Which Restaurants Would You Like to See in Dacula?

For years, efforts to bring restaurants like Red Lobster or Applebee’s to Dacula have been stymied by Dacula’s prohibition against the sale of distilled spirits, or liquor by the drink, on Sundays.

According to , calls to national restaurant chains have inevitably ended the same way.

“I call them about once a year and that’s the first question out of their mouths: ‘Do you allow Sunday liquor sales?’ and when I say no, they’re not interested,” he said.

What national restaurant chain would you like to see in Dacula? Tell us in the comments.

That may change now that Dacula residents have voted to allow Sunday liquor by the drink sales. On Nov. 8, voters approved a referendum to allow such sales by a comfortable 198 to 115 margin.

In previous years, voters had rejected Sunday liquor by the drink sales but Wilbanks believes both a changing population and the economic downturn may have contributed to the referendum’s passage this time. Wilbanks said the increase in the city’s liquor excise tax revenue indicates people have been purchasing more alcohol inside the city limits.

“People are drinking more,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s because of the economic situation … or what, but it appears to me that it is up considerably.”

Wilbanks added that the population of Dacula has grown and brought a new set of attitudes towards Sunday alcohol consumption.

“We’ve got a different mix of folks than we had five years ago or 10 years ago,” he said.

The new ordinance will likely go into effect in January, Wilbanks said. At that point, he will once again begin the process of pitching Dacula as a good location for major restaurant chains.

“I’ll call them again and let them know we do have liquor sales by the drink and see what they have to say about it,” he said.

Wilbanks is hopeful the ordinance will result in a positive economic impact on the city and its business owners.

“I look at it as a leveling of the playing field for our entrepreneurs and capitalists who have invested their lives and their money and their time in our city,” he said.