GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) -- The owners of three Grand Rapids bars wanted to do something special for their employees Tuesday, but thanks to state liquor laws there is a change of plans.

Tuesday is the first employee appreciation day at HopCat, McFadden's and Stella's Lounge. Barfly Ventures owns all three downtown Grand Rapids bars.

Barfly intended to give all of Tuesday's sales to their employees, but that's a violation of state law.

"There are some old or out-of-date laws that deal with alcohol sales or rewarding people based upon alcohol sales," says Gary Boyd, manager of Hopcat. "Instead of doing it based on all sales today, we're going to do it on food sales for the next three days."

The employee appreciation day is a reward for the workers for their performance during ArtPrize.