Director's office recommends denying petition to count prepackaged food as a 'complete meal'

Daniel, a representative of the director's office, told the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board on April 21 he will recommend denying a petition from Barbara Jones (on behalf of White Horse Saloon) that sought to amend WAC 314-02-010 to expand the board's definition of a "complete meal" to include prepackaged foods.

"On behalf of the director's office, I'm recommending denying the petition for rulemaking for reasons I will briefly preview today," Daniel said. He explained that while RCW (statute) defines a restaurant in part as an establishment for preparing, cooking and serving complete meals, the statute does not define what constitutes a "complete meal," and the board has long defined that term in rule.

Daniel reviewed the history of the rule language, noting that the current WAC definition excludes menu items that "consist solely of" precooked frozen meals reheated, carryout items obtained from another business, or snack food. He said the exclusion traces to enforcement concerns and earlier statutory and rule distinctions between bona fide restaurants and taverns prior to privatization, when taverns could not serve spirits and had other operational limits.

Daniel told the board petitioners had mainly raised economic concerns about the cost of fresh food, but he argued that serving a prepackaged sandwich from another business on a plate does not constitute preparing and serving a meal under the long-standing understanding reflected in rule. "Pre prepared meals or prepackaged sandwiches prepared by a third party are fine to eat, but being served them on a plate doesn't make turn a liquor licensee into a restaurant," he said.

Member Holmes asked whether changing the definition was within the board's statutory authority; Daniel replied the board theoretically has authority to change the rule because the board currently defines a complete meal in WAC, but he cautioned such a change could conflict with the statutory description of a restaurant and with prior enforcement experience. The board and staff discussed the potential enforcement difficulties of counting entirely prepackaged or precooked items as complete meals without legislative guidance.

A meeting participant observed that prepared-meal and pop-up businesses are increasing and asked whether the board will revisit the issue; Daniel replied the distinction of concern is when a liquor licensee resells another business's prepared meals rather than preparing its own food.

Daniel said he would present a full recommendation at the board meeting the following day. The caucus concluded without a recorded vote on the petition in the provided transcript.

Next steps: Daniel will present the formal recommendation to deny the petition at the board meeting; any board action was not recorded in the caucus transcript.