2021 Need to Know + Harassment Pandemic + Employee Vaccinations + COVID-19 Precautions + Tax Credit + Habitual Drunkard

When the pandemic began and the most severe shelter-in-place orders rained down—during the second half of March and April—about 95 percent of all restaurant sales were for off-premises consumption, Black Box said. A staggering number. Yet even with dining rooms reopening, off-premises still represents a much higher percentage of overall restaurant sales today than it did pre-COVID. Also, during the last weeks of 2020, mix started to rise again for full-service restaurants as they ceded dine-in occasions, either to Mother Nature or to capacity getting pulled out of dining rooms.

In December, off-premises sales represented three times the percentage of totals sales for full-service restaurants, compared to pre-COVID marks. For quick-serves, the reliance on drive thru, to-go, and delivery increased. Off-premises sales mix remained 15 percentage points higher by end of 2020 compared with the year’s first two months (before COVID landed).

In a recent report, Black Box explored what restaurants should watch for in 2021 and how to prepare. There are no shortage of places to start.

Know The 'Habitual Drunkard'?

January 2021 via Southern Beverage Journal

Florida's Dram Shop law has a unique cause of action that extends liability where a licensed retailer serves alcohol beverages to a "habitual drunkard." This law is codified in two statutes.

Section 768.125 of the Florida Statutes addresses the risk of civil liability for knowingly serving alcohol to a habitual drunkard or willfully and unlawfully selling or furnishing alcohol to a minor. However, the critical one in this article's context, Section 562.50, deals with the criminal liability of a licensee who sells or gives alcohol to a habitual drunkard where written notice has been provided by certain family members (namely a "wife, child, or nearest relative)." (Emphasis added.) If the retailer does not have any reasonable way to confirm the identity of the sender, then the notice is not effective.