You could decide what time restaurants can serve mimosas with Sunday brunch

Some Middle Georgia restaurants may be able to serve alcoholic drinks earlier with Sunday brunch in the near future.

Midstate residents could vote this year on whether to expand the time people will be able to have an alcoholic drink at restaurants on Sundays.

A new state law allows cities and counties the ability to let voters decide to move up the time when Sunday alcohol beverages can be served. Currently, restaurants can start selling alcohol at 12:30 p.m.

Under the new law, that time could be changed to as early as 11 a.m., which could be attractive to the Sunday brunch crowd at places like Ladda Bistro in downtown Macon.

“We get so many customers that come in at 11 on Sundays wanting a mimosa or bloody Marys,” Ladda manager Jiin Sarrtsud said. “A lot of our customers wait until 12:30 to come in just to get the alcohol.”

In Macon-Bibb County, unincorporated Monroe County and Forsyth, the referendum will be on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Forsyth Mayor Eric Wilson said as of now, the change in time would not have a major impact on restaurants in his city.

“Most of our restaurants that serve (alcohol) aren’t open before noon on Sunday,” Wilson said. “Right now it would not be a big deal, but we wanted to put in on the table and let people vote.”

But not every community in the region is expected to have the referendum go before voters.

The Houston County Commission has not expressed any interest in doing so at this point, County Administrator Barry Holland said an email.

And there also are no plans at this time for the Warner Robins City Council to vote on adding the referendum to the November ballot, according to Warner Robins election superintendent Michelle Riley.

Mimosa mandate

The new law was several years in the making before getting a thumbs up from the state Legislature in 2018.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, coined it the “mimosa mandate” after the popular brunch drink made of champagne and citrus juice.

And one organization pushing for the extra 90 minutes said it could become a minor coup for restaurants and its employees, as well as draw more tax revenue, according to the Georgia Restaurant Association.

The restaurant association’s study predicts that 4,000 restaurants statewide would on average would generate roughly $480 in extra revenue per restaurant each Sunday. That would come out to about $100 million in revenue annually.

This story was originally published July 19, 2018 at 3:35 PM with the headline "You could decide what time restaurants can serve mimosas with Sunday brunch."