New Yorkers Overwhelmingly Want Takeout Cocktails to Stay Post-Pandemic

New Yorkers aren’t ready to give up takeout cocktails, survey says

After months of takeout cocktails and natural wine deliveries, New Yorkers now say they don’t want to give up alcohol delivery from restaurants once the novel coronavirus pandemic subsides, according to a new survey. The New York Post first reported on the survey.

The survey of 500 New Yorkers conducted by the NYS Restaurant Association shows that New York adults are overwhelmingly in support of allowing restaurants to continue selling alcoholic beverages with takeout and delivery orders after the novel coronavirus pandemic. 86 percent say they’d like to see the practice — which is currently allowed on a temporary-basis through an executive order from Governor Cuomo — become a permanent staple of New York dining.

“Governor Cuomo provided a lifeline for the industry by allowing for takeout and delivery of alcoholic beverages during the height of the pandemic,” says NYS Restaurant Association CEO Melissa Fleischut. “Not only have restaurants embraced this change, but so has the general public.

The new survey comes just one week after New York’s takeout cocktail law was originally set to expire, prompting panic among the state’s restaurants and bars who have been subsisting on the program. On June 26, though, Governor Cuomo officially extended the takeout cocktail program until July 26. The executive order, first announced on March 17, has already been extended twice throughout the pandemic.

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