Alcohol Delivery To Get Easier In NJ With State's New Ruling

NEW JERSEY — One pandemic change appears here to stay in New Jersey: the greater availability of alcoholic beverages delivered to your door. State officials ruled Friday that third-party delivery apps can soon bring booze to customers' doorsteps.

The new "Third-Party Delivery Permit" allows delivery services — such as DoorDash, Instacart and Amazon Flex — to enter formal agreements with restaurants, bars and liquor stores to make deliveries on their behalf. Businesses can begin applying for the permit "on or around" Oct. 1, according to state officials.

Early in the pandemic, New Jersey passed legislation allowing restaurants, bars, hotels and motels to sell and deliver alcohol and mixed cocktails. Gov. Phil Murphy signed the bill into law in May 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown kept many at home but restaurants and alcohol distributors remained open in limited capacities.

Friday's special ruling from the state's Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) — part of the New Jersey Office of The Attorney General — will allow third-party apps to participate in the changing industry.

"The demand for delivery services exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Third-Party Delivery Permit expands that market in New Jersey and allows retail licensees to tap into it," Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said in a statement.

ABC regulations currently only permit licensed retailers and transporters to deliver alcohol. The Third-Party Delivery Permit, which carries an annual cost of $2,000, will allow independent contractors in their personal vehicles to deliver booze to customers' homes on behalf of New Jersey retail licensees.

To qualify for the permit, applicants must submit a method of operation that details the following protocols:

• conducting initial and recurring background checks of delivery workers, including criminal history and driving record
• providing alcohol-compliance training and certification to delivery workers who are eligible to deliver alcoholic beverages
• verifying that receiving customers are of legal age and not visibly intoxicated and refusing delivery and returning alcoholic beverages to retailers when necessary, such as when a customer is underage or intoxicated, refuses to sign for the delivery, or there is there's reason to suspect the customer is accepting delivery on behalf of an underage person

But the state's ruling prohibits the following:

• leaving alcohol unattended or storing beverages overnight
• subcontracting a delivery of alcoholic beverages
• delivering alcoholic beverages to customers who are actually or apparently intoxicated or under the legal drinking age
• delivering alcoholic beverages to the campus of any college or university

The state collaborated on regulations with industry groups such as the New Jersey Licensed Beverage Association and New Jersey Liquor Store Alliance. The ruling, however, leaves out craft breweries — an industry sector in the midst of a different battle with the ABC. Read more: Microbreweries In Peril Due To New NJ Restrictions, Industry Says

The state licensing authorities issued several restrictions July 1 on microbreweries, including limits to the number of on-site events they can hold and only letting patrons consume their products on-site if they've taken a tour of the brewery.

New Jersey's July 1 directive explained that limited-brewery licenses carry different privileges than those of bars or restaurants. The ABC said it "must balance the concerns of the growing limited brewery sector comprised of 100 licensees against the issues and concerns facing the bars and restaurants that collectively hold approximately 6,000 retail consumption licenses" in the state.

The new ruling that expands alcohol delivery excludes craft manufacturers because they "do not have statutory delivery privileges and therefore cannot use the services of a Third-Party Delivery Permittee," according to the ABC.

The Brewers Guild of New Jersey praised the ruling on alcohol delivery but says state officials must do more to help businesses meet the needs of customers.

"While this new permit is pro-consumer, will it promote access to New Jersey craft beer???" the industry group wrote on social media. It’s positive to see that the NJABC realizes that the rules of the game need to change to recognize the evolution of tastes, new technology and consumer demand. We hope the same logic and openness to change is applied moving forward on issues impacting #njbeer."