Franklin town board members chose to allow voters to decide whether such alcohol sales should be allowed this spring. Aldermen Jerry Evans, Bob Scott and Sissy Pattillo split the vote with aldermen Verlin Curtis, Billy Mashburn and Charles Roper to allow for the referendum. Mayor Joe Collins cast the tie-breaking vote, passing the motion.

Franklin — the commercial center for Macon County — has just more than 2,800 registered voters. The county’s population though is closer to 40,000. Consequently about 7 percent of the county’s residents are deciding a referendum that will affect the county as a whole.

Speculation about whether the referendum would pass has varied wildly. In spring, Mark Wilkins, owner of The Chef and His Wife, estimated that 90 percent of voters were against allowing the alcohol sales. However, last week Jeff Shuler, supervisor of the local ABC commission, thought otherwise.

“Most people think it’s going to pass,” Shuler said.

If the referendum did pass, Shuler said that the ABC commission most likely would need to look at making some changes to the store located in the Macon Plaza shopping center.

“First off we’d need a bigger warehouse,” Shuler said.

With restaurants and clubs buying more alcohol, the commission would need more room to store it until they pick it up. Orders can be as small as one or two bottles, or, “they can buy pretty much as much as they want,” Shuler said.

Tuesday’s vote marked the first time Franklin has had a referendum on mixed beverages. Allowing mixed beverage sales often is believed to open the door for chain restaurants that feature bars in their design. Such restaurants — everything from Outback Steakhouse to Chili’s — most likely wouldn’t locate in a town without mixed beverage sales.

However in Sylva, where voters chose to allow mixed beverage sales in May, such has yet to happen. Various developers have expressed interest in the town but no restaurant company has definitely chosen to locate there now that on premise sales are permitted, said town manager Jay Denton.

According to a recent Jackson County Economic Development Commission study, chain restaurants like Olive Garden or Chili’s aren’t interested in a town so small, Denton said.

“Cities our size and Franklin’s, I don’t see us getting those large restaurants at this time,” Denton said.

However, the mixed drink sales have appealed to locally established restaurants trying to cater to the tourist market. Tourists from outside the area most often are used to being able to get a drink with dinner.

“We passed liquor and local restaurants were banging down our door because this is an economic opportunity for them to add something else to their menu,” Denton said.