Update: Alcohol and Outdoor Dining

In August 2024, we alerted the industry that the New York State Liquor Authority announced a new policy concerning alcoholic beverage consumption in sidewalk and/or roadway cafes under the new DOT Dining Out NYC program. 

Under that policy, businesses had until January 1, 2025 to submit an alteration application to SLA to allow customers to consume alcohol in sidewalk and roadway cafes under the DOT program. Before the policy was announced, The Alliance's Executive Director Andrew Rigie and counsel Max Bookman had argued for a deadline of later than January 1. While the SLA did set January 1 as the deadline, they committed to revisit it at their December board meeting.

Last week, Max Bookman attended the December board meeting and spoke in favor of extending the deadline beyond January 1. The Alliance was the only trade association to offer testimony. After discussion, the SLA board members did vote to extend the deadline. Instead of January 1, businesses now have 60 days from the date DOT issues their sidewalk and/or roadway cafe license to file the required alteration application with SLA. Please note, SLA has not updated the outdoor dining page of their website to reflect this yet. 

This is a positive change, and we support it. Instead of a one-size-fits-all deadline, the new deadline is tailored, based on when each business receives its sidewalk and/or roadway cafe license. We want to thank the SLA board members for working with the industry on this issue.