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Caterer fined by liquor board

Andrew Livingstone
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, May 5, 2010

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The NWT Liquor Licensing Board suspended World Catering and Banquet Services' liquor licence on April 27 but reinstated it on Tuesday with additional rules attached.

The board determined the owner of what used to be Our Place restaurant was not operating under the conditions set out by the Class B liquor licence issued last November. The establishment, is owned by Kaven Paradis, who also owns Twist and Fuego.

"We found them to be operating more like a meeting room or a banquet room than a restaurant," said Don Kindt, chair of the licensing board. He added that a banquet room is an extension onto an existing licensed restaurant.

"It's not the same space as a restaurant. You can have a banquet room attached to the restaurant but you can't have a banquet room that is a restaurant."

Kindt said there is no classification of liquor licence under the NWT Liquor Act for a stand-alone banquet room.

"The issue with having the same space (for) a restaurant and a banquet room at the same time, it's technically licensed all the time," Kindt said. "If you're having a meeting in there, you can serve drinks. It's not what the legislation envisions."

Kindt said World Catering and Banquet Services will be allowed to operate under the Class B licence as long as it is open five days a week to the public for at least one meal a day, like a restaurant.

"It's not usual for us to tell a restaurant how much they have to be open," he said. "They're just usually open. It's how they make money."

Four types of licences are approved by the board: Class A licences for establishments where liquor is the primary service, like bars and pubs; Class B for restaurants where liquor is secondary; Class C for catering services wanting a mobile liquor licence when catering events; and Class D for clubs like the Elks Lodge and the Legion.

When asked if it was a gaping hole in legislation that a stand-alone banquet hall could not get a liquor licence, Kindt said he didn't see it as being an oversight, rather Liquor Acts standard across the country.

"Very few jurisdictions would allow a stand-alone licensed banquet hall," he said. "I don't think the intent of the legislation is to allow for liquor to be served at meetings."

Kindt said up until 2008, the licensing board had the ability to make changes to legislation as it saw fit, but with the implementation of a new NWT Liquor Act that year, it no longer has the ability.

Neither Paradis nor Sue Dinham, also with World Catering, would comment on the issue.

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