Many Local Businesses Call For Extension Of To Go Booze

As the state legislature let the pandemic state of emergency pass without legislation to extend to go alcohol, many local restaurant owners and alcohol producers are calling for an extension.

According to a Times Union report, several distillers and restaurant/bar owners gathered at press conference in Clifton Park Thursday and called for "...the legislature to call a special session to come back to Albany to vote to extend to-go cocktail and alcohol sales if not indefinitely then for a set period of time."  Some on hand pointed out how the to-go accommodation accounted for a big percentage of sales for many in the hospitality industry, and the loss of the to-go and delivery option for booze is now going to create a hardship for those businesses at a time when public dining and drinking habits have changed. The Times Union says there was some legislation in play to extend the order past the New York state of emergency ending, but nothing came to fruition.

As all of us in New York are understandably in a rush to return everything back to normal as it existed pre-pandemic, this is a great example that not everything will automatically reset and go back to what it was. We are seeing it across the business spectrum with supply chains trying to get caught up to where they were pre-COVID; consumers reaching their comfort zones for going out and about could take a while as well.

So maybe in the long run keeping some of our COVID accommodations would be a good idea. And would a permanent to-go and delivery option for booze seem so bad? For many getting a meal and a drink, it may be the best option moving forward. Hopefully for these local businesses we get to-go and delivery drinks back very soon!