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Alcohol-related laws have always been a bit restrictive in Texas, so it was a surprise for the Texas Restaurant Association to know they could start responsibly selling alcohol.
The Texas government now made alcohol to-go a permanent law, and while that's a positive thing for many people, others don't know what this law is about. Anyone interested in learning more about alcohol to-go can get all the answers they want on this page.
People looking for legal help or advice can also count on the Sparks Law Firm to help them out. This law firm works with top-rated DWI attorneys ready to take any case that comes to them, so no one should hesitate to call it at (817) 381-7846 to schedule a free consultation with one of its defense attorneys.
What Is Alcohol To Go?
The alcohol-to-go law allows Beverage and Private Club permittees to sell alcohol directly to their clients for pickup and delivery orders. However, people can only buy beer, wine, and mixed drinks to go if they do it in an order that includes food.
This law also helps alcohol retailers, so they can also sell alcoholic beverages to the public. Regardless of that, the alcohol to-go law is not something new to Texan citizens since Governor Greg Abbott signed a temporary waiver that allowed alcohol pickup and delivery orders during the pandemic.
Nevertheless, since it was just a temporary waiver, alcohol retailers had to stop selling beer, wine, and mixed drinks on delivery after it ended. Fortunately, Governor Greg Abbott now signed a permanent law that lets restaurants do this again to help businesses keep their doors open regardless of what happens in the future.
Why Did the Alcohol To-Go Initiative Start in Texas?
As mentioned before, the whole alcohol-to-go concept in Texas started during the pandemic since it made many Texans working at restaurants lose their jobs and main source of income.
Governor Greg Abbott helped those people by allowing them to buy beer, wine, and mixed drinks alongside pickup or delivery of food orders. While this could've stayed as a temporary waiver, the truth is this initiative brought excellent results to many establishments around the state.
No one knows when a similar problem, such as the pandemic, will strike again, and since this waiver saved thousands of lives, turning it into a permanent law is an excellent measure to prevent people from losing their jobs again.
Texas Legislature Regulations on Alcohol To-Go
Even if Governor Abbott allowed alcohol retailers and restaurants to include alcohol in delivery food orders, there are some regulations regarding who can do it and how they can do it.
While these restrictions are not that difficult to follow, it's still important to know them, so these are the main regulations both customers and restaurants need to follow when responsibly selling alcohol to go:
Pickup and Delivery
There are some restrictions to how the pickup and delivery of mixed drinks and other alcoholic beverages work. The first of them is alcohol can't be delivered past two miles beyond the city limits where the company selling it is.
It's worth noting that people picking up alcoholic drinks from Texas restaurants or delivering them can't take them on a motor vehicle's passenger seats. Apart from that, mixed drinks need to be in a sealed tamper-proof container with a label with the name of the business selling them. This way, drivers cannot drink while driving and become an impaired driver.
Distilled spirits need to be in original single-serving containers. However, those containers can't be able to store more than 375 milliliters of alcohol or any mixed beverage in them. As for beers and other alcoholic beverages, they need to be in their original containers all the time.
Anyone buying mixed drinks in a tamper-proof container or any other alcoholic drink needs to be 21 years old or older. When customers pick up a food order with alcohol or receive it in a delivery, they need to sign a receipt and show their ID.
Drunk people are not allowed to pick up any kind of drink or mixed beverage or order it on delivery.
Food Orders
Although Texas restaurants can now sell alcohol in delivery orders, the Texas legislature wanted to make sure people didn't take too much advantage of this law, so people can't buy alcohol alone. In a nutshell, any delivery or pickup order with alcohol needs to also have food in it.
Food and Beverage Certificate
The fact that restaurants can now sell alcohol to go doesn't mean all of them can do it since Texas still has restrictive alcohol laws compared to other states. Only restaurants with a Food and Beverage certificate can enjoy the benefits this law offers, and those establishments still need to have a Mixed Beverage and Private Club permit.
Nonetheless, this is actually something good since it ensures people only get beer, wine, and mixed drinks from legit and trustworthy beer retailers.
How Will the Alcohol To-Go Law Help the Texas Restaurant Association?
The Texas Restaurant Association and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission have shown how grateful they are to Governor Abbott for adding this permanent law to the Texas legislature. How can this law help this association? Well, allowing customers to buy alcohol to go makes restaurants and alcohol dealers increase their sales.
Not everyone wants to drink their favorite alcoholic beverage at a restaurant, so this law also makes customers happier and more willing to spend their money on those businesses again. All those advantages benefit the restaurant industry in the state of Texas.
Bottom Line - Get Financial Advice from the Sparks Law Firm!
People in Texas lost their revenue stream when the pandemic stroke, but now, Texans working at restaurants that sell alcohol can feel safe if something like that happens again.
This is definitely a step forward for the restaurant industry's future in Texas, and allowing alcohol delivery is a critically important measure for restaurants to overcome the restrictive alcohol in Texas legislature.
People with more law-related questions or concerns can call the Sparks Law Firm for it to help them address any legal problem they may have in the future.
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