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Hochul details permanent to-go drinks plan
New details are being revealed about Governor Kathy Hochul's plan to legalize to-go drinks in New York, but there has been backlash to the idea from lawmakers and the liquor industry.
NEW YORK - "It’s five o’clock somewhere," Governor Kathy Hochul joked, speaking at a wine bar in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
Governor Hochul has been pitching ways to rejuvenate the hospitality industry and bring back that New York City spark.
"How we find our way back and re-energize this whole industry will really be a signal that New York is back," Hochul said.
Top of Hochul’s list is to permanently allow restaurants and bars to sell alcohol to go, a critical piece of legislation that kept these businesses afloat during the pandemic.
"We want to hear people's experiences on how we can make this be very successful and leave no business behind," Hochul explained. "We saw that this was a critical revenue stream and what kept people afloat during those dark months and years during the pandemic."
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It is a move that liquor stores have opposed.
"Bars, restaurants, taverns, et cetera, are not supposed to become de facto liquor stores selling product," Jay Hibbard. Senior Vice President of the State Public Policy Distilled spirits council said.
But Luca di Pietro, who owns Tarallucci e Vino, says his sales are still down 40% compared to what they were in 2019.
His team founded an organization called Feed the Frontlines, comprised of restaurants all around the city, which has now delivered over 200,000 meals to health care workers and food-insecure New Yorkers throughout the pandemic.
"We’re not back to normal by any stretch of the imagination," de Pietro said. "I don't know when will we go back to normal but it's not we're not there yet."
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NYC bars and restaurants treading water
A new report released by the New York State Comptroller's Office shows that New York City restaurants employ 30% fewer people than they did right before the pandemic. NYC Hospitality Alliance Executive Director Andrew Rigie said the industry is in desperate need of a new round of federal aid.
For many businesses though, securing a liquor license can be a challenge and according to the State Liquor Authority, they receive tens of thousands of applications every year, on top of having to oversee over 70,000 licenses statewide.
Governor Hochul is also proposing increasing the State Liquor Authority’s budget so they can update their decades-old databases and hire more people to streamline the application process.
"We’re going to reduce processing time literally by months by allowing people to apply online," Hochul said. "Right now it can take on average 26 weeks, we're going to see that go down to almost nothing so I'm really excited about that."
Di Pietro says cutting the red tape is an important step to bringing life back to the streets of New York City, which he says starts first with getting businesses back on their feet.
"Small businesses like mine are usually started by immigrants who don’t know all the laws," di Pietro said. "Sometimes in New York, you have to have a law degree to open a business and you have to have the money to hire consultants. So if you want to talk about making it open to everyone, this is one of the steps."
Hochul’s proposal to make alcohol to go permanent still has to be negotiated into the State budget, which is due on April 1.
In the meantime, the International Restaurant Show is returning to the Javits Center this weekend for the first time in two years.
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