Cups of popcorn at Beer Tree Brew Co. in Port Crane, NY the day after Gov. Cuomo announced the food requirement last July (Photo: Chris O’Leary)
Things will slowly return to normal in the next few weeks in New York state, at least when it comes to bars, restaurants, and breweries. On Tuesday, the New York Senate announced they would take legislative action to remove the food mandate for venues serving alcohol. New York was the last state to not have a plan to lift the mandate, as Connecticut announced the food requirement would be lifted outdoors beginning May 1st and Massachusetts would end theirs entirely on May 29th.
The food requirement, as I’ve documented here, was never justified with any scientific data, and its intention was to prevent parties from “mingling” in restaurants and bars, something that could’ve easily been accomplished with enforcement of social distancing rules without bringing additional contact between servers and customers in the form of food service. As for why it persisted for so long, I’m convinced that the Cuomo administration had convinced themselves that this policy was somehow of benefit to New York’s bars and restaurants, as it would add food to each bill. But owners of small venues who weren’t equipped to make food were spending each morning prepping piles of cold-cut sandwiches on white bread each day for no other reason than to comply with the rule, and brewery owners were making runs to Restaurant Depot to buy wholesale bags of chips when that time could be better spent making beer.
Wednesday, the State Senate and Assembly made good on their promise to take action, both unanimously passing concurrent resolutions to terminate the Governor’s Executive Order 202.52 that required food be purchased with alcohol back on July 16th of last year. Because it was the rescinding of an Executive Order, the rule change took place immediately — although based on an informal poll of the Brew York Twitterverse last weekend, many bars were already ignoring the order. Rest in peace, #CuomoSnacks. You won’t be missed.
Of course, because the legislature was finally raining on Governor Cuomo’s power-trip parade, the governor himself launched a pre-emptive strike on Wednesday morning before the vote with a slew of new changes that would set a path to a full reopening:
- Bar seating, which had been banned since the first phase of reopening last Spring, can return on May 3rd
- Catered events at residences can resume on May 3rd
- The current curfew of midnight will be lifted for outdoor spaces on May 17th, although pre-pandemic, most New York City outdoor dining areas had to close earlier than the city’s 4am last call
- The current curfew of midnight will be lifted for indoor spaces on May 31st
In fact, Senator Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) suggested on the Senate floor during the debate on Wednesday’s resolution that Cuomo’s announcement was a direct result of the legislature taking action to terminate his Executive Order on the food mandate. Even when…
