One week after Carrboro and Raleigh changed their policies, Chapel Hill followed suit – and freed the mimosa.

By a unanimous vote, after a meeting that lasted only nine minutes, the Chapel Hill Town Council made it official: beginning this weekend, restaurants and bars in town can begin serving alcohol at 10 am on Sundays instead of noon.

The council’s vote follows up on the so-called “brunch bill” passed by the General Assembly last month, which enables local governments to “opt in” to a new policy allowing alcohol sales on Sundays before noon.

Carrboro and Raleigh did so last week – and as expected, restaurants in those towns did a big business.

Scott Maitland is the owner of Top of the Hill restaurant and the Topo distillery in Chapel Hill; he’s lobbied for years on behalf of the brunch bill. He told the council he was at Acme in Carrboro last weekend – and got to see just how big an impact the change had.

“When I went into the kitchen,” he said, “the kitchen staff gave (me) a round of applause, because they knew I’d been heavily involved in getting the legislature to adopt this. And they yelled out, ‘Thank you so much for making this such a great money-making day for us.'”

And Maitland told the council he expects a similar boost at Top of the Hill.

“I project that this is going to increase our sales four percent,” he said. “This is going to make (Sunday brunch) the third-most popular time for people to come out and eat in the week…

“And people are focused on the alcohol part of it – but the reality is, the majority of those sales is going to be food.”

The Chapel Hill Town Council had adjourned for the summer, and town officials originally planned to wait to make the change until the council reconvened in September. But popular demand led the council to reconsider – especially after it became clear how big an impact the change had in Carrboro.

“We want to be able to pass it in Chapel Hill, before people get into a tradition of going to Carrboro for their Sunday brunch,” said Council member Nancy Oates. “We’d like to make sure that they start their tradition in Chapel Hill.”

The brunch bill also allowed local governments to legalize alcohol sales in grocery stores on Sunday mornings – but council members won’t vote on that until they reconvene in September, after the town’s Campus and Community Coalition on high risk drinking has a chance to weigh in.

With Chapel Hill’s vote, Durham is now the main holdout in the Triangle – but not for long: the Herald Sun reports the Durham City Council will hold a work session on July 27, and council members will likely vote on the brunch bill then.

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