Campus restaurant Fat Sandwich Company will no longer be allowed to deliver alcohol after the Champaign City Council approved an ordinance 7-2 Tuesday night limiting alcohol delivery privileges to certain licensees.

The holder of a Class P liquor license, Fat Sandwich Company may still sell alcohol inside the restaurant, but can no longer bring it to a customer via delivery.

“The delivery of alcohol to people ordering from this restaurant poses a serious problem,” said Champaign Mayor Gerald Schweighart. “While we have restricted the restaurant’s delivery of alcohol to a specific time and amount, it still opens up the possibility that underage customers could be receiving these beverages.”

Owners of the restaurant faced some difficulty in making sure they were allowed to deliver alcohol when it first opened in October because of disagreements in the language of the ordinance.

After the disagreement was resolved and Fat Sandwich Company was allowed to deliver alcohol, co-owner Adam Pearlman said Schweighart intended to appeal the decision.

Neither Pearlman nor co-owner Nicholas Lewko was immediately available for comment after the meeting Tuesday night.

This issue provided a slight division in the opinions of the council members.

“I don’t see a problem with the Class P distribution of alcoholic beverages,” said At-Large Council member Tom Bruno. “This is not really something that needs government regulation. As long as the employees of the restaurant are checking to make sure that the customer who is ordering is of legal age, then there really is no need for restriction.”

District 5 Council member Ken Pirok agreed.

“I don’t see a reason for this ordinance to be amended at all,” he said. “Not only does it make it impossible for certain packagers to deliver alcohol, but it also makes it easier for others of a higher class of packaging to distribute it.”

The Champaign Liquor Advisory Commission has spent a lot of time discussing this issue, and it has mainly been concerned about the competitive edges that the restaurant may pose toward higher-class packaged alcohol establishments, such as local liquor stores. However, the prime concern for some council members is the safety of the residents of Campustown and the city of Champaign as a whole.

District 1 Council member Gina Jackson said that even though this doesn’t necessarily pose a problem right now, it could in the future.

“We need to put in these measures before something happens,” she said. “While we can’t necessarily regulate the issue of underage drinking like the bars do, we can put some of these important restrictions into place before a tragedy occurs.”

Schweighart also added that he wasn’t predominantly concerned with the restaurant providing a problem on campus. He is more concerned about other residents of Champaign, such as high school students, utilizing the delivery service.