Selling food/ alcohol to guests - UK.

[Alex967]

Hi, 

I was wondering if anyone had experience with offering an honesty shop concept at all? I'm thinking of filling the freezer with ready cooked meals but also offering some bottles of wine/beer for sale, I thought it would be a nice touch when people first arrive and add a nice additional revenue stream . However, I'm slightly unsure how you would receive payments after a stay and what licencing restriction apply for selling alcholol. Would you need a personal and premesis licence?

Any help much appreciated!! 

Alex

[Bryan10]

My guess is that 'officially' you shouldn't take money for alcohol, unless you have a personal alcohol licence. There are similar laws around selling food (hygiene certificate etc), in the UK at least: other countries will vary. If you give a guest a can of beer and they hand you a £1, no-one would probably care, especially as it's away from the Airbnb system. Maybe best not to wite it on a forum though (oh!). I've certainly never done that. Cheers 

[Sarah977]

Aside from any legal aspects, going on an honor system is not advisable- some guests will assume (or claim to have assumed) that the supplies are provided for free consumption, no matter whether you have the "honor payment" in your house manual or in a note on the fridge. Then say a guest gets food poisoning from eating out, but claims they got it from the frozen meal you provided, and requests their money back. And all you need is for the guests to start mentioning in their reviews how great is that you have alcohol for sale on the premises to attract alcoholic guests who never go anywhere, but just sit at home drinking all day.