Members of the Virginia General Assembly are debating how much liquor restaurants are allowed to serve.
Virginia does not have bars; it has restaurants. That's because of a state law that sets expectations for restaurants – at least 45% of their annual sales must be from food.
Senator Elizabeth Bennett-Parker is a Democrat from Alexandria who says that math isn't mathing anymore. That's why she has a bill that would let some restaurants reduce their food sales ratio to 30%.
"For example, at a small restaurant specializing in craft cocktails in my district if someone ordered two $20 cocktails and $25 burger, that order would not meet the ratio," Bennett-Parker says. "Similarly, a $5 pour of bourbon compared to a higher-end $20 or $50 pour of bourbon is the same amount of alcohol that puts a restaurant at a very different place."
One restaurant owner she heard from was former Delegate Rob Krupicka, who owned a small restaurant that sold trendy and expensive craft cocktails. He says restaurants end up charging more money for food just to meet the regulatory requirements.
"You may be jacking up the price of your food to offset the alcohol costs or vice versa. You're manipulating your pricing because you’re trying to make those numbers work," Krupicka says. "This takes some of that pressure off so restaurants aren't having to look at, ‘Well, I've got to sell my food for a little bit more money in order to hit my alcohol ratio.’"
Now that Bennett-Parker's bill has passed the House and Senate, it's on its way to the governor's desk.
