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Should To-Go Alcohol be Made Permanent in New York After COVID-19? Restaurants Say Yes

By Darrell Camp

Published May 25, 2021 at 4:55 AM EDT

NEW YORK NOW - More than three-quarters of New Yorkers would like to see New York state permanently allow restaurants to offer take-out alcohol with food orders, a survey from the New York State Restaurant Association found. According to the survey, which was conducted earlier this month, 78% of New Yorkers want the option, implemented during the pandemic, to be made permanent in New York.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York City restaurants can operate at 75% of capacity beginning May 7, bringing rules there in line with the rest of the state. While COVID-19 restrictions are easing for restaurants and bars across the state, the industry, hit hard by the pandemic, said more needs to be done. This week, the state Legislature ended an executive order by Cuomo that required food to be served with all alcoholic drink orders. It had been in place ever since bars and restaurants were allowed to reopen last summer. The measure passed unanimously in both houses on April 28. Sen. Ed Rath from the Buffalo area supported legal challenges from some western New York restaurants to end many of the restrictions, including limits on indoor dining capacity and curfews. “While this is a welcome step, it has taken far too long to get here,” Rath said on the Senate floor. “It shouldn’t take lawsuits and court hearings for our struggling restaurants to be heard.” Rath said the state’s own data shows that restaurants and bars account for just a small percentage of coronavirus transmissions. Hours before that vote, Cuomo announced that he, too, favored ending the food requirement. He also said he’d lift midnight curfews on restaurants and bars later in May. Many restaurants and bars expressed relief. Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, is also encouraged by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement that he intends to fully reopen the city by July 1. But Rigie, in a statement, said government leaders can do more to help. They’d like to see a temporary rule that allows take-out alcoholic drinks be made permanent, saying it will be a while before everyone is comfortable dining inside. Patrick Noonan runs El Loco Mexican Café in Albany and is the chair of a group of independently owned restaurants and bars. He said the take-out drink sales helped keep restaurants from closing and decreased the need for layoffs. El Loco Cafe in Albany (Courtesy: Karen DeWitt) “Permanent to-go cocktail policy in New York would be most appreciated,” said Noonan, who added recent surveys show 63% of patrons intend to continue ordering cocktails to go, even when full indoor dining is allowed. Assemblyman John McDonald, a Democrat from Cohoes, supports the bill, which is sponsored by Albany Assemblywoman Pat Fahy. He said ordering mixed drinks as part of his New Year’s Eve to-go dinner order was a nice treat during the long pandemic-restricted winter. “It was great to have something professionally put together,” McDonald said. The restaurant groups also want to limit charges by third-party delivery services. They said some services like Uber Eats and Grub Hub take up to a third of the bill for a food order. And they said the federal and state bureaucracies need to be better at connecting restaurants to grants and loans that are now available in the federal Restaurant Revitalization Fund. They said the money can be used for, among other things, improving indoor air quality in their establishments. — Photo by Karen DeWitt.

And the New York State Restaurant Association is now making a final effort to have alcohol to-go made permanent before the end of the state legislative session, which is scheduled to conclude in early June. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order permitting takeout alcohol last year, after the indoor portions of restaurants were shut down and businesses were looking for safe ways to serve their customers at the start of the pandemic. Melissa Fleischut, the CEO of the New York State Restaurant Association, told New York NOW that codifying Cuomo’s executive order would give restaurant owners some peace of mind as they continue to recover from the pandemic. “Maybe some of the reason that it hasn’t been done so far is that the governor continues to extend the executive order. ” Fleischut said. “We’re really going to put on a press for this to get extended through the legislature, so the industry can have some certainty, instead of waiting every 30 days to have the governor extend it through executive order.”

Should New York Keep To-Go Alcohol Permanent After COVID-19? Restaurants Say Yes | New York NOW

Darrell Camp speaks with Melissa Felischut from the New York State Restaurant Association about legislation that would make to-go alcohol permanent after the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

As of right now, to-go alcohol sales can continue through June 5th. When it comes to the Legislature, members of both houses and both parties have expressed support for making to-go alcohol permanent. Sen. George Borrello, R-Chautauqua, is in the restaurant business and supports the measure. He told New York NOW that the industry needs a lifeline after the past 14 months. “I think that the hospitality industry was probably the most injured, we had roughly 20 percent of New York restaurants close,” Borrello said. Fleischut said that about 17% of restaurants in New York closed during the pandemic and will not reopen. The last day of the legislative session is June 10, leaving less than three weeks for the proposal to pass.