When the state first required craft breweries statewide to sell a meal along with beer in July, Second Chance Beer Company Co-Owner Virginia Morrison was at a loss in where to start.
“My first thought was we couldn’t do that because we’re not a restaurant,” Morrison told the Southern California Record. “We are not set up to serve meals and our team is not trained as food handlers.”
Rather than shutter, however, Morrison said Second Chance Beer Company, located on Avenue of Science in San Diego, began selling boxed meals in a way that met the state’s requirement and allowed it to stay open.
“We partner with a cafe to get pre-packaged gourmet sandwiches,” Morrison said. “We put them in our cold box and then we resell them to guests at cost or below because we just want the guests to be able to come here and have a beer. That's how we make money.”
The endeavor of adding a meal, according to Morrison, is costing an added $5,000 and more, and sales are down some 70%.
“People just aren't coming to our tasting room because they don't want to purchase a meal,” she said. “They may have just had a beer at another brewery and they'd like to have a beer at ours but they don't want to eat at two places.”
The COVID-19 restriction, which requires breweries to serve meals to visitors as a condition for operating tasting rooms, does not apply to winemakers and, as a result, Second Chance Beer Company sued Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Public Health Officer Sandra Shewry in federal court on Dec. 17 for allegedly violating the equal protection and due process clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“It’s discrimination against beer makers,” said Morrison, who is an attorney. “We're not being treated similarly to the wineries. We’re being singled out.”
The lawsuit, filed in the District Court of the Central District, is a representative action on behalf of all California breweries. Plaintiffs include Green Cheek Beer Company and Chapman Crafted Beer based in Orange County as well as Topa Topa Brewing Company, Bike Dog Brewing Company, Howard Partners, Cellarmaker Brewing Company, and California Craft Brewers Association.
“We've had to lay people off and hire staff to enforce all of these regulations and to deal with the meals,” Morrison said. “At the same time, our beer tenders are earning less because they are tip-dependent and with fewer guests coming, there’s less revenue. We also had to purchase PPE."
The complaint is currently pending before Magistrate Douglas McCormick.
“As far as I'm aware, we have not been contacted by the state at all so our next step is to file for injunctive relief and ask the court to stop enforcing the meal requirement temporarily,” Morrison added.
Plaintiff's attorney Craig Taggart wrote in the opening brief that COVID19 does not impact a winery differently than it impacts a beer manufacturer.
"Even wineries that share a tasting room with beer manufacturers may continue to sell and serve wine to customers without food, while the beer manufacturer is prohibited from selling beer to the same customers in the same tasting room unless it also sells food," Taggart stated. "To date, Defendants have not presented any valid basis for treating beer manufacturers different than wineries."