth agent made up an excuse to leave and paid their bill without tipping and left, followed shortly thereafter by the inspector.
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According to the bartender who served the minor, he was working his first shift after shadowing other servers on a few occasions.
“I was much more focused on the behaviour of the actual board officer [the liquor inspector] who seemed very sketchy, moving tables, being weird, than I was in anything else,” the bartender wrote in a statement to the BCLCRB.
“He stuck out and was behaving oddly and was quite distracting. His demeanour seemed off. I was certainly focused on that.”
“Reflecting on the incident itself, I’d also say that the time of them coming in at exactly 5 p.m. was also odd. Most younger guests come in late at night and are clearly looking for a cheap drinks focused establishment, which we are not. It’s typically late night and often they come in the door and then decide that it isn’t the right place for them,” he concluded.
The bar manager of Little Jumbo was actually seated at the bar as well doing some administrative work when the incident occurred, and he said that had the minor agent and the inspector come in just a few minutes later, he would have been behind the bar as well and would have asked for identification himself.
Because this was Little Jumbo’s first infraction to BCLCRB’s standards and procedures, they had the choice between being fined between $7,000 to $11,000 or closing for seven to eleven days.
Due to the circumstances of the incident, it was decided on behalf of the BCLCRB that the minimum penalty would suffice and Little Jumbo’s general Manager chose to take the monetary punishment over the closure.
Little Jumbo has assured the BCLCRB that this infraction will not happen again and they will bolster their training procedures to ensure that.
