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'Brunch Bill' on ballot in many Georgia cities

By Claire Simms
Published  October 16, 2018 6:56pm EDT
News
FOX 5 Atlanta

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COBB COUNTY, Ga. - While much of the attention has been focused on who will serve as Georgia's next governor, there is another issue that voters must decide when they head to the polls this November--should customers be able to order drinks earlier at Sunday brunch?

State lawmakers passed the "brunch bill" earlier this year and it gave local governments the power to put the issue on the ballot for voters. 

According to the Georgia Restaurant Association, several communities around the state will vote on whether to start Sunday sales in restaurants at 11 a.m. rather than the current 12:30 p.m. 

"We want to be a big piece of the awareness," said Bill Goudey, owner of Copeland's of New Orleans, who has posted large signs supporting the measure at both his Cobb County locations.  "With us being a New Orleans restaurant, we have a New Orleans live jazz brunch that we've offered about seven and a half years now and of course brunch in the New Orleans tradition of things is a big deal.  So, adding that experience to the brunch is a big deal for us as a company as a whole."

The GRA estimates each of the approximately 4,000 restaurants impacted by the change would generate an additional $25,000 per year.  Overall, that would equate to an economic impact of $100 million. 

"We do more on Sunday for brunch than we do on Saturday night in our restaurants and that's kind of unusual, but brunch is a very, very big deal for Copeland's," Goudey explained.

The north Georgia jurisdictions where the issue is on the ballot include:

  • Acworth
  • Alpharetta
  • Athens-Clarke County
  • Atlanta
  • Austell
  • Braselton
  • Brookhaven
  • Cherokee County
  • Cobb County
  • Decatur
  • DeKalb County
  • Douglas County
  • Douglasville
  • Duluth
  • Dunwoody
  • Fayetteville
  • Flowery Branch
  • Forsyth County
  • Fulton County
  • Gainesville
  • Gwinnett County
  • Hall County
  • Hart County
  • Holly Springs
  • Johns Creek
  • Kennesaw
  • Marietta
  • Milton
  • Oakwood
  • Paulding County
  • Peachtree City
  • Peachtree Corners
  • Powder Springs
  • Roswell
  • Sandy Springs
  • Senoia
  • Smyrna
  • Villa Rica
  • Walker County
  • Woodstock

Election Day is November 6.