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Board approves three Sushi Q/Saltwater licensee transfers; county resident co‑licensee added for each location
Summary
The Board approved transfers to add two individuals — a U.S. citizen and a permanent resident — as licensees across three Sushi Q / Saltwater restaurant licenses after counsel presented ownership assignments and character witnesses; the board required the new licensees to complete local alcohol‑awareness training.
The Carroll County Board of License Commissioners on June 27 approved three applications to change the licensee on restaurant liquor licenses for Sushi Q and Saltwater locations, replacing a resigning licensee with two new licensees for each of the three businesses.
Counsel David F. Mister represented the applicants and told the board that one of the new licensees, Ming Liu (a U.S. citizen), would serve as the county resident licensee and hold a 10% membership interest; the other, Tao (Taomu) Mu (a lawful permanent resident), would also be added. "We had to scramble as quick as we could to to get this before the board so that there was relatively seamless with regard to resident licensee," Mister said, explaining that a prior licensee resigned unexpectedly.
The transfers covered three separate corporations and addresses: Sushi Q (168 LLC, Westminster, case 6567), Sushi Q (1688 LLC, Eldersburg, case 6568) and Westlight LLC trading as Saltwater (Mount Airy, case 6569). Counsel asked the board to adopt by reference the testimony from the lead hearing to avoid repeating identical testimony in each case; the board accepted that approach.
Board members pressed the applicants on training and operational oversight. The applicants and owner‑operator Jennifer Q. (present at the hearing) said managers and front‑of‑house staff are regularly trained, managers conduct daily pre‑shift reminders and the restaurants maintain a program of periodic certification. Counsel and owner said the new licensees would obtain county‑required alcohol‑awareness certification in the coming days. "We regularly certify all the servers at each of these restaurants, and ... he will be certified in that regard," counsel said of the new licensees.
Why it matters: County rules require a resident licensee and at least one certified server on premises; the board sought clarity that at least one licensee would be a U.S. citizen and that staff training and no‑vertical‑ID policies would be enforced.
What happens next: The board approved all three transfers. Counsel and owners committed to completing required certification for the added licensees and to enforce the restaurants' carding and identification policies. The board accepted written membership‑interest assignments showing a 10% ownership stake for the resident licensee on each LLC.
