In what may be the start of a disturbing trend, it seems that yet another child may have been served an alcoholic drink in place of the chocolate shake he actually ordered, this time at a Chili’s restaurant.
Readers will of course remember the situation where a 4 year old child was served an alcoholic drink in an Applebee’s restaurant recently. In that case, there was no question that the drink was alcoholic or that it was served to the child since it was provided, oddly enough, in a sippy cup. That case became the butt of jokes for numerous late night comics, with the likes of Jay Leno and Jimmy Falon repeatedly mentioning it in their monologues.
Applebee’s announced following the incident that they would change their procedures in order to ensure that this never happens again in one of their restaurants. Now it seems that Chili’s may have to follow suit, also changing policies after another four year old was allegedly served a Mudslide in place of a chocolate shake. The report came from a Chicago branch of the restaurant where the mother of the child claimed that her daughter had tried the drink but declared that she didn’t like it because it “tasted funny.”
The mother tasted it and discovered that there was alcohol in the drink. Chili’s, however, has been denying the claim from the mother and says that the drinks were all served correctly but that someone at the table accidentally or deliberately switched the drinks. No charges were filed against the Chili’s employee in question as there was no clear evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the restaurant. However, this clearly does call for our industry to be more careful about serving drinks, especially when children are at the table and have ordered drinks which may appear similar to the alcoholic ones that adults have ordered.
Jim Balis' Blog 