LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Licensed Beverage Association (MLBA) has launched a de-escalation program aimed at equipping bar and restaurant staff with knowledge on how to properly de-escalate and communicate with difficult customers.
Courses are now available for MLBA members through Techniques of Alcohol Management (TAM®), the educational arm of the association. The courses are taught in partnership with Keene Training and Consulting, whose instructors all have law enforcement backgrounds. The MLBA is looking to take the class nationwide next week.
“We have always had material on how to deal with disturbances in our server training classes, but now we’re moving into de-escalation training to avoid situations before they turn into disturbances,” said MLBA Executive Director Scott Ellis. “Having retired from law enforcement myself, I know the importance of being able to handle a situation through proper communication before it gets out of hand. This is especially important for an industry that sells alcohol.”
In the wake of COVID-19 and the recent executive order that makes wearing a mask mandatory in businesses throughout the state, the MLBA sees this training as more crucial than ever.
“We’ve been working on putting a course together for quite some time because we want to give bartenders and servers, those on the frontline of the hospitality industry and of this mandatory requirement, the ability to resolve situations and avoid making an incident worse,” Ellis said. “Society is upset right now and we want our people to be safe.”
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