BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Take-out drinks could be here to stay. It's no secret the restaurant industry is taking a hit. One Erie County Legislature Minory Leader said extending Governor Cuomo’s executive order allowing restaurants and bars to sell alcoholic drinks to-go could help.
“I don't want to come out of the coronavirus and see a lot of my favorite places have to close up shop,” Lorigo said.
Lorigo started a petition that he will soon send to state officials encouraging the sale of take-out alcoholic beverages.
Brandon Carr owns The Quarter in downtown Buffalo. He said if he can't open soon he'll have to shut down, but this is a game changer.
“Through the pandemic things have been very difficult for restaurants. Every restaurant in the entire country,” said Carr, “To add an additional service like this would be just tremendous for the restaurant industry. It would not only help us recover all the losses we took but really help the sustainability and longevity of restaurants going forward.”
Council Member Lorigo also introduced a resolution in support of the measure to the Erie County Legislature. It received unanimous support.
“The most important thing for me right now is making sure these take out sales can continue because I know that's going to have a positive impact on the restaurant industry in Western New York,” said Lorigo.
Both Lorigo and Carr said in the long run to-go drinks could be a great way to bring more tourism to Buffalo. Lorigo said it goes hand in hand with his work on open container laws in Erie County.
“It would definitely help Buffalo become more of a destination place to go to. It would be great for our economy,” Carr said.
Lorigo said it's a matter of getting the movement to grow.
“Putting it forward is step one. Step two is getting as many people as possible to share the petition, getting as many people as possible to sign the petition, then getting it on to our state leaders to have them take action,” Lorigo said.
