At least one local restaurateur thinks a proposed bill that would allow restaurants to sell liquor products to-go is “too little, too late.”

House Bill 327, which the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed Tuesday, would allow a restaurant or hotel with a valid liquor license that lost more than 25% of its average monthly sales as a result of the coronavirus shutdown to sell prepared beverages and mixed drinks and deliver them curbside.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Perry S. Warren, a Bucks County Democrat, states that the drinks must be in a lidded container and must not exceed 64 ounces per transaction. Customers must carry the drinks in their trunk or “some other area of the vehicle that is not occupied by the driver or passengers,” according to the bill.

“It’s almost like throwing us crumbs,” said David Magill, owner Mogies Irish Pub in Lower Burrell. “They’re throwing us crumbs late in the game after we’ve all taking an amazing, incredible beating.”

Magill said he lost up to 60% of sales by being unable to sell alcohol other than six packs of beer throughout the pandemic. Restaurants across the state have been offering take out and curbside orders since March when Gov. Tom Wolf ordered non-life-sustaining businesses to shutter to help curb the spread of the virus.

According to Magill, allowing restaurants to sell liquor products throughout the closure would have helped soften the blow they are now feeling.

Still, several restaurant owners support the bill, which passed in the House 193-9. Before becoming a law, it must get passed by the state Senate and signed by Wolf.

“Anything right now would help,” said Josh Jones, owner of Marino’s American Eatery. “Right now, we’re selling a good bit of beer to-go from local breweries. We’re selling four packs and crowlers and wine bottles here and there, but the margins still aren’t anything like having somebody sit in your restaurant and order a mixed drink or a draft.”

Sales are down around 35% at the restaurant, located in the West Point neighborhood of Hempfield, Jones said.

Angela Furno, owner of Mr. Mike’s Pub and Pizza in Irwin, said she is sitting on $3,000 worth of alcohol and about $3,000 worth of malt liquor and beer. While she supports the bill, uncertainty of when restaurants might be able to reopen has left her on edge.

“If the liquor store opens to its regular business that’s not going to help us at all because why would (customers) pay for just a mixed drink and not have any atmosphere,” she said. “Because that’s what it comes with is the atmosphere. Getting out, being around your friends, sitting down to have a drink, complaining about something at home or watching a football game or watching a baseball game.”

Wolf closed liquor stores across the state on March 17. State officials are taking steps to make getting booze easier, with 565 of the state’s 600 Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores now open for curbside pickup.

Tristan Palazzolo, manager at El Burro in Regent Square, said he was surprised when liquor stores were closed.

While most of the restaurant’s profits come from food rather than alcohol, sales are down about 15%, he said. Still, he is in support of the bill.

“I think it would help business, and I think it would help morale,” he said. “It would definitely make things a little easier.”

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, an advocacy group for the liquor industry, praised the bill.

Allowing licensed restaurants “to sell to-go cocktails will provide consumers additional convenience they want and deserve,” David Wojnar, the council’s vice president of state government relations, said in a statement. “This is a commonsense solution that will help small business owners struggling to cope with the impacts of covid-19.”

Regardless of whether the bill passes, Furno said there is still a long road for restaurant owners who do not know when they might be able to open at full capacity.

“Mom and pops like me, which I’ve been in this business for 13 years, and it’s literally the way I feed my family,” she said. “It’s going to be a hard road. I’m going to tell you a lot of people are going to go under. I’m a fighter, I’ll probably struggle and struggle until it gets back to where it was, but a lot of people can’t do that.”

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