Illinois Bars And Restaurants Allowed To Sell Cocktails For Carry-out And Delivery

Great news for Illinois bars and restaurants! They can now sell alcohol as a carry-out or delivery item.

On Tuesday, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law House Bill 2682 which allows the sale of cocktails by bars and restaurants with liquor licenses for pickup and delivery. The announcement says that the bill was a a bipartisan piece of legislation.

In the announcement, Governor J.B. Pritzker said,

"Restaurants and bars are beloved businesses in so many of our communities and also some of the hardest hit from the COVD-19 pandemic. This legislation will provide these businesses with a critical tool to bring in additional income until they can safely and fully reopen their doors once more. As we move forward, I am fully committed to taking every action available to us and pursuing all resources at the state and federal level to support this critical industry."

The new law says that cocktails can only be delivered in a sealed, labeled container with a tamper-evident cap or seal. Cocktails can be sold by an employee of the liquor license holder, and that employee needs to be over the age of 21, along with being trained in responsible alcohol service.

Cocktails can be delivered by an employee after the employee verifies the age of the consumer and checks the consumers level of intoxication. Cocktails cannot be delivered by a third party delivery app like Door Dash, Uber Eats, or other third party delivery services.

This new law also is delaying late fees and license fees for liquor licenses for businesses. The law also establishes automatic liquor license renewal approval and extension for any license holder whose business or operations have been suspended in any way because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The law also says that late filing fee waiver applies for 6 months, and the license extensions lasts for 120 days, after the latter of:

• the day the region moves to Phase 4, or
• the day after the expiration of the latest EO that limits or interrupts business, or
• the day after the expiration of any rules from DPH or other agencies.

The announcement says that Illinois joins 34 other states that have enacted this policy. House Bill 2682 took effect immediately on Tuesday.