“Boozy popsicles,” she listed. “About a shot in each one and we sold hundreds last summer.”
In a tweet Wednesday, and on its website, the SLA now says, with Gov. Cuomo’s coronavirus emergency declaration coming to an end, so do special privileges like takeout liquor.
It’s a letdown for businesses that had been hoping to keep the practice going for at least a couple more weeks.
“I think there were a lot of places that were kind of putting together Fourth of July packages,” said Kelly Bush with the New York Restaurant Association. “So, for parties like that, they could come and get a specific cocktail from us and bring home to their parties. That won’t be happening.”
State lawmakers had been considering a bill to keep alcohol to go… going, but it never got far enough in the legislature for this year’s session and a spokesman for the SLA told News10NBC “There is zero flexibility for the Authority once the emergency declaration ends.”
In a statement, the agency said “The Legislature failed to codify the ability of restaurants to offer alcohol to-go…. All temporary pandemic-related suspensions and directives, including privileges allowing bars, restaurants, and manufacturers to sell drinks to go, will end after June 24.”
“When people say it’s all back to normal, it’s not,” Bush said.
In a statement, The State Restaurant Association said, “Restaurants are struggling… New York State must do more to help, not hurt, our restaurant industry.”
“I don’t think people really understand how hard our industry was hit,” Bush continued. “We had months while we were closed and we were still paying bills. The RG&E bill didn’t go away.”
With summer activities coming up, including the Fourth of July weekend, Bush said the Union Tavern already had large orders for numerous specialty frozen drinks. She said those customers would have to cancel those orders or pick them up fast.
