This restaurant helped make cocktails to-go and alcohol delivery legal in NJ
Cocktail delivery and alcohol to-go from restaurants are now legal in New Jersey, and we can’t minimize the role that a little restaurant in Jersey City played in it.
During the entire COVID-19 shut down, restaurants were lucky just to be able to have takeout and delivery business to sustain them. But what about the bars and restaurants for whom alcohol sales were a huge part of their revenue?
Cellar355 in Jersey City petitioned Governor Murphy to legalize to-go cocktails in New Jersey over the last few weeks, getting over 4,500 signatures in a matter of days. According to the website Hobokengirl.com, they had previously posted on their Instagram, “We need some help from our community! Restaurants around New Jersey are going bankrupt during quarantine and as restrictions lift, we will be the last to feel the relief. Many restaurants rely on cocktails for half of their revenue, and without them, there is a good chance they won’t be able to survive. We have an opportunity to ask the governor to make ‘to-go’ cocktails legal; allowing restaurants to keep from closing their doors permanently.”
Does Cellar335 get ALL the credit? No. But the grassroots movement and the groundswell of support from the community very likely helped tip the scales in the effort to replenish at least a small portion of the restaurant revenue lost in NJ during this pandemic.
The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco. Any opinions expressed are Judi's own.
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