Presley pays the piper for permit violation
Travis Presley, left, owner of Little Joe’s Pizza, 13100 Kingston Pike, and Knox County Sheriff’s Office Chief Allen “Wolfie” May, beer inspector, wait to be sworn in to present testimony during a Farragut Beer Board meeting Thursday, June 14.
During a Farragut Beer Board meeting Thursday, June 14, Presley did not contest selling beer to an under-aged buyer.
“It was a mistake on my server’s part,” he said.
This is the establishment’s second offense in three years. The first took place in 2015, when the business was fined $500.
Knox County Sheriff’s Office performed a sting operation of various businesses in the Town limits May 2. During that time, KCSO Chief Allen “Wolfie” May said one of Little Joe’s employees sold a 16-ounce glass of Miller Lite to a 20-year-old individual.
The Beer Board gives a business in violation the option of a penalty of a fine or a suspension of the business’ beer permit, said Allison Myers, Town recorder.
On the second offense, the penalty is $1,000 fine or a 21-day suspension, Beer Board chairman Ron Pinchok said.
“The officers came in, ran the sting, (and) the employee in question made a mistake with the date,” Presley said.
Presley explained instead of looking at the red background on the driver’s license, his server tried to determine the customer’s age by “doing the math, which was unnecessary.
“We try to impress upon (the servers) all you have to do is look at the color of the license,” he said. “If there’s a red background, that means ‘no go.’
“We re-iterated that,” Presley added. “We have demoted this employee so he cannot serve anymore. We did not terminate his employment — I’m not trying to fire anyone over the infraction.”
The employee also was sent to the ABC school, Presley added.
“Your employee’s not color blind?” asked Ron Williams, Beer Board member and alderman.
“No. Apparently not,” Presley answered.
“So, he was just looking at the date,” said Alderman Louise Povlin, a Beer Board member. “This (process) is a fairly new thing they’ve redone with the licenses?”
“They’ve been doing it for over a year,” May answered.
“I appreciate that you demoted him. I appreciate that you put him in a position where he needs to learn that lesson,” Povlin said.
“This is very serious,” Presley said. “We had an extensive talk. He was demoted and won’t be on the floor. We’ve gone over, trying to retrain each of the servers and told them how easy it is [to see if a person is under-aged].
“I appreciate the fact they made it to where it’s simply a color,” he added. “They don’t have to do math.”
The employee, who started out as a dishwasher, has been with Little Joe’s for more than four years.
