By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The folks at Sunset Bistro were celebrating election night as early returns showed that the west side eatery had easily won a liquor option for Sunday sales.
Owner Prudy Brott, her staff, and customers will still have to wait before they can toast expanded liquor sales with a glass of champagne during Sunday brunch. Brott said that she’s heard it takes from 30 days to three months for the Ohio Liquor Control Board to approve an application for Sunday sales. Tuesday voters in precinct 110 gave the bistro their approval, voting 545-114.
Sunset Bistro has only been able to serve beer and a lower alcohol sparkling wine on Sundays.
“I’m excited,” Brott said Tuesday night.
“And we are too,” chimed in customer Ellen Sharp, who said she’d helped collect signatures to get the option on the ballot.
Brott said that it will be good to be able to offer a glass of wine or cocktail on Sunday. She expects that will boost her Sunday business.
New Year’s Eve was a dramatic display of the impact the limited alcohol options had on her business. People would call to inquire about reservations and be told the limited alcohol options, then go to celebrate at another establishment, she said.
That happens on other Sundays, as well.
Sharp, a loyal customer, said she’s been in the same position. Some Sundays when they’ve had guest they’d opt to go somewhere else where they could have a mimosa or a glass of wine.
That’s why Sharp helped with the campaign, and being a resident of precinct 110, voted in favor of it.
The support from the neighborhood is “quite humbling,” Brott said.
She people in the neighborhood as well as the staff got behind the campaign.
Brott said she had lawyers tell her that usually restaurants fail in their first attempts to get Sunday sales. So she was very pleased that her request was approved overwhelmingly on the first try.
