Alcohol To-Go Becoming Permanent Gets Local Restaurants Pumped Up

Alcohol to-go was approved during the pandemic when people could not go to restaurants, but now that it has become permanent, local restaurants are getting pumped up about it.

According to NewsWest 9, not only are restaurants excited about alcohol to-go, citizens of West Texas are excited as well.

"I'm glad Texas is finally joining in on it," said Kali Davis, Executive Chef at Butter in Midland.

Chef Davis says it is what kept them in business in 2020.

"It definitely helped. We did to-go cocktail kits, so we did little bottles, 375s of different alcohols and gave you all the mixes you needed to make most of our specialty cocktails. I think it made people think like they got the restaurant experience even though they had to make it themselves at home," said Chef Davis.

They will extend the to-go options to wine bottles but they are trying to figure out if they are going to do pre-mixed cocktails or continue selling the cocktail kits like they have been doing.

"Restaurants kind of make their money on alcohol. Food is definitely what people come for, but the alcohol is what helps us the most, so that really helped keep us afloat and I think it's really going to help pull people through on the other side of this," said Chef Davis.

Cancun Grill in Midland has also seen a 12-15% increase in sales because of alcohol to-go.

"It's great that they left it permanent. It carried us through the pandemic, so leaving it permanent I think is an awesome idea for the restaurant and the consumer as well," said Denise Edmondson, a bartender at Cancun Grill.

But Cancun Grill does gallons as well as individual drinks to-go.

"Mexican martinis and margaritas, Mojitos, Moscow Mules, a little bit of everything," said Edmondson.

There are rules to it though, but they are not anything out of the ordinary, sealed drinks, food must be included with the order, and people ordering have to be at least 21.

But at least the pandemic gave us Alcohol To-Go and it is here to stay.

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