Syracuse, N.Y. — When Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced new rules for serving alcohol across the state Thursday, it caught many bar, restaurant and tasting room operators by surprise.
The new rules, which lacked specifics for much of Thursday but were somewhat clarified later in the evening, require food to be purchased along with alcohol, and prohibit customers from ordering directly from the bar itself.
Though the new rules didn’t take effect until today, some places did their best to adapt to them Thursday night.
At the Beer Belly Deli & Pub, 510 Westcott St., owner Lauren Monforte completely closed off access to the bar Thursday, which was busy because it was trivia night. She put up what she said amounted to “attractive police tape.”
That was probably more than she needed to do, since the rules appear to still allow parties of customers to sit at the bar if they are socially distant — six feet apart.
“What we’ve learned in past few months of this is that it’s sometimes easier to take this kind of more drastic approach than to try to explain the rules to a customer,” said Monforte, who is also a practicing lawyer. “Customers at a bar often have a hard time with complicated rules.”
The State Liquor Authority late Thursday issued what it calls “guidance” on the new rules to bars, restaurants and tasting rooms (breweries, wineries etc.) Most of that guidance centered on the food rule.
Among the most vexing questions it attempts to answer: What exactly counts as “food?”
In true New York bureaucratic fashion, that depends.
Here’s a deeper look at the SLA guidance:
“The purpose of the requirement that food be sold with alcohol is to permit outside and limited indoor dining (outside of New York City), with alcoholic beverages, while restricting the congregating and mingling that arise in a bar service/drinking only environment,” the guidance says. (Unlike Upstate New York, the city as of today has not been cleared for indoor dining).
This is where it depends on what kind of place you’re talking about. For most bars or restaurants, food is defined as “sandwiches, soups or other foods, whether fresh, processed, precooked or frozen.” That appears to rule out snacks like chips, pretzels, et cetera.
But for “manufacturers,” which would mean wineries, breweries, distilleries and hard cider makers with tasting rooms, food is defined more broadly. It includes “sandwiches, soups or other such foods, whether fresh, processed, pre-cooked or frozen; and/or food items intended to compliment the tasting of alcoholic beverages, which shall mean a diversified selection of food that is ordinarily consumed without the use of tableware and can be conveniently consumed, including but not limited to: cheese, fruits, vegetables, chocolates, breads, mustards and crackers.”
The SLA notes that this distinction is consistent with the normal requirement for food at such places. Bars and restaurants generally must offer food that is more substantial than snacks.
“Purchase of a food item ... shall mean that for each patron in a seated party, an item of food must be purchased at the same time as the purchase of the initial alcoholic beverage(s),” the guidance says. “However, one or more shareable food item(s) may be purchased, so long as it/they would sufficiently serve the number of people in the party.”
This appears to mean customers don’t need to keep ordering food as they order more alcohol.
But Monforte notes that it can be difficult for bar/restaurant operators to keep track of when different members of one party are ordering their food.
She also pointed out that it means servers are taking orders “backward.”
“Normally you approach a table and ask if you can start then with a drink — then leave them with the menu,” she said. “Now we will have to ask them for food and drink at the same time."
This is another area where the rules distinguish between bars/restaurants and manufacturer tasting rooms. Under the new guidance, “off premises beer, or cider sales must now be accompanied by a food item.” That appears to apply to bars/restaurants serving such items as cocktails in sealed cups to go. Those must now include food sales.
But, the SLA guidance notes, “This modification does not affect the ability of a manufacturer with off premises privileges to sell any product to go to a patron at the licensed premises in a sealed original container without the accompaniment of a food item.”
The SLA does not appear to have issued specific guidance yet on the ban on walk-up ordering at the bar itself.
As with many of the other state rules and executive orders, bars, restaurants and other such business will need to sort out the specifics as they go forward.
The issue of whether snacks count as food is one that still seems to have some places confused. Some local bars appear to be following a suggestion made by Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon Thursday that Doritos might count as food under the rule, though it’s not clear that he was being serious.
Trexx Nightclub in downtown Syracuse posted this on Thursday night: “Trexx will be open tonight! According to the Onondaga County Executive the new requirement from the state requires food must be sold with alcohol. As Ryan McMahon suggested we will be offering assorted snacks for purchase. Social distancing and masks are still required.”
MORE ON FOOD AND DRINKS
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Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.
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