TABC meets with El Paso bar and restaurant owners to discuss ways to improve agency

Leaders for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) met with El Paso bar owners and local lawmakers on Wednesday to discuss how the agency can be more effective.

The TABC is the state agency that regulates all phases of the alcoholic beverage industry in Texas.

TABC Executive Director Bentley Nettles said one of the things he’s heard across the state is that his agency needs to embrace technology more.

“We still mail out letters and postcards to tell people that their permits are about to lapse. I can get a text message from my doctor telling me that I have an appointment tomorrow,” Nettles said. “Why can’t we do that for our industry members?”

Co-owner of Deadbeach Brewery Justin Ordonez was one of about a dozen bar owners who attended the meeting.

“One of the main concerns that we have is being so far removed from central Texas. It’s hard for retailers and Brewpubs, like ourselves, for us to have really cohesive information,” Ordonez said. “There’s a lot of digging that we needs to do and phone calls to make. I think having everybody in the room to be able to answer our questions was huge.”

Nettles said his agency will request $128 million dollars from the state for its 2020-2021 budget.

“A big request for us is budgetary because our technology is 18 and 14 years old,” Nettles said. “If you want to get into the alcohol beverage industry, you want to open a bar or restaurant, you get a permit. it takes you 51 days to get approval. if we were to get this new software, this licensing software, we believe that we could get it down to 30 – 35 days.”

The TABC will take public input it gathers from these roundtable meetings and could implement changes to the agency. One thing Ordonez said the TABC could improve on is outlining what retailers can and cannot post on social media.

“There are all these marketing laws that go with alcohol and beer. Apparently, a retailer can’t say that they have cold beer. I wasn’t aware of that,” Ordonez said. “Advertising just isn’t billboards and signs anymore. It’s Facebook, it’s Instagram, it’s completely dynamic. With those changes, I feel like codes and laws have to change with that.”

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