California restaurants and bars can keep selling mixed drinks for take-out for at least five more years if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill that passed the state legislature on Thursday.
The bill, SB 389, would extend a current temporary measure that allows the selling of to-go cocktails as long as the order also includes food. The original measure was part of government efforts to help the struggling businesses in the hospitality industry stay afloat during the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Restaurants have been hit hard by the pandemic and the ability to sell carry-out cocktails has been critical to ensuring they can survive,” said state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, who authored the bill.
“Making this permanent will ensure their recovery, protecting jobs and our economy.”
Though restaurants and bars have reopened throughout the state, the effects of COVID-19 are still felt. Nearly a third of California's restaurants permanently closed and two-thirds of workers, at least temporarily, lost their jobs due to the pandemic, a legislative committee reported in May.
However, allowing restaurants to sell to-go drinks helped improve employment rates, according to a survey by the National Restaurant Association. The survey found 78 percent of restaurant owners who began selling take-out alcohol rehired laid off employees compared to 62 percent overall. “We extended an important small business lifeline to our local restaurants,” said co-author Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda.
Matt Sutton, senior vice president of the California Restaurant Association, wrote in a letter of support for the bill that the pandemic experiment of selling to-go drinks has been a success.
“We thank you... for taking what has been a successful trial project for the last year and seeking to keep it in place as the restaurant community attempts to rebuild over the next few years from the current economic devastation,” he said.
At least 33 states, including California, temporarily allowed the sale of to-go cocktails during the pandemic.
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