Last call after COVID-19?
The pandemic relaxed Connecticut liquor laws, but takeout margaritas and beer delivery could go once threat fades
Before COVID-19 shuttered Connecticut restaurants and bars in March 2020, the idea of to-go cocktails seemed improbable, better suited for states with more permissive liquor laws.
But as eateries were restricted to takeout sales only for more than two months, restaurants were at first left without alcohol sales as a key revenue source.
Executive orders helped change the landscape, at least temporarily. Within a few days of the shutdown, restaurants were permitted to sell alcohol with takeout meals, but only sealed in the manufacturers’ original containers. Restaurateurs continued to lobby hard to be able to sell mixed drinks, and Gov. Ned Lamont eventually signed off on takeout cocktails in May.
Breweries also were given the opportunity to deliver their products.
At Bartaco, with Connecticut locations in Stamford, West Hartford and Westport, beverages accounted for about 45 percent of pre-COVID sales, said CEO Scott Lawton. For the weeks restaurants weren’t allowed to offer dine-in service, takeout cocktails and margarita kits helped make up some of the shortfall.
“The margarita sales have definitely been helpful...(but) we’re still not doing near the (former) percentages,” he said. “Now we’re about 25 percent drink, or 20 percent, depending on the location. It’s definitely made it a challenge, but every little bit helps.”
Takeout is still a significant portion of Bartaco business, and guests have loved the take-home margarita option, Lawton said, particularly as Bartaco prides itself on fresh lime juice, squeezed every hour, as an integral part of the recipe.
Margarita packages also have been a hit at Geronimo Southwest Grill & Tequila Bar, with locations in Fairfield and New Haven, said director of operations Steve Bayusik, featuring tequila, housemade lime agave and Cointreau. The same package is available at sister restaurant Camacho Garage in New Haven.
“(They’re) great. Ours comes with a cocktail shaker, so it’s everything you need, except for ice,” Bayusik said.
Geronimo did “very well” with the kits when indoor dining was shut down, he said, but sales have leveled off as indoor dining has resumed. He hopes the to-go liquor option doesn’t go away.
“We’re famous for our margaritas,” he said. “It allows us to continue that whole Geronimo experience at home.”
Are they here to stay?
Lamont’s COVID-related executive orders issued during the pandemic, including those allowing sales of to-go alcohol, have been extended until Feb. 9. In a Jan. 21 press conference, he said he would ask the Connecticut legislature to extend his emergency declarations further.
But to-go liquor has a chance of becoming a longterm option in Connecticut. The legislature’s general law committee recently raised a bill that would allow certain permittees to sell alcoholic beverages for off-premise consumption, in securely sealed containers.
Carroll J. Hughes, the executive director of the Connecticut Package Store Association, said his organization supports the bill.
“We think it’s helpful for restaurants to have this, and appropriate,” he said. “We don’t see it as a competition issue.”
Scott Dolch, executive director of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, said Ohio and Iowa have permanently legalized to-go cocktails in the past year. He said there is support for the same from both sides of the aisle in the Connecticut legislature.
“I'd love to see it permanent...I want to definitely keep it through the end of this year, and hopefully much longer. Because it's going to be a long road to recovery for these businesses,” he said.
The Department of Consumer Protection’s liquor control division has had no recorded complaints, incidents or violations related to “cocktails to go,” said communications director Kaitlyn Krasselt. She noted that food is required with to-go alcohol sales in restaurants.
Beer delivery
In early April, Lamont issued an executive order that would temporarily allow Connecticut breweries to deliver beer directly to consumers’ homes. For a few breweries that typically relied on taproom sales rather than statewide distribution to retail stores, this proved to be a welcome revenue source.
At New Park Brewing in West Hartford, which preCOVID enjoyed a bustling taproom atmosphere with rotating food trucks, “we were the simplest business model imaginable,” said co-founder and owner John Doyle. “We made beer in the back, you walked up to the bar to buy beer or cans to go.. .and that’s completely changed.”
Adding a delivery system was a significant investment of time and money, Doyle said. Before launching, he and his partners spent a few months building up the e-commerce function on the brewery’s website, and purchased two refrigerated vans — which proved difficult to register easily, because of the state DMV’s pandemic-related closures.
“It’s scary because you’re like, ‘Wow, I’m spending all this money, I’m building all this expertise. Is this all going to go away, post-COVID?’” he said. “But at some point, you just have to say let’s give it a shot, because you have to pivot. Obviously pandemics don’t come along every day.”
New Park now delivers statewide, designating stops by county Wednesday through Friday, and also stops at state farmers’ markets, including events in Coventry, Litchfield and Westport. Doyle said it’s helped build brand awareness more than he imagined it might.
“It’s gotten us in front of a whole new market. We probably deliver more beer to Fairfield County now than we do to Hartford County, which has been kind of wild,” he said. “So even if it all goes away, that part of it has been really beneficial for us.”
Twelve Percent Beer Project, a collective that contract-brews several craft brands in its North Haven facility, normally has a busy taproom business, said co-owner Alex Blank. When the pandemic hit, its bartenders were suddenly out of work.
Twelve Percent opted to “aggressively pursue” the delivery option when it became available, Blank said, and the owners asked bartenders if they’d like to become drivers. They began delivering anywhere in the state for free, as long as the customer placed a $45 minimum order.
“Consumers were very receptive to it, and very, very appreciative of the service,” Blank said, and they tipped well. “Our bartenders were making good money through a period where they would have otherwise been unemployed, which was great.”
Blank said he’d love to see beer delivery continue, especially as the pandemic stretches on.
“It is a great consumer service. I mean, the customers love it, it's delivering to their door, and we deliver quick,” he said. “I think customers who’ve gotten used to this really like it.”