As Trolley Wing Co. closes in Salt Lake City, co-owner points to problems with Utah’s liquor licenses
Jesse Wilkerson said Utah’s licensing system plagues new bars as he and Jeff Krie close their trolley location of the same name.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The co-owners of Trolley Wing Co. Jeff Krie (left) and Jesse Wilkerson are photographed in 2019 at the bar’s trolley location of the same name, which they had to close this week in order to transfer their liquor license to one other place.
Having 340 seats for customers in Taylorsville instead of just 14 in Salt Lake City gives Trolley Wing Co.’s new location the potential to do a lot more business.
But co-owner Jesse Wilkerson is still frustrated at sacrificing the tiny but iconic Salt Lake City tram location – where guests would order beer and chicken wings – for what he calls “the greater good of the company as a whole.” “
After Wilkerson this week with the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control denied a liquor license to the new Taylorsville location this week, Wilkerson said Thursday that he and his business partner Jeff Krie are fortunate enough to be able to “borrow” the bar license from their namesake location and move it to the new location.
But he said the “painful” decision to close the historic railroad car for the time being was still a sign that the process by which Utah would issue such licenses needs to be resolved.
Trolley Wing Co. in Taylorsville opened in September in a large building that previously housed a Texas roadhouse. “To us, this is a much bigger deal than just another location,” said Wilkerson, adding that Trolley Wing Co. plans to make it sort of a home base, with everything done to take away and all the preparations for the other stores in his kitchen.
It’s so big that the Taylorsville spot will basically be a restaurant and bar under one roof, separated by a wall.
The “family site” for all age groups is run as a restaurant where customers can order beer, wine and spirits if they wish, but they also have to order food and are not allowed to walk around with a drink in hand. At the over 21-year-old “bar-side”, diners don’t have to order food and they can walk around, mingle and play pool while carrying their drink. The bar site also serves alcohol earlier in the day and later at night.
Without the bar license from the tram stop, the entire Taylorsville location would have to run as a restaurant – which just isn’t enough for regulars at Trolley Wing Co. who aren’t used to all the rules of this type of establishment, Wilkerson said.
And with increased costs of chicken wings and sauce ingredients, plus delivery delays and labor shortages, Wilkerson said Trolley Wing Co. can currently make more money on beer than on wings.
“We believe the Taylorsville license is just worth a lot more given the size and location,” he said.
He hopes the closure of the Trolley Square location will be temporary as the company had to pay $ 30,000 to purchase a liquor license from a private seller when it reopened in 2019 after the eviction. “We’ve been through this before, unfortunately we know how to play this game. So we’ll be fine, ”said Wilkerson.
But bars that are just starting out and can’t get a liquor license aren’t that lucky. “It’s a very intimidating, very scary process,” said Wilkerson. “All of your chips are on the table, right? If you don’t get that license, you still have to pay all of your overheads and just can’t open the door. “
Wilkerson calls for “common sense” corrections to the state system to address two main problems.
The first has to do with how new liquor licenses are being created in Utah. As the population grows, so does the number of available liquor licenses. Under state law, the state can have one bar for every 10,200 residents, but Wilkerson believes the number should be lower so that more liquor licenses can be issued more frequently.
The second problem Wilkerson sees is the way alcohol licenses are distributed. The Liquor Commission might be more inclined to license a bar looking to open in an underserved area rather than somewhere like downtown Salt Lake City, he said, but he claims the commissioners aren’t too interested in the percentage of that People who consume alcohol there.
“There’s a reason so many bars are failing in these smaller communities like Alpine and Point of the Mountain,” he said. “The drinkers aren’t there, but the population is there now. So I think it’s a simple math problem that for some reason is not addressed. “
A spokesman for the DABC did not return a request for a statement on Thursday afternoon.
Wilkerson hopes that Trolley Wing Co.’s current and past struggles with Utah’s alcohol laws can shed light on these issues during the upcoming legislature.
“Every person in this room is fighting for a little piece of paper, and our lives and our future depend on it,” said Wilkerson. “And there’s something wrong with that.”
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