It’s official: Restaurants can continue selling cocktails to-go and serving alcohol in parklets.
Last Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed three bills into law that ease alcohol restrictions in California at the Oakland restaurant Kingston 11. The new laws — SB 314, AB 61 and SB 389 — make permanent some emergency provisions that were enacted by California’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at the beginning of the pandemic to help restaurants stay in business.
That includes the sale of takeout cocktails, which had been prohibited before the pandemic, as well as the Bar and Restaurant Recovery Act (SB 314), which allows businesses that are serving alcohol in outdoor areas, like parklets, the chance to apply for a permanent permit.
Food orders must accompany takeout cocktails under the new takeout alcohol law, and only restaurants that serve full meals may participate. A bar that doesn’t have a kitchen cannot sell drinks to-go. The legislation will need to be extended or renewed in five years…