Three Days Out

Rank by severity multiplied by irreversibility.

1. The allergy (life safety). A fatality is the only outcome here that cannot be managed after the fact. Act today - see task 2.
2. Serving alcohol without a licence. In most US jurisdictions, furnishing alcohol in connection with a paid event without a licence is a criminal matter, not a contract dispute, and 'the client supplied it' does not insulate the party that poured it. Check your general liability and liquor exclusions - there is almost certainly no coverage for an unlicensed act.
3. The expired certificate. You would be working on premises where you have no evidence of the owner's coverage and no additional-insured status. If a guest is injured by a stake, a step, or a golf cart, your policy pays first and subrogates later. A stop-work item, but a financial one.
4. The 17-year-old on the bar. Fixable in thirty seconds by reassignment - and it stays on the list precisely because it is the cheapest to fix and the most likely to be forgotten.

The instinct to rank the insurance certificate first, because it is 'the insurance thing,' is backwards. Insurance responds to losses that have already happened; licensing and allergens prevent them.

Commit to process, never to an outcome. You cannot promise a nut-free building and should not try - shared kitchen, shared fryer, shared tongs, and a guest who may trade plates.

In writing to the mother:

• The guest's plate is prepared first, before any nut product is opened, on sanitised equipment, with sealed ingredients, by a named chef.
• It is labelled with the guest's name and table and hand-delivered by the captain - never run on a tray by a server.
• The captain meets the guest at the table before service to confirm identity.
• All kitchen and service staff are briefed at the 4:00 p.m. lineup; the allergen sheet goes to the pass and to the captain.
• We cannot guarantee the absence of trace allergens in the venue or in other guests' food. The guest should carry their own medication, and we will hold a labelled plate aside if they prefer to eat only that.

Then document the exchange. Promising 'completely safe' is the single sentence that converts a medical incident into a negligence claim - and 'don't make a fuss' is exactly the instruction that would do it.

Separate the three things she is actually asking for.

Alcohol. Offer two lawful paths: she obtains a special-event permit in her own name and hires a licensed bartender carrying their own liability coverage, or the bar becomes non-alcoholic with a hosted signature drink. What you do not do is have unlicensed staff pour her wine because the contract says she warranted it. An indemnity from a client does not cure a criminal act, and it does not survive her insurer denying the claim - you would be indemnified by someone with no coverage for the loss.

Certificate. Call the estate's agent yourself, not the owner. A binder letter is acceptable; a verbal assurance is not. If nothing materialises by the day before, the options are to serve from outside the insured footprint or not to perform - and that decision belongs to your insurer and your lawyer, not to you at nine o'clock on a Thursday night.

Payment and the review. Do not trade a safety or licensing position for a cheque. Put your position in writing, factual and unemotional: what the law requires, what you have offered, and the date you need an answer. A threatened review is a commercial risk you can survive. An unlicensed pour or an anaphylactic reaction is not, and neither is defensible in front of a licensing board by explaining that the client was upset.