New York Governor Cathy Hochul is pushing to make alcohol to-go service permanent at restaurants and bars in the state, which expires in April next year. Governor Hochul announced on the 15th, “We plan to make permanent the ‘Alcohol Subscription Service’ for restaurants and bars, which was first introduced in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
It is my intention to make this permanent by including this content in the negotiation process for the $233 billion budget plan that I proposed last month. Governor Hochul said, “The ‘alcohol donation service’ for restaurants and bars, which started due to the pandemic, is a policy that has been successfully established with great response from residents,” and added, “It should have already been legalized and made permanent, but it is rather too late.” If the ‘Alcohol Subscription Service’ for restaurants and bars is made permanent as the governor plans, New York State will become the 21st state in the country to legalize the service.
According to New York State’s current regulations, to use the ‘Alcohol Toss Service’, you must order a ‘substantial food item’ from restaurants and bars. This significant amount of food (menu) includes pre-cooked and processed frozen foods such as set meals, sandwiches, soups, salads, chicken wings, and hot dogs. However, potato chips, candy or nuts, and small amounts of lettuce are not accepted. This is to prevent formal orders such as the so-called ‘$1 Cuomo chips’, which were controversial in 2020 when alcoholic beverages were first allowed.
Additionally, an entire bottle of alcohol cannot be sold for delivery, and take-out alcohol must be sold packaged in a sealed container. The price must be the same as drinking at a restaurant or bar, and upon delivery, you must prove that you are over 21 years of age.
Alcohol cannot be delivered to people who are already drunk. Also, if you are caught charging an additional fee for alcoholic beverages and having them delivered instead of ordering food, your liquor license may be suspended or revoked. Meanwhile, liquor store owners, including Liquor Store, are clearly opposing the push to make the ‘alcohol to-go service’ permanent for restaurants and bars in New York State, saying it is an infringement on their territory.