took aim at the program last year,<\/a> saying it was seeing too many reputable businesses fall foul of the law and receive steep fines for one simple mistake. The restaurant and bar industry association said that in the majority of cases, serving an underage person was just an error, and a $7,000 fine was enough to close a business.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNonetheless, the province has pushed on with the program, and the O.K. Corral Cold Beer Liquor Store sting operation took place in January when the 18-year-old entered the store and bought a six-pack of Michelob Ultra 4% alcohol beer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The store\u2019s owner, Christina Warnick, appealed the fine, arguing the business had taken numerous measures to make sure minors aren\u2019t served and had done its due diligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If a store can prove that all its checks and balances are in place and it did its due diligence, it can avoid a fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The liquor store employee who served the teen said they thought they recognized the person as a regular at the bar next door, which is why they didn\u2019t ask for ID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a consequence, the staff member was suspended for a week after the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the liquor inspectors argued the store should pay a $7,000 fine, the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch delegate saw it differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The liquor store argued it had training and other systems in place to identify if a customer is over 19 years old, and took numerous steps to implement its policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The store presented its array of checks and the vigorous staff training that employees go through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe manager confirmed that she had trained the employee (who sold to the teen) that the employee was very conscious of the requirement to ask for identification, that she had seen the employee many times in the past do so, and that not asking (the teen) for their identification was clearly a mistake on his part and not either ignorance of or a misunderstanding of the licensee\u2019s clear policies,\u201d the liquor branch delegate said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The delegate said the store had an atmosphere of strict compliance and accepted its defence of due diligence and dismissed the fine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s rare for a business to win an appeal against the liquor branch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":8483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"guid":"","source":"","byline":"","published":"","updated":"","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1810,706,704],"tags":[],"region":[547,548,549,550],"class_list":["post-8482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/news\/8482\/kelowna-liquor-store-wins-appeal-after-serving-teen-in-sting-operation\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Kelowna liquor store wins appeal after serving teen in sting operation","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/news\/8482\/kelowna-liquor-store-wins-appeal-after-serving-teen-in-sting-operation\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/news\/8482\/kelowna-liquor-store-wins-appeal-after-serving-teen-in-sting-operation\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/inwine-Screenshot-2026-05-29-at-11.31.54-AM.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/inwine-Screenshot-2026-05-29-at-11.31.54-AM.png"},"articleSection":"Featured","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Bulmer"}],"creator":["Ben Bulmer"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNwine","logo":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/06\/logo-inwine.png"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-05-29T21:00:00Z","datePublished":"2026-05-29T21:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-30T00:20:58Z"},"rendered":"