New York’s State Liquor Authority has determined that bars and restaurants must sell more than bags of chips to meet the requirement for serving alcoholic drinks, NY1 reports.
“Now we have to take time out to explain to people that they can’t just order a beer and a bag of chips and they have to order more,” Anne Muldoon, owner of Lowery Bar & Kitchen in Astoria, Queens, told NY1.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a rule banning walk-up bar service, but allowing bars and restaurants to serve drinks if they also serve food. This prompted one pub, Harvey’s Restaurant and Bar in Saratoga Springs, to begin selling bags of “Cuomo chips” for one dollar, which quickly spread to other bars and restaurants. Now, the SLA requires that customers order a “substantial food item,” such as chicken wings or a salad, to receive an alcoholic beverage.
“The purpose of the requirement that food be sold with alcohol is to permit outside and limited indoor dining (outside of New York City), with alcoholic beverages, while restricting the congregating and mingling that arise in a bar service/drinking only environment,” the SLA told the New York Post.
“A drinking, bar-type experience often involves or leads to mingling and other conduct that is non-compliant with social distancing and the use of face covering and is therefore not yet a safe activity during the current health emergency. The spikes/resurgence of COVID-19 cases that this has caused in other states is something that New York must avoid at all costs.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.