Eatery caught in licence trap
Antonio Cacace set out to introduce Kiwis to drinking in a responsible way – but has instead found his businesses suffering from liquor licensing red tape.
The Italian-born restaurateur has recently closed one restaurant in Wellington, and been forced to significantly alter another, in Petone, after falling foul of the 2012 Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.
Now his troubles have attracted the support of Hutt South MP Chris Bishop, who wants to change the law to help people in Cacace’s position.
The problem in each case has been an Italian foodstore, selling off-licence wine, operating in the same premises as his licensed restaurant.
For about 17 years, that was part of the appeal of La Bella Italia in Petone, and more recently Bel Mondo in Rongotai.
But when he went to renew the liquor licence for Bel Mondo, he was told he had to physically separate the dining area from the foodstore, and operate them as separate businesses. So he built a wall between them – and soon faced a massive decline in business.
Bel Mondo was popular with staff from the Weta companies, whom he said were big spenders. ‘‘They would come on a Saturday with a trolley and the kids. They would sit down and eat their food and then spend between $350 and $500 [in the shop]. As soon as the wall went up, we lost all that.’’
Meanwhile, La Bella Italia has had to move the off-licence part of the business. That had been an expensive exercise, and he would not say how much he had lost.
But having set up to teach Kiwis how to eat and drink in a ‘‘cultured’’ way, he is frustrated that the 2012 act is preventing him from doing so.
Bishop has drawn up a private bill that would make it legal for a business such as a restaurant to have two liquor licences under one premise.
‘‘My bill makes it clear that restrictions on the granting of an off-licence to a premises that is situated within a shop do not apply to a premises that is a shop sharing premises with a restaurant,’’ said Bishop. ‘‘This is a commonsense change that I hope will receive broad support across the House.’’
Since announcing his bill, he had been contacted by businesses all over New Zealand with similar problems to Cacace.
One was a blueberry business in Taupo, which had been told it had to stop selling small amounts of blueberry liqueur to the public.
Getting a private bill into law can be lottery, and Bishop said it could be years before it was selected in the parliamentary the ballot.
To speed things up, he has approached Justice Minister Andrew Little, asking if the Government would be prepared to take it over.