"We definitely haven't lost any dine-in business," Moe said. The most popular item is the bar's take on a margarita, called a Zipparita, available in a variety of flavors (Chambord, peach, Midori, Blue Curacao, watermelon, and Grand Marnier), and in 16- and 32-ounce sizes. Restaurants pay the state liquor department, and the fee goes to the bar.Īt Zipps Sports Grill at McClintock Fountains in Tempe, customers can order any takeout cocktail as long as they order a menu item, said general manager Jessica Moe. For example, La Ristra New Mexican Kitchen in Gilbert and Chandler is leasing liquor licenses for cocktails-to-go from Food City and Woodshed Bar. The way the system works right now, restaurants are leasing licenses from partnering bars or liquor stores. Several local restaurant chains received approval for to-go cocktails at a number of storefronts, including Ajo Al's Mexican Cafe (four Valley locations) Caramba Mexican Food (six locations) Nando's Mexican Cafe (four locations) Someburros Mexican Food (12 locations) and Zipps Sports Grill (14 locations). The state collected $46.3 million in gross revenue from taxes on spirits during fiscal year 2020 _ up from $39.3 million in 2020, when it was closer to the annual average. Hawking hooch is big business in Arizona. The big bars complain that changes create unfair competition, while the mom-and-pops can't afford the steep licensing fees to deliver those drinks. While the rest of us are waiting anxiously for our doorbell to announce the arrival of some mules, greyhounds or rattlesnakes, the changes have not been so easy to swallow for bars and small restaurants. That's out of more than 4,100 restaurants licensed in the state - fewer than 1 percent. Since then, about 90 restaurants and liquor store locations have licenses to sell cocktails for carryout. But there are roughly four times as many restaurants as bars in Arizona. More than 1,200 bars across the state were affected. Bars already allowed to sell alcohol-to-go were cleared to start slinging drinks for takeout that month. The Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control began selling licenses to restaurants for cocktails-to-go on October 1 for $2,500 a pop. It only took a global pandemic, a lawsuit brought by angry bar owners, and a change in state law for it to happen. It has been a long road for restaurants over the past two years, but cocktails-to-go have become a reality and for proprietors and a new stream of cash for the state. After all of this, all of us could really use a drink.
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