Responsible Beverage Sales and Service Campaign

In partnership with the Responsible Hospitality Coalition (RHC) of San Diego County, IPS has been providing training on responsible methods for sales and service of alcoholic beverages since 1996. Conducted by agents of the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, training is delivered to bars, restaurants, liquor stores and other businesses that sell alcohol. Its goal is to reduce over service and prevent sales to underage youth.

Since implementation of statewide tracking system in 2011, hundreds of trainings have been conducted in San Diego County with thousands of participants. That’s 55 percent more than any other county in California. Ninety-nine percent of the participants – owners, managers, waitstaff, clerks – found the training valuable and said they would recommend it for others.

The training is comprehensive, covering the harms caused by excessive alcohol consumption as well as underage drinking. It also demonstrates how to refuse service to customers showing signs of intoxication, how to make sure identification is genuine and how to deny sales to underage youth. Regulations applying to alcohol businesses and the liability of staff members is also explained. A special version of the training is provided for servers who work at single-day special events. During the five-year period from 2014-2019, the RHC has conducted over 700 such trainings to over 15,000 volunteers.