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A while back, Rep. Katie Zolnikov went to a new gastropub in Billings and ordered a glass of wine with “notes of straw and apple.”
Those notes? They fell flat.
“I really wish I would have just had the option for a splash,” said Zolnikov, R-Billings.
Tuesday in the House Business and Labor committee, Zolnikov presented House Bill 123, which would allow customers at places like wine bars to “self-serve” using an electronic device that measures amounts — from splashes to glasses.
The bill almost made it through a previous session, but it died on a 25-25 vote in the Senate, she said, and Zolnikov believes that’s because people got the wrong idea about the term “self-serve.”
“It’s like, either the Wild West, or it’s like, the year 3000 and there’s just robots and there’s no human interaction,” Zolnikov said of the misconceptions.
Neither is true, she said, and she’s picking up the baton from where the sponsor last time left off — Rep. Ed Buttrey, R-Great Falls, and, incidentally, chairman of the committee.
The bill still requires servers to ensure people aren’t drinking too much, she said. It allows establishments approved by the Department of Revenue to offer customers a card or device loaded with a predetermined volume of beer or wine.
Zolnikov explained how it might work, out and about.
For example, if customers want to try different styles of wine at a wine bar, she said, an employee does an ID check and gives a customer an electronic card or device set with amounts.
Customers can view a wall of wine selections, swipe the card at the style of wine they want, and punch in the amount they want to order, she said.
“It is like going to a gas station and looking at the slushy machine,” Zolnikov said.
She said servers can still bring food and water to the tables.
No one opposed the bill in committee, and proponents said it makes good sense for labor and for hospitality.
“We check out ourselves at the grocery store. A lot of people like that,” said Brad Griffin, with the Montana Retail Association and Montana Restaurant Association.
(Griffin said he also represents other groups, including tire dealers, and Buttrey suggested he might be representing the “spare tire” association in this case.)
Griffin said he believes the bill is the “future of hospitality” and would help reduce overpours too, “the biggest source of lost revenue.”
“Machines pour the exact same amount every time,” he said.
Rep. Ron Marshall, R-Hamilton, said “I love the concept,” and he believes it would help businesses.
“I think this would be a huge benefit, would it not, to compensate for labor?” Marshall asked.
Griffin agreed.
Rep. Bob Carter, D-Missoula, said Montana already has a problem with overindulgence, and he wondered how the bill would affect it.
“Would you say this helps contribute to the overindulgence — or the opposite?”
John Iverson, with the Montana Tavern Association, said he believes it will help control it. Who knows which customer drank most of the pitcher now?
The committee didn’t take action on the bill Tuesday, and Zolnikov said already, people have been pouring their own beers out of pitchers anyway. She said the bill clarifies they aren’t doing anything illegal too.
“Technically, that’s self-serve,” Zolnikov said.