ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) – Governor Ron DeSantis held a roundtable discussion with bar and brewery owners Thursday to express a hopeful future for the industry moving forward.
The conversation took place at the Green Bench Brewing Company in St. Petersburg and also included the Department of Business and Professional Regulation Secretary Halsey Beshears.
While no definite answer was given on when bars and breweries will be given the green light to reopen and serve alcohol again in person, DeSantis said the state will continue working toward a “yes.”
“It’s been a long six months, almost, and I know people really yearn to have a sense of normalcy,” DeSantis said. “I think we probably need to get to a point where people have certainty, we know this is where we’re gonna go, we know what we gotta do and then we can move forward from there.”
The governor expressed the state understands the importance to allow bars to reopen and allow them to sell alcohol on the bar or breweries premise, but he said it must be done in a safe manner.
“We understand the urgency… that’s why we’re here. We really want to get to ‘yes’ on this,” he said.
“We got to get back to work around here, we got to let people know that it’s okay,” said Pete Boland, the co-owner of The Galley: A St. Pete Tavern. “Life does have some inherent risk but we’re going to do the best we can to create a safe environment for our guests and try and show people a good time, give them a reason to smile in this crazy year.”
It’s been six months that the pandemic has been impacting businesses and it’s been over two months since DBPR issued an emergency order suspending the sale of alcohol for on-premise consumption at bars, or businesses that “derive more than 50 percent of gross revenue from the sale of alcoholic beverages.”
At the time, DBPR said businesses could continue selling alcohol in sealed containers to be consumed off-premises.
Restaurants were not impacted by the emergency order and were still allowed to sell food and drinks to be consumed on-premises.
Current guidelines from the state only allow restaurants to operate at 50% capacity indoors.
Prior to that, however, bars were allowed to initially reopen during Florida’s second phase of reopening on June 5. During phase two, DeSantis said bars could reopen, in addition to movie theaters, bowling alleys and arcades, at full capacity outside with social distancing. Customers could only be served if they were seated.
Just a few weeks later, DeSantis issued a warning to bars and clubs to follow the coronavirus guidelines or risk having your license suspended.
“Obviously we want businesses to be able to operate if they can do it in a low-risk environment,” DeSantis said. “The guidelines are in place for a reason. They’re not doing it just to do it…the reason they’re doing it is because,lyou want to have environments that are not going to be a huge risk for transmission.”
Three days later, DBPR made the decision to suspend the sale of alcohol for on-premise consumption at bars.
“When people follow the guidelines, we’ve not had any problems. We’ve not had any issues. The reason why DBPR took it is you didn’t have people following it, there was widespread non-compliance and that led to issues,” DeSantis said. “If folks just follow the guidelines, we’re going to be in good shape. When you depart from that, it becomes problematic.”
Since the emergency order was put in place, News Channel 8 has spoken to many brewery and bar owners who expressed how eager they were to be given the chance to reopen again.
“What we’re really asking for is communication, being able to open responsibly, being able to open with a set of guidelines so our industry can survive,” said John McMahan, the co-owner of Right Around the Corner Arcade, Brewery and Bar in St. Petersburg.
“We want everyone to be open and we want everyone to be safe,” McMahan told News Channel 8. “However, the lack of communication, the lack of transparency, the lack of enforcement of those that are open right now is mind-blowing.”
In late July, those in the craft beer brewing industry in Florida sent a letter to DeSantis and the secretary of DBPR to voice their concerns over their businesses being forced to close.
“The entire Florida craft brewing industry is now in jeopardy,” the letter said.
At the beginning of August, Beshears met with bar and brewery owners to discuss a safe reopening plan.
The DBPR issued the following statement regarding the secretary’s visits:
DBPR Secretary Beshears’ primary focus is working toward safe reopening options for licensed businesses like bars and breweries that continue to face challenges in this pandemic. These meetings have been arranged to open a dialogue directly with owners of these impacted businesses regarding reasonable and responsible steps that can be reliably sustained upon reopening. Over the course of eight meetings since Friday, and with additional meetings on deck for tomorrow, Secretary Beshears has made listening to the ideas and recommendations of these business owners his top priority as this recovery continues.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION
