NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Despite Governor Kathy Hochul recently voicing her support for a proposal that would make to-go alcohol permanent, the program remains in jeopardy after it was intentionally left out of the state Legislature’s newly released budget plans.
The booze to-go proposal was omitted from the Senate and Assembly spending plans with lawmakers arguing the program is a policy issue which doesn’t affect spending.
“We don't think that alcohol to-go is a policy issue and not a revenue issue,” said Melissa Fleischut, president of the New York State Restaurant Association. “If we're generating sales and making revenue, there is an impact on the state budget and it should be included in this budget as a budget issue.”
At the start of the pandemic, to-go cocktails saved many restaurants from the brink of despair as dine-in options were not permitted. Fleischut said the association’s restaurants attributed about 20%-40% of their take-out and delivery sales to alcohol to-go when it was allowed.
Last summer, the temporary alcohol-to-go permissibility ended, despite the pandemic still raging on and restrictions still in place, causing many restaurants to take a hit, according to Fleischut.
“It would have been a huge help to us over the summer, which was relatively flat from July on and then when omicron hit over the holidays, restaurant indoor dining really fell off the cliff,” Fleischut said.
A majority of New Yorkers like the program, and want to keep it around, according to a recent survey which showed 78% of polled New Yorkers wanting to make it a permanent fixture.
“There is a lot of support for this so we're not we're not convinced yet that it's dead in the water,” Fleischut said.
But there is one group of people who don’t want to see the policy cemented: liquor store owners. Some liquor store trade groups argue the to-go alcohol option hurts their business because restaurants don’t have to follow the same regulations they do.
“We have different rules and regulations for different types of businesses that are regulated by the State Liquor Authority,” Fleischut said. “We have different types of rules and regulations for everything.”
Although lawmakers are pushing the plan as a policy, Fleischut said to-go booze is revenue generating as restaurants have to pay taxes on the alcohol and needs to be addressed in the budget.
Lawmakers said the proposal will likely be discussed with Gov. Hochul after April 1 when the state’s budget is approved.
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