Toccoa Renews ABC Licenses

A local bowling alley will keep its Alcohol Beverage Control license after appearing before Toccoa City Commissioners.

December 19, the Toccoa City Commission considered its ABC license renewals for 2017.

Among those questioned was the license for the Rose Lane Bowling Center.

Toccoa City Manager Billy Morse said the bowling alley had not met a certain requirement spelled out in the ordinance for the last two years.

“The ABC board met with the folks at the bowling alley and for the years 2015 and 2016, they have not been able to comply with the 30 percent gross income from food sales that is required by our ordinance, so they are recommending that the license not be renewed,” said Morse.

Forrest Williams with the Rose Lane Bowling Center said that the issue stems from how bowling revenue is accounted for in regards to the percentages of food and alcohol sales to total income.

He said that the revenue from bowling counts towards the business’s total income only, which means food sales must be higher to reach that 30 percent threshold than it would be at a restaurant.

“Alcohol to food, that is not an issue,” said Williams. “The percentage of food is tremendously higher than the percentage we sell of alcohol. It is just that the bowling offsets that because the bowling goes towards the total income.”

Williams said that the bowling alley has changed some of its offers to charge more for food in return for discounted bowling to help affect those percentages.

Also, he said they are making sure revenues are categorized properly so that people who purchase packages that include both food and bowling are not counted as “bowling only.”

After discussion, the city commission unanimously approved a motion to grant the license on the condition that each monthly report shows that the bowling alley reaches the necessary 30 percent food sales threshold and that if that is not met, the license would be revoked immediately. The bowling alley also had to pay a 20 percent penalty.

Toccoa Mayor Evan Hellenga said that the bowling alley needs to take this warning seriously.

“I want to make sure you are clear that because this is not the first time, we take this very seriously,” said Hellenga. “We typically go with what the ABC board recommends. If something goes your way, consider yourself lucky.”

Also last week, the city commission charged a 20 percent ABC license renewal penalty to Applebee’s and the Toccoa Elks Club for not appearing before the ABC board as required in the city’s license renewal process.

An Elks Club representative said they forgot about the meeting, while an Applebee’s representative says the corporate office did not send the meeting notice.

Meanwhile, three stores, Country Store, Black Mountain Express, and Super Gas, did not turn in paperwork and did not receive a license renewal.

All other ABC license renewals were approved unanimously.