One of the few silver linings to come out of a difficult year for Texas bars and restaurants — to-go cocktails — is now state law.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday signed a bill permanently allowing Texans to include alcohol in take-out food orders from restaurants. During the pandemic, Abbott introduced cocktails to-go as a temporary emergency order to help hospitality businesses endure the hardships of prolonged shutdowns.
“Gov. Abbott’s emergency waiver allowing alcohol to-go during the pandemic saved thousands of restaurant jobs, creating a new revenue stream and unleashing the innovation that restaurants will need to rebuild from the pandemic,” Texas Restaurant Association CEO Emily Williams Knight said in a release. “We still have a long road to recovery ahead, but with tools like alcohol to-go, the restaurant industry’s future is brighter than ever in Texas.”
House Bill 1024 allows restaurants with a food and beverage certificate and either a mixed beverage permit or a private club registration from TABC to sell beer, wine and cocktails with food orders that are purchased for pickup or delivery. That includes through third-party delivery companies such as GrubHub, Doordash and Favor.
The bill requires that all alcoholic beverages be sealed either in their original, manufacturer-created container or a tamper-proof vessel that’s labeled with the business’ name and the words “alcoholic beverage.”
The legislation, passed overwhelmingly in the Texas Legislature, becomes effective immediately.
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This article appears in May 5-18, 2021.