When Matthew Borowski’s restaurant started sending cocktails home with takeout orders during the pandemic, it wasn’t just a lifeline — it was a discovery. Customers loved it. Revenue followed. Five years later, New Jersey has made sure he never has to stop.
The rule dates back to 2020, when the Legislature let restaurants and bars sell sealed mixed drinks for takeout and delivery as a way to keep some cash flowing while dining rooms sat empty. It was supposed to be temporary. Instead, it became one of the pandemic’s few genuinely popular carryovers — customers kept ordering, and businesses kept counting on it, right up until this September 1, when the whole arrangement was set to quietly expire.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill made sure that didn’t happen, signing legislation this week that locks the rules in for good and extends similar off-premises sales rights to craft distilleries.
“For family-owned small businesses like mine, every opportunity to better serve our guests and generate additional revenue matters,” Borowski, owner of 618 Restaurant and The Death of Hospitality Group, said. “Giving our guests the opportunity to bring a piece of our brand home with them is priceless.”
Sherrill said it’s just good business.
“New Jersey’s small businesses shouldn’t have to navigate outdated rules just to serve their customers and grow,” she said. “Cocktails to-go worked, customers liked it, and small businesses told us it was another way to bring in revenue. Today, we’re making it permanent.”
Here’s how S4384 works:
Licensed restaurants, hotels and bars can:
- Sell alcohol in original containers, or mixed drinks in sealed containers, for off-premises consumption;
- Deliver sealed mixed drinks or malted beverages such as beer and hard seltzer, either through their own staff or licensed third-party delivery services.
Craft distilleries gain similar rights to:
- Sell sealed mixed drinks made on-site for off-premises consumption;
- Sell their spirits in original containers alongside non-alcoholic mixers.
Citing National Restaurant Association data, the governor’s office said in states that allow alcohol-to-go, 79% of wine drinkers, 77% of beer drinkers and 74% of cocktail drinkers said the option made them more likely to choose a restaurant for delivery.
The bill had bipartisan sponsorship in Trenton.
“Cocktails to-go helped restaurants and bars keep business moving during the pandemic, and they have continued to be a convenient option for customers,” Senate sponsor Vin Gopal said.
Gopel said the law keeps “commonsense safeguards” in place for alcohol sales and delivery.
Senator Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Luanne Peterpaul, both co-sponsors, said the change removes red tape that would otherwise have forced businesses to give up a revenue stream that helped them survive the pandemic.
Industry groups also welcomed the signing.
“This law preserves a popular and convenient option for customers while providing restaurants and bars with an additional revenue stream,” N.J. Restaurant & Hospitality Association CEO Daniel Klim said.
