Austin Improv

i'll be there to talk finances.

i can talk WNT as well. i'm also planning on having a working session for people on marketing their shows (free, doods) in June, if homeownership doesnt kill me first.

Hey Wes -

will you be at the meeting Sunday?

I put you down for a 10 min advertising update -
is that cool?

everyone else - you're on the list

: )
R.

I'm actually not sure if I can make it yet, but if I can, you bet I'll be there.

: )

agenda setting queens:

i'd like to have 10-15 min to discuss resolving the absence of alcohol sales at shows.

our box office $$ have been declining for friday night shows, and we are still telling people beer is for sale at the coffee shop.

if greg cant produce a license, we need to either a) BYOB or b) hire a caterer.

andy - can you talk to greg and let him know we are planning to bring in a beer caterer? i am curious as to what his response will be (if he is indeed getting a license).

total hardass,
erika

Speaking of Summer Camp, the Chronicle has a list of Summer Camps for kids this week (our competition) on pages 38-41.

Sara and I talked to Davis, my student and friend that owns NXNW, last night after my Wednesday Night Improvised Scene Study Class.

He said the best thing was for him to sell us kegs for cheap, for us to give away the beer to audience and improvisers, and to put up a tip jar with a sign saying something like, "Beer provided by The AIC. The Austin Improv Collective is a nonprofit organzation supporting Improv in Austin. Suggested Donation $2." Davis might also give us a NXNW banner to hang as well.

Sara and him co-ordinated about getting beer for this Friday and Saturday.

Some areas we might need to troubleshoot:
-Getting the right amount of beer
-Keeping it cold (esp overnight)
-Making sure we have someone to dispense it and check ID's
-Setting it up so AIC (not Sara Farr) pays for the beer

Are there additional liability issues in that?

Only the same liability issues that you would have with selling people alcohol in the first place.

I'm not the expert. But I think giving alcohol away has totally different liability issues from selling it. That's the gist I got from Davis, who has had his own brewing company, bar and restaurant. We cannot sell beer. We can offer beer to our guests for free. And if they feel generous and want to donate to the AIC because we put on an awesome show, that's a separate issue.

Here's a good resource, Guidelines for Third Thursdsay http://www.ibuyaustin.com/third-thursday-permits.php

I'll paste in the pertinant information:

When participating in Third Thursday,
you may want to have a band, give away beer
or wine, have vendors on your premises or give away food. The City of Austin requires permits for some of these activities and has regulations on most. We have tried to summarize these policies here and provide information on contacting City of Austin departments for what you need.

Liquor Distribution

Most of the Third Thursday merchants have found it's better to offer beer or wine inside the store or on a patio and not host a keg in the front parking lot. A keg out front is more difficult to control in terms of underage drinking and vagrants and it doesn't bring people into your store. However there are no laws against it.

If you have a liquor license, there are a different set of regulations that apply. We assume you are familiar with these. For those merchants who do not operate a restaurant, bar or liquor store and do not have a liquor license, the following rules apply.

You cannot sell beer or wine but you can give it away.
This also means you can't charge an entry fee of any kind to get to the alcohol since this is construed as selling it. In other words, free means absolutely free, no purchase necessary, no tip jar, no donations.

You cannot give away alcohol before 7am on weekdays or before noon on Sunday or after 2:15am.

You cannot give away alcohol within 300 feet of a school, church or day care facility.

You cannot give away alcohol to minors or anyone who is intoxicated.
Don't give any alcohol to anyone under 21. It is your responsibility to check and monitor. The penalties are stiff for this. Giving alcohol to a minor or intoxicated person is a Class A Misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail or a $4,000 fine.

Any further questions can be directed to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) at 451-1231 or www.tabc.state.ts.us.

The whole idea of having a catering service is that they become liable and NOT the Hideout or AIC. If Wesley bought a keg (on his own), gave out free beer to everyone at the Hideout, someone of age bought some, gave it to his under age date who ended up driving home, got in a wreck, crashed and died, then Wesley would be held responsible. He could be subjected to supplying alcohol to a minor. Of course, we're not talking about Wes; we're talking about the Hideout; we're talking about AIC. Regardless of whether the likelyhood of something severe happening is high or not, it is still a gamble. The question AIC should ask itself is, "Are we willing to take that risk?"

My answer to that is, "No." That's what the catering service is for. Most of this concern stems from being located downtown and so close to 6th Street. TABC takes this stuff very seriously, and AIC should as well.

smerlin wrote: You cannot give away alcohol to minors or anyone who is intoxicated. Don't give any alcohol to anyone under 21. It is your responsibility to check and monitor.

dammit... i leaving this building. i'll edit this when i get home. caio!

don't expect to make your money back consistently from donations for a keg. i would guess you'd lose money every time. of course, this depends partly on the original price.

i think we can make the beer happen and make it profitable/break even.

we should discuss this weekend before putting any process in place, weight the potential liability issues and benefits and be super clear on what the liabilities are.

on a separate note, can we be BYOB? that might also be an interim solution.

OH - and on a separate SEPARATE note, i want to talk ticket prices (rachel & deroos).

e

*thanks for looking that stuff up shana.

we should discuss this weekend before putting any process in place, weight the potential liability issues and benefits and be super clear on what the liabilities are.

I agree with Jay. I'm not concerned about profitability. I am concerned with the one idiot who we hand free beer to who then goes out and hits some pedestrian in a cross walk. One lawsuit like that and it is essentially good-bye AIC, if not Hideout. (That's another concern. This seems like something the mythical Sean would HAVE to weigh in on.)
And those rules seem to pretty clearly state no tip jar, no donations. Who is going to donate to the AIC without us insinuating it is for the beer? Although, once we insinuate that, we seem to break the no tip jar, no donations rule.

I'm ALL for beer, I LOVE beer, but caterers carry liability insurance. We don't. And I sure as hell don't want to personally get sued for being the one who handed out free beer.

If we aren't going to break even on a keg anyway--if we will be running a loss even--what is the hesitency to talking to a caterer? I'm sure we can work it out so that they are paid solely through their sales so we are out nothing and they carry the liability and legal licensing. It seems like a lot more risk and effort and worry to skirt the edge of the law than to just ask a business that already does this to come do it. Plus, we might be able to strengthen ties with places like Spiderhouse and NXNW by allowing them to cater these shows.

We do comedy, not food service. This is like us buying a printing press to make shirts instead of letting a printer do it. Let's do comedy and let someone else do this.

If I'm not at the meeting, my vote is for us not to assume this responsibility before at least contacting several alcohol caterers and seeing what deals they offer.