— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
According to Mission Local, the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control has permanently closed Carlos Club outside the 24th Mission BART station for “sketchy cocktail waitressing”:
According to Danielle Shafer, supervisor investigator with the Department of Alcohol Beverage ControlA six-month department investigation, which began 2009 and completed early 2010, found bar owner Carlos Gutierrez and his employees guilty of profit sharing – that is, hiring cocktail waitresses to pressure patrons into buying drinks at a higher rate than normal.
The investigator saw Carlos Club waitresses going around charging customers between $5 and $10 more than the bar’s standard prices and splitting the profits between owner and bar girl employee. This is, said Shafer, “common practice in certain areas but illegal in San Francisco.” The practice is especially typical, she said, in Asia and Latin America.
The article goes on to say that Carlos has a year to get the liquor license “transferred to an another location and owner” and the business must remain closed until a new owner comes forward. How long it it will take for this to become the next Bar Tartine or French-inspired Mexican-American Tequila-Whiskey Cocktail Lounge remains unclear.
Comments (5)
So I assume this is a problem because no one would pay $10 (!!!!) extra for a drink unless they were getting some sort of “extra service” with it, so even if they didn’t spot any prostitution going on, obviously it is? Just curious why else this would be illegal.
LOL!
I still don’t understand. What kind of act can be had for 5 to 10 bucks? Right there in the bar?
What other reason would someone pay extra? Baffling.
I guess the folks who would use these services don’t read Uptown Almanac.
Tip-pooling is legal.. sharing of tips with other workers that give direct table service even if those employees are paid above minimum, and even if they are bartenders. However tip-sharing/pooling with management is illegal because management can essentially force all tips to go to management; or else the wait staff loses all income as they can be replaced with wait staff that will give management all tips.