Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, one of the busiest days in the bar industry here in Massachusetts. In this month’s blog post three Massachusetts restaurant managers share their advice on how to prevent a fight from happening at your bar.Damien Fuller, General Manager at SouthSide Tavern Restaurant in Braintree, says, “Usually I would just engage the parties involved and go over to them, calmly, and simply ask “is everything ok?” or “how is everyone doing tonight?”
“Using words like “please, thank you, I’m sorry, help put parties at ease.” Says Keith Gleason, former General Manager at Finn McCool’s. He recommends using a calm approach while keeping a safe distance from the aggressor, and to have your doormen around as you try to diffuse the situation, just in case it escalates. Avoid getting into verbal altercation/sparring despite any insults/threats from aggressive parties. Keith recommends using the involved party’s name if you can, so they believe you when you tell them your only goal is for everyone to get home safe and that you would hate for them to have any issues with police if things get out of hand. “Sometimes mentioning possible consequences snaps them back to reality and distracts them from what set them off before.”
Todd Smith, former co-owner of Bushwood Cocktail Club recommends keeping the hiring of your security staff internal. “In my opinion, you should never hire a third party as your doorman always use your own employees. You never know how someone else runs their business, how well they’ve screened their employees. I would also encourage having parties leave via separate exits so there is no arguing or fighting outside the establishment.”
Hospitality Insurance Group is an admitted insurance company, located in Southborough, MA, that provides insurance coverage to businesses in the hospitality industry. We offer commercial property, general liability, liquor liability and excess liability insurance coverage to businesses that serve or sell liquor in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.
To encourage Hospitality Insurance Group policyholders to provide their employees with security training, Hospitality Insurance Group has approved a rate discount of 50% percent off the cost of the assault-and-battery endorsement for insureds when 100% of management and at least 75% of non-management staff obtain certification in an approved security training program. This discount will not be applied to the minimum earned premium for the policy.
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