How The Alcohol Carryout Law Has Helped Oklahoma Businesses

A new law enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a saving grace for many restaurants in Oklahoma City.

A local business said the law allowing businesses to sell alcohol for carryout and delivery helped them stay afloat during the pandemic.

Micah Andrews is the owner of Oak and Ore. Andrews said they've been open for six years, but year five came with many challenges due to the virus.

“It was the middle of March when (Oklahoma City) mayor (David) Holt had restaurants and bars shut down,” Andrews said.

Andrews said they opened back up a couple of months later, but they had to get creative with how they provided their services for customers.

“Early on, we were buying cans and bottles from our distributors from different local breweries and selling those,” Andrews said. “Since we were pretty focused on draft beer, we had a lot of inventory.”

Andrews is referring to Senate Bill 1928. It became law in 2020, allowing curbside sales and deliveries for alcohol sales. The law created a safer alternative for customers who weren’t comfortable eating and drinking in a dine-in setting.

“Obviously, we had the ability to sell food before, but selling beer to go is a big deal for us,” Andrews said. “Us being able to package those in smaller flights.”

Although dine-in service is picking up, Andrews said carryout orders are still frequent amongst customers.

“We still get a lot of online and to go orders for customers picking up,” Andrews said. “We still do curbside to the cars for those that would like that, so we'll continue to do that.”

Andrews said they're slowly adjusting to loosened restrictions. Right now, they're still operating at half of its typical capacity. Their bar top remains closed.