TAMPA, Fla. — Good news for restaurants. This week Florida lawmakers passed a new law allowing restaurants to sell alcoholic drinks with take-home meals.
"I feel like the most successful restaurants at their core communicated really good with their fan base and following to stay in business during the pandemic," Club Savor owner Roger Curlin said.
This past year has been a hard one on many restaurants with many getting creative to survive.
"I saw theme nights, cooking zooms and really an array of things folks did to survive," Curlin said.
Restaurant partner Jon LaBudde with The Big Catch at Salt Creek says they utilized their outdoor seating to survive.
"During COVID, 80 percent of customers wanted to sit outside so we made sure to maximize on that and put tables 6 feet apart to make sure they were also social distancing," LaBudde said.
He says this new "Alcohol-to-go" law that passed allowing restaurants to sell to-go drinks until midnight or until the kitchen closes, will help keep many in business. But he says he's running into another problem.
"Our big issue is staffing overall. Pinellas County has 35,000 less people in our industry than pre-covid so there's not enough people to go around because they left the area when restaurants were forced to close earlier in the pandemic," LaBudde said.
Meaning slower wait times for food and service but they say it's a great time to get involved too.
"Please be patient. If you are looking for a change of pace and to make some cash it's an excellent industry to be in right now," Curlin said.
If you're wondering when you pick up your alcohol, booze has to be in a closed container and if you're in a car it has to be in a locked compartment or in the back seat out of your reach.
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