Across New York, bars, restaurants and taverns closed their doors to the public to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. While difficult decisions like these were important to ensure citizens were kept safe and healthy, the economic impact has been devastating.
Permitting these businesses to sell alcohol to-go was critical for these businesses, allowing them to retain staff and generate critically needed revenue. Unfortunately, they were stripped of this lifeline when they needed it most.
Bars, restaurants and taverns continue to suffer from the harsh economic impacts of the pandemic and the path to recovery will last long beyond any full reopening.
Bringing back business- and consumer-friendly measures like alcohol to-go is a commonsense solution to help the hospitality industry get back on its feet.
Today, Spirits United has launched a new campaign, encouraging New Yorkers to lobby the state government in favor of alcohol to-go. With just a few clicks, you can use their site to send a pre-written email directly to your legislators, urging them to support the bill.
This campaign comes just weeks after their Federal push to encourage Congress to pass additional support for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
While closing doors and limiting customers during the height of the pandemic was important and necessary to keep us safe, it continues to have a devastating economic impact on these local businesses.
Alcohol to-go was a critical source of much-needed revenue. It also allowed consumers to support their local hospitality businesses and enjoy their favorite food and cocktails in the safety of their own homes.
Unfortunately, the path to recovery for these hospitality businesses will last long beyond the end of the pandemic, and they will still need additional revenue channels.
Bringing back business- and consumer-friendly measures like alcohol to-go is a commonsense solution to help the hospitality industry get back on its feet.
This campaign asks legislators to act quickly to support bars, restaurants and taverns by asking them to allow these businesses to sell cocktails for takeout and delivery.
The past two years have been incredibly challenging for the hospitality industry. While New York was one of the first to support local bars, restaurants and taverns with alcohol to-go, these businesses lost this ability when the emergency order allowing it expired last spring.
It’s time we bring back alcohol to-go in New York! Even Gov. Hochul agrees:
Join us in reaching out to your legislators and asking them to support restaurants, bars and taverns by bringing back alcohol to-go for customers 21+ permanently.
Bar & Restaurant is a proud partner of Spirits United, a community of people from the distilled spirits industry (including producers, retailers, mixologists, servers, bartenders and consumers) that activate on issues most important to them. Find out more here.
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