Minneapolis scraps liquor, food ratios for some restaurants

Hours, menu options and even prices at some Minneapolis restaurants could be in for a few tweaks following a change to the way the city manages alcohol sales.

Restaurant owners said the City Council's 12-0 vote Friday to end strict food and alcohol sales ratios for some businesses outside downtown will allow them to drop unprofitable breakfast service or offer a limited late-night menu. Some could opt to lower food prices they'd raised to comply with the city's rules — though on the other end, they may raise alcohol prices they'd pushed down.

Kim Bartmann, owner of Barbette, Pat's Tap and the Bryant-Lake Bowl, among other restaurants, said the council's move will allow restaurants to adjust business plans that had been affected by customers' increasing demand for higher-priced craft drinks.

"It's going to give the city the tool to let neighborhood restaurants continue to be neighborhood restaurants, not bars or clubs," she said. "Everyone will still be happy. I think over time, prices will change; alcohol prices might go up a little, food prices might go down. But the restaurant industry is a competitive industry."

The council's vote was the first in a two-step process for restaurants operating under the decades-old ratio rules. About 100 restaurants located along busy commercial stretches, like Uptown or Nicollet Avenue's Eat Street, had been required to make at least 60 percent of their sales from food and limit alcohol sales to 40 percent.

That requirement has ended and will be replaced with a new set of rules about when the businesses must sell food, how much space they can dedicate to a bar and how their license could be revoked if problems crop up.

Bartmann said those new rules will do more to address the city's goal of keeping rowdy patrons and bars out of neighborhoods than the attempt to regulate what people opt to eat and drink.

Council Member Cam Gordon said he is aware of some neighbors' concerns that changing the rules could lead to problems from customers who have too much to drink. But he said he believes the city has provided enough checks and balances to avoid trouble.

He encouraged businesses to help demonstrate that the new rules will work better.

"I challenge all the restaurants and all the bars and all the city regulators to prove how this is going to be better," he said at Friday's meeting. "And we're going to end up with less issues and fewer problems."

Meanwhile, owners of a second set of about 70 restaurants, tucked further into neighborhoods, are hoping voters take a similar step to overturn an even more stringent ratio.

Regulations for those restaurants, which are required to have at least 70 percent of their sales from food, are laid out in the city's charter. Changes to the charter must be approved by a popular vote — in this case, a ballot question that will appear in the November election.

"People don't think of us as a place to go for lunch or brunch," she said. "We're kind of tucked away in a neighborhood, and that's been really hard for us."

If voters don't end the 70-30 ratio and the city were to begin heavy enforcement of the rule, she said it could mean big trouble for the business. If the measure passes, she said, she'll be able to make cost-saving adjustments, like offering a limited menu for late-night customers.

Molly Broder, who owns Broders' Pasta Bar, Cucina Italiana and Terzo Vino Bar, said supporters of the change for neighborhood restaurants will be making a big push for voter support, sending out mailings and showing up at neighborhood events.

"The thing the voter needs to remember is this is a restaurant law," she said. "This is not a bar bill. It's all about the food — even if the ratios are taken away. Food is still a requirement; it's written in the ordinance that you have to follow a business plan, and written in that you have to be serving food."

Separately, the council voted 12-0 to approve a change to the rules for business' restrooms. Now, businesses operating in the city will be allowed to have gender-neutral, single-user restrooms, rather than being required to have separate restrooms for men and women.

Also Friday, the council authorized $170,000 for a test program of wearable cameras for the Minneapolis Police Department. More than 30 officers from the department will test cameras from two companies over the next six to nine months.