FREEHOLD — Governor Mikie Sherrill signed legislation this week making permanent a pandemic-era policy that allows New Jersey restaurants, bars and other eligible businesses to sell and deliver alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption. The rules, first put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, had been set to expire September 1.
The new law, Senate Bill 4384, allows retail consumption licensees such as restaurants, hotels and bars to continue selling mixed cocktails in closed, tamper-evident containers for takeout, as well as delivering sealed cocktails and malt beverages such as beer and hard seltzer either directly or through licensed third-party services. Craft distillery licensees are also granted added flexibility to sell and deliver their own products under certain conditions.
“Cocktails to-go worked, customers liked it, and small businesses told us it was another way to bring in revenue,” Sherrill said in a statement announcing the signing.
State officials pointed to National Restaurant Association research showing that in states where alcohol-to-go is allowed, a large majority of wine, beer and cocktail drinkers said they were more likely to choose a restaurant for delivery based on the option, underscoring the potential revenue boost for New Jersey’s hospitality industry.
State Senator Vin Gopal, a sponsor of the bill, said the change gives hospitality businesses a lasting way to generate revenue while keeping safeguards in place for alcohol sales and delivery. State Senator Declan O’Scanlon, who also backed the measure, called it a commonsense extension of a policy that helped restaurants survive during the pandemic. Assemblywoman Luanne Peterpaul said making the rules permanent gives small businesses added tools to grow without being slowed by unnecessary red tape.
Matthew Borowski, owner of 618 Restaurant and The Death of Hospitality Group in Freehold, where Sherrill signed the bill, said the option to send a piece of his business home with guests matters for a family-owned operation. Daniel Klim, president and chief executive officer of the New Jersey Restaurant & Hospitality Association, said the law preserves a popular option for customers while giving restaurants and bars an added revenue stream.
New Jersey now joins more than 30 other states and Washington, D.C., that have made similar cocktails-to-go provisions permanent since they were widely adopted as a pandemic relief measure.
