FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina regulators were wrong were they allowed a food truck to begin selling frozen ice pops made with alcohol without an alcohol permit, the city of Charleston is saying in a letter.
The Booze Pops van is making its way around the Lowcountry, selling frozen alcoholic treats on a stick. The Department of Revenue said the business is following the law the way it is written.
But the city of Charleston is asking the state to reconsider, saying by selling “booze pops” as food, it allows buyers to do dangerous things it typically couldn’t with alcohol, like walk around in public.
“Worse, this legislative loophole would appear to enable consumption of ’booze pops’ by those behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, thus putting the driver, as well as others, at a serious safety risk,” the city wrote in the letter obtained by The Post and Courier of Charleston (https://bit.ly/2qhkolT).
Booze Pops owner Woodrow Norris said he came up with the idea and put it together in about two weeks. He is retired and uses the profits from the business to help his daughter.
His big sellers are watermelon, lemonade and strawberry daiquiris and he has non-alcoholic treats for children.
“We’re trying to make it super-nice,” Norris said. “Mom can get her Martini pop and little Jimmy can get a SpongeBob.”
By selling the treats as food, Norris can go anywhere. Recently, he parked his van in Folly Beach near a wedding party. Norris has kept his van mostly around Charleston, but wants to branch out to Columbia and Myrtle Beach.
If the rules change and the Booze Pops van is regulated like an alcohol seller, Norris could only work special events and not wherever he thought he could make money.
“I’m sure I would have to get some different licensing,” he said. “I could still do a lot of the things I do now. I would just have to do it differently.”
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Information from: The Post and Courier, https://www.postandcourier.com
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