Catering liquor and beer license holders operating in Nashville face two separate sets of rules worth double-checking before an event: Metro Nashville’s distance restrictions on beer catering permits, and Tennessee state limits on how catering liquor licenses may be used. This alert covers both.
Beer
Distance Requirements for Catered Events
Metropolitan Code of Laws § 7.08.105(E) provides:
The restriction applies regardless of intent or event size, and the sponsorship exception is narrow: it covers only events the place of worship or school itself sponsors and holds for its own benefit.
Metro Parks Approval
Events held in or within 100 feet of a Metro Nashville Park boundary require separate approval from Metro Nashville Parks, in addition to the standard catering notice. This applies whether or not the school/place-of-worship distance issue above is also present.
Plan Ahead: Timing Matters
If a proposed event may be within 100 feet of a school, school playground, place of worship, or Metro Nashville Park boundary, file the catering notice as far ahead of the event as possible. Metro Nashville Beer Board staff need time to review the location and, where a distance issue may exist, send an inspector to take an official measurement. If that measurement confirms an issue, the matter must also go before the Metro Nashville Beer Permit Board before the event can proceed — which takes additional time.
Don’t wait until the filing deadline to submit a notice for an event with a possible distance issue. Early submission gives staff time to review the location, complete any measurement, and resolve the matter before the event date.
Catering Notice Required for Every Event
A catering notice must be submitted for every event where beer will be served under a Metro Nashville Beer Board Caterer’s Permit — there is no exception for small or informal events. Metro Nashville Beer Caterer Permits are valid only for events held in Davidson County.
All catering notices must be filed through HubNashville using the Request Type: File Catering Notice with Beer Permit Board form. If there’s any doubt about whether a location may present a distance issue, submit the notice early so Metro Nashville Beer Board staff has time to review it before the event.
Liquor
A Catering License Is Not a Substitute for a Full License
A catering liquor license is meant for special events — not as a workaround for skipping a standard liquor-by-the-drink license. This is the issue we see most often: a business uses a catering license as an ongoing substitute for a full-service, limited-service, wine-only, or hotel license, rather than for the special events the license is designed to cover. Simply put, a business cannot host regularly occurring events with a catering license. This activity can and will be flagged by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission as improper. Examples of regularly occurring events could include catering alcohol at an event outside of the caterer’s permanent catering hall that occurs on the same day or time each week.
If a business cannot, or simply does not want to, obtain the license that fits its regular operations, a catering license cannot be used to sidestep that requirement. Under the anti-subterfuge authority in T.C.A. § 57-3-104(c)(6), using a catering liquor license as a substitute for a full license the business should hold instead is exactly the kind of use the Commission is empowered to prevent.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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