TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — As of July 2021, Floridians have been able to buy alcohol to-go from a variety of food service businesses, as well as take partially consumed booze out of the restaurant. Alcoholic drink delivery is also legal, in some circumstances.
Senate Bill 148, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis into law in May 2021, allows state residents or visitors to be sold, or buy, some alcoholic beverages to drink off-site, and allows restaurants to let their customers take partially drank bottles of wine home with them.
According to SB 148’s bill text, licensed alcoholic beverage sellers and servers may deliver or sell drinks in “a sealed container for off-premises consumption if the sale or delivery is accompanied by the sale of food within the same order.”
To make that happen, restaurant or business employees must put the alcoholic beverage itself in a container, “securely sealed by the licensee or its employees” and the seal must not be broken before it is delivered. The beverage, in its container, must also be delivered in a sealed bag to show proof that it was not tampered with.
If the drinks are transported in a motor vehicle, they are required to be locked away while in transit. Buyers must still prove they are of the legal age to drink, 21.
Pre-packaged liquor or malt beverages cannot be delivered or sold in this way, as they would be by a liquor store or manufacturer, according to the law.
For a business to qualify for this selling right, they must already be licensed as a public food service establishment, delivery of the alcoholic beverages must come with a food sale in the same order, and the food must make up at least 40% of the overall order charge, “excluding the charge for any manufacturer-sealed containers of alcoholic beverages included in the order.”
Basically, if you’re buying food, and drinks, and sealed bottles, the drinks themselves must be sealed and the food has to cost 40% of your delivery order.
