NY To Bars: Chips And Nuts Don’t Meet Food Rules

Gothamist reports:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has made it even harder for cash-strapped watering holes and restaurants to churn back to life — by declaring that a bag of chips is no longer enough to comply with the requirement that they serve food with booze.

According to the new SLA guidance, a bag of chips or nuts does not meet the food requirement, but “sandwiches, soups or other foods, whether fresh, processed, precooked or frozen,” do pass muster.

That updated guidance appears to be in response to a clever upstate bar owner who added a $1 serving of “Cuomo Chips” to every initial drink order. The new rule, the SLA tells restaurants and bars, is a public health measure aimed at preventing crowded booze fests that could spread COVID-19.

As I noted yesterday, a number of bars had created dollar menus featuring chips, a single cookie, and even candy bars to skirt the new rule. According to the State Liquor Authority, hot dogs do meet the requirement.