T.G.I. Friday’s and Applebee’s are two sides of the same coin. Apparently, they’re also similar when it comes to serving kids alcohol. Earlier this year, a waitress at a Tennessee Applebee’s mistook an alcoholic root beer for a soft drink and served it to a child. This time T.G.I. Friday’s is in hot water over the same exact thing.
Apparently, the training bartender at a Las Vegas Friday’s located in the Orleans Hotel and Casino didn’t know the difference between an IBC Root Beer and the popular craft alcoholic soda, Not Your Father’s Root Beer and served 8-year-old Tyler Schwab the boozy one. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas right? The boy took a few swigs and told ABC affiliate KTNV in an interview: “What do you call that? Throw up root beer? Cause that’s what it tastes like.”
Tyler’s parents took a sip and sure enough, it was an alcoholic soda. Tyler, who suffers from a heart problem and takes ADHD medication “freaked out” and wanted to know if he was going to die. The alarmed parents have no idea how a blunder like this could happen, because both bottles look nothing alike, but the T.G.I. Friday’s location issued a statement to KTNV.
“We are aware of an incident at our Orleans restaurant where a server accidentally served an adult root beer beverage to a minor. It was an honest mistake. We immediately addressed the situation with the guest directly and to the guests’ satisfaction. We are currently retraining staff on all operational procedures and responsible alcohol service standards to prevent a recurrence. The safety of our guests and team members is the utmost importance and our top priority.”
If you’re a bartender, even if you’re in training, wouldn’t you know at least something about liquor and beer brands? Not Your Father’s Root Beer is an extremely popular beverage in an ever-growing market of hard craft sodas. Here’s a note to chain restaurant bartenders: Don’t store hard sodas next to non-alcoholic ones.
(via KTNV)