The House Business and Labor Committee on Wednesday gave H.B. 442 a favorable recommendation, passing it along to the House of Representatives. The most notable element of the bill is that it would give restaurants two alternatives to Utah’s controversial Zion Curtain requirement that forces them to pour alcohol behind large partitions. To tear down its Zion Curtain, a restaurant would have to either create a 10-foot buffer zone around its dispensing area where minors cannot be seated, or construct a 42-inch wall or railing that separates the bar area from dining space.

Additionally, restaurants that did not have to construct Zion Curtains because they were grandfathered in when that legislation was passed in 2009 would no longer be exempt from the requirements. They would have to choose one of the three options.

Among the other changes, the bill would eliminate dining club liquor licenses for establishments that don’t allow minors but make more than 60 percent of their money on food sales. Dining clubs, currently exempt from the Zion Curtain rules, would have to choose between becoming bars or full-service restaurants by 2018. Those that become restaurants would have until 2022 to comply with the dispensing regulations.

The restaurant industry, which has been eager to tear down the Zion Curtain — or Zion Wall — for years, has given cautious support to the bill. Hans Fuegi, one of the most respected members of Park City’s restaurant industry and head of the Utah Restaurant Association’s liquor task force, said the legislation represents a leap forward.

Primarily, it will make Utah’s liquor laws less puzzling for diners, who are often unsure why some restaurants must have the Zion Curtain while others don’t, he said. Adding to the perplexity is the fact full-service restaurants must ask patrons if they have an “intent to dine” before serving them alcohol, while dining clubs — which often look identical to restaurants — don’t.

If the bill becomes law, that confusion will go away.

“We knew there were going to be compromises,” said Fuegi, who owns the Grub Steak Restaurant on Sidewinder Drive. “… It all depends on how you look at this. If you look at this on behalf of the 1,200 restaurant licensees, it seems like a fair compromise. It really levels the playing field for the restaurant industry because it will clean up the confusion. Overall, the bill goes a long way toward that, and that’s the overriding view.”

He added that many in the restaurant industry see the legislation as a hard-earned victory, even though it might not be perfect for every single establishment.

“It’s been eight years now that we’ve had to put up with this nonsensical wall,” he said, noting that the bill could still evolve in the final week of the legislative session. “Within reason, whatever needs to happen to eliminate that, that’s what we need to do.”

Bill Malone, president and CEO of the Park City Chamber/Bureau, which counts many of the restaurants in the Park City area among its membership, echoed Fuegi’s sentiments and added that it’s crucial that the bill would provide dining clubs that choose to become restaurants a lengthy period of time to comply with the dispensing regulations.

“I think everybody will kind of learn to live with it,” he said. “The good side is restaurants will be restaurants. It won’t be like, ‘Wait a minute, I was in (an establishment) last night, and they let me do this, and tonight you’re telling me I can’t.’ People don’t know the difference between a restaurant and a dining club. At least there will be consistency.”

Malone added that, he expects that restaurants will have to live with its provisions of the bill for the next several years if it passes because it’s not often that efforts to drastically alter the liquor-dispensing laws gain steam in the Legislature. Another round of improvements may not come for six or seven years.

“It doesn’t seem like we get momentum in these things,” he said. “I think we end up taking advantage of the opportunities that are given to us in certain times. Sometimes we make some significant gains in terms of what I would call normalization of liquor laws, and we’re kind of at that point this year.”

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Several lawmakers in recent weeks have indicated their support for doing away with the Zion Curtain, a slang term for the partition many restaurants are required by law to use to hide the preparation of alcoholic beverages from the sight of customers. Gov. Gary Herbert, too, has put his weight behind the effort, recently mentioning it in his annual “State of the State” address.

As of Friday, no bill that would do away with the Zion Curtain had been released, but Hans Fuegi, owner of Park City’s Grub Steak Restaurant and the head of the Utah Restaurant Association’s liquor task force, said he’s more hopeful than ever that the partitions are on their way out.

“I was very encouraged to see that the governor seems to be in favor of eliminating it, which wasn’t the case before,” he said. “… It seems like there’s a really good effort from some legislators who seem to be convinced that it’s time for the Zion Curtain to go.”

Bill Malone, president and CEO of the Park City Chamber/Bureau, said he’s also optimistic legislators will pass a bill to strike down the Zion curtain law. However, he is concerned the bill may include additional elements that could make it less of a triumph for restaurants or alcohol drinkers in Utah.

Salt Lake City media outlets have reported, for instance, that the legislation might be accompanied by an increase the price of products at state liquor stores by a percentage point or two to pay for more training for restaurant staff about the liquor laws.

“I think, like everyone, you have to look at that and go, ‘It’s progress,’” he said. “We’re making progress. It’s unfortunate that we feel sometimes like we can’t make progress for progress’s sake and you have to give up something to get the progress. That’s frustrating.”

Fuegi added that he and many others in the restaurant industry will remain somewhat skeptical until they see a draft of the bill.

“The devil is always in the details,” he said. “There’s always a trade for any time the liquor laws get changed. But I think we just need to find out exactly what the industry will have to give to make the curtain go away. That’s where the rubber meets the road.”

Regardless, tearing down the Zion Curtain would be cause for celebration for restaurants and Park City’s tourism industry, Malone said. He compared the impact to when Utah did away in 2009 with the law requiring patrons possess private club memberships to enter bars, which made it much more difficult for visitors to find a cocktail on Main Street.

“This may not have as much of a personal impact on someone because it’s not somebody out front asking you for your driver’s license and asking if you’re a member, but it’s going to change the look and the feel of a lot of places,” he said. “You can see somebody making a drink for you, and you’re not going, ‘Where did that person go? Why are they behind that wall?’”

Malone added that confusion about Utah’s liquor laws remains one of the things the Chamber/Bureau hears most often in focus groups with prospective visitors to Park City.

“The sad part about it is it’s more prevalent in conversations with people who have never been here than people who have been here,” he said. “People who haven’t been here can kind of cite to you by verse the bad things about the uncomfortable, awkward moments in terms of serving alcohol in Utah.”

Eliminating the Zion Curtain — and the confusion among out-of-state guests when they see their server retreating behind a barrier to pour their Moscow Mules — could go a long way toward changing the state’s reputation, Fuegi said.

“I think it has quite a big impact on that reputation,” he said. “It’s so unusual to go to something that looks like a bar, where you can display liquor and do everything but make the actual drink or pour the actual glass of wine at that bar. That’s the kind of thing that leads to articles making fun of the state, and none of us want to see that.”

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