Bar Owners Cautious About Happy Hour

It has been 28 years since Massachusetts became the first state to ban happy hour. The ban put an end to all promotions involving free or low-priced drinks in an effort to cut down on drunk driving and alcohol-related deaths.

With businesses looking for any revenue they can find, a new push to bring back happy hour has risen in Massachusetts.

Despite a failed effort to repeal the ban as part of the bill to legalize gambling in Massachusetts, the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission will be holding the fourth in a series of five public hearings this week to see if the current regulations regarding happy hour should be updated.

Opinions on the possible change vary.

Doug Smith, owner of , has taken a moderate approach to the issue. While he finds the current law too restrictive, he would not want to see a happy hour without regulation.

"Only in limited form because there is such a hazard with excessive and over drinking and drunk driving," Smith said. "One has to be careful with the discounts."

Citing concerns with the risk of serving a customer too much alcohol, Smith said he would prefer to do food and drink combination specials instead of just selling drinks at discount prices.

"I think it would drive a lot more sales for the local bars, chain restaurants and everything," said Stacey Kitt, a bartender in Wrentham.

Kitt said the added business, while stressful, would be better for business in the long run.

"That's what you want, you want there to be business and you want it to busy," she said. "That's what everybody's trying to do anyways, promote and increases sales."

One potential problem with happy hour could be the added strain on a bartender's ability to determine whether a patron has had too much to drink before trying to drive home.

Kitt said regardless of the volume of people going through the bar, a bartender should be able to make sure patrons are sober enough to get home safely.

"It's not going to make a huge difference," she said. "It's not going to change a bartender's ability to make a judgment call. They [bartenders], should be trained on how to handle a situation like that."

A return of happy hour could mean good things for Rob Burns who owns  in Mansfield. 

"It could have a dramatic effect," he said. "It could add 30 percent [in revenue]."

Admitting that he has yet to put much thought into something that is still theoretical, Burns, like Smith would consider doing mostly food and beer combination specials to make sure that people are eating while they drink.

Burns said a return of the happy hour would put pressure on him to make sure customers were not driving drunk.

"It heightens awareness," he said. "It puts people under the microscope."

While Smith and Burns would like to see happy hour return in some form, the promotional event does have its detractors. Steve DiFillippo, CEO of  at  in Foxborough told FOX 25 last week that bringing back happy hour would encourage customers to get drunk.

"There's only one reason someone goes to happy hour and that's to get drunk," DiFillippo said.

The next public hearing on the issue will be Tuesday in Boston at the McCormick Building, located at 1 Ashburton Place. The session will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.