Florida governor signs bill to make alcohol to go permanent

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida restaurants will be able to sell cocktails along with delivery and take out food orders even after the coronavirus pandemic ends under a bill signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday.

DeSantis lifted restrictions on alcohol to go early in the pandemic as a way to help restaurants when they were temporarily ordered to not seat customers. Later capacity restrictions were put in place before all restrictions were lifted.

But alcohol to go continues under an emergency order DeSantis signed and the idea proved popular with customers.

“It worked well, people liked it, there was a good response, so we said this should be something that we just make permanent,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis held a bill signing ceremony at an Ormand Beach restaurant. He said there were a number of examples of restaurants being able to survive the pandemic because of to go alcohol sales.