SALT LAKE CITY — The latest version of the omnibus liquor bill making its way through the legislative session would require some restaurants to build a wall.
But its sponsor insists it's not a "Zion Curtain," the term for the oft-derided partitions that prohibited you from seeing a drink being made. The Utah State Legislature got rid of the separate preparation areas in 2017.
"No, this is a room," Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, told FOX 13 News on Tuesday.
The latest version of Senate Bill 173 would require restaurants that seek a special banquet license to hold private parties to build an "opaque wall" to block off the area from the rest of the business. Michele Corigliano, the executive director of the Salt Lake Area Restaurant Association, said that is problematic for some.
"Unfortunately, it’s an impossibility for restaurants to be able to serve a big group of people — which what this license does — is helps parties take place in restaurants, but you can’t do it," she said Tuesday. "You can’t bring in large trays of food, large trays of waters or whatever they’re bringing into that room when there’s a big wall there."
Sen. Stevenson signaled they could keep negotiating the language of the bill. Corigliano said it had a lot of things that restaurateurs do like, including 35 more restaurant licenses and 20 more bar licenses. The bill also allows a patron in a restaurant who orders a drink in the bar area to take it to their table — but they must be escorted by an employee.
The bill, which has passed the Senate on a 15-13 vote, will also ban mini-bottles sales to the general public. It now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration.
