by Kristen Wile

Restaurants in Plaza Midwood will serve drinks to go this spring. Kristen Wile/UP

Plaza Midwood’s social district will debut soon, with signage already going up in the neighborhood ahead of an anticipated official launch date in March. The social district designation will allow customers of participating bars and restaurants to purchase a drink in a reusable metal cup, which they are then allowed to carry on the street within the social district.

While Plaza Midwood is the first social district in the city, it’s not the first in the area. Birkdale Village, located in Huntersville, and Cornelius have already launched social districts. Both of these areas fall under Sergeant Tommy Shankle of Mecklenburg County ABC Law Enforcement’s purview, as will the new Plaza Midwood social district. Social districts must follow stipulations such as signage indicating where you are allowed to bring beverages purchased at participating establishments, social district times, and where the district ends. In Birkdale, Shankle says, the signs are clearly posted and easy to reference for visitors. In Cornelius, which has a social district of a few blocks, things are a little different.

“The signage is really poor,” he says. “It’s a piece of paper on a post at two ends of the block. But it does not say, as far as the law goes, how to post the sign. It just says it has to be posted and the information as to the social district has to be on the signage.”

The differences in Cornelius and Birkdale show that adjustments to clarify and standardize implementation will likely need to be made to the requirements as the districts come into practice. In Plaza Midwood, the Plaza Midwood Merchants Association and the Plaza Midwood Social District Committee have been working for months to implement a social district on a mile-long stretch of the neighborhood. One significant difference in Plaza Midwood’s social district is that participating restaurants will use metal cups with stickers on them instead of disposable cups in an effort to be more eco-friendly and ensure the cups aren’t tossed on the ground when drinks are finished. Each participating restaurant will have a supply of the metal cups, though restaurants will not be responsible for cleaning returned cups. Cups will have stickers with the information about where the drink inside them was purchased and cost $10, with a $2 credit if you return a cup. You can also return cups to the Innovation Barn and receive $1.

Two restaurants under the F.S. Food Group umbrella, Calle Sol and Midwood Smokehouse, will not be participating in the social district. According to Remy Thurston, director of marketing for the restaurants, they made the decision to opt-out for the time being due to a lack of space to store the cups.

“We are still very excited for the vibrancy and excitement it will bring to the neighborhood as we search for a way to participate in the future,” Thurston says.

Manuel Flores, owner of Que Hospitality, says that Que Onda on Central Avenue plans to serve cocktails from the walk-up window near the public parking on Thomas and Central avenues. He says his team has been working on drinks that can be batched, such as sangria, which tends to be best when it’s had time for flavors to meld. The metal cups will also lend themselves well to the restaurant’s frozen margaritas, he says, as they’ll stay cold longer in the warmer months.

“Having that window for margaritas, drinks, and so forth, it’s going to be really good for us, and definitely a revenue generator,” he says. “But at the same time, for us, safety is always going to be our top priority.”

According to Kevin Stone, the director of law enforcement for Mecklenburg County ABC, his staff will continue to focus on compliance. Officers inspecting bars and restaurants that are taking part in the social districts will ensure that drinks served amid the social district are following the same rules as on-premise service, particularly that customers are of age and aren’t intoxicated at the time of service. The social district’s participating restaurants and bars will remain on a regular compliance check schedule. The extra level of inspection will take place with his team’s current staffing level, according to Stone.

“It’s going to be more responsibility on those folks, and we’re in a learning curve on this thing,” Stone says. “If the work increases to the point that we need to move, make our compliance team bigger, so to speak, then we do that, but we’re going to go into it with our unit as it is and see where the problems are, see what the issues are, and adjust accordingly to that.”

With customers leaving their restaurants with a drink in hand, several restaurant workers have expressed concerns about their liability if a customer reuses the cup, for example, or otherwise behaves badly while holding a cup associated with them. While CMPD and Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) also have authority when it comes to alcohol law enforcement, Stone and Shankle say that restaurants will continue to be a partner for Meck ABC as they adapt to the new districts.

“The permittees, the bar owners, the general managers, the managers, they want the same thing out of this we do,” Stone says. “Where we get most of our information, if something is going wrong or there’s an issue, it comes from the establishments. And that’s why we work hand in hand with them. They’re the best friends we have in this business.”

Both restaurants and retailers in Plaza Midwood will have the choice to opt in to the program, with retailers opting in to allow guests to come into their businesses with the drinks. The social district will allow drinks from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.