Under current New York state regulations, restaurants and bars licensed to serve alcohol must be empty of customers by 10 p.m. The New York State Restaurant Association would like the curfew extended to midnight. (Provided phot0.)
Provided photoSince Nov. 13, as part of the state's continuing efforts to combat the spread of the coronavirus, New York restaurants licensed to serve alcohol have been required to finish service and send customers home by 10 p.m.
The 10 p.m. cutoff seems overly harsh and does not take into account the segments of the population that have later quitting time than 9-to-5ers. The hospitality industry, for instance, has plenty of staff finishing shifts between 9 and 10:30 p.m. who would give a boost to their colleagues in drinking (and eating!) establishments by going out for a postwork nosh and quaff, but that's not presently possible. And bars catering to sports fans have lost much business this football season by having to kick people out before late games have entered the second quarter. Even Sunday night's Bills-Chiefs game, with a 6:40 p.m. kickoff, didn't end until after 10 p.m., meaning to follow the rules and not risk sanction, businesses had to shoo away customers in the middle of the exciting final minutes.
Super Bowl LV — pitting superstar quarterback Tom Brady against the next-generation heir apparent who eventually could threaten his GOAT status, Patrick Mahomes — is scheduled for kickoff at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 7. It, too, seems sure to run past 10 p.m. and result in loss of business and customer disappointment.
Over the weekend, the New York State Restaurant Association called for the state to extend the closing time to midnight. It also asked the Cuomo administration to allow limited-capacity resumption of indoor dining in New York City, which was closed again in mid-December, as it had been from March through September. Noting that dining rooms in Philadelphia restaurants were allowed to reopen recently, and that Massachusetts is lifting its nearly 3-month-old 9:30 p.m. closing time as of today (1/25), NYSRA president and CEO Melissa Fleischut said in a statement:
We all know about the dire financial crisis facing the restaurant industry. And we all agree that we need to reopen the economy or there will be nothing left to reopen. We’re urging the state to take some small steps in that direction. Any help will go a long way toward the long-term survival of so many of our favorite restaurants
Take a poll on the Table Hopping blog.
"allow" - Google News
January 25, 2021 at 09:47PM
https://ift.tt/3iNFAIK
Take a poll: Should state allow restaurants to stay open later? - Times Union
"allow" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2KTEV8j
https://ift.tt/2Wp5bNh
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Take a poll: Should state allow restaurants to stay open later? - Times Union"
Post a Comment