ABC Keeps California Hospitality Industry Essential

As someone who works with both the alcohol and cannabis industries, with a volunteer stint as a first responder, I must recognize the leadership and cooperation demonstrated the past couple weeks from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (the “ABC”). ABC has not only interacted directly with stakeholder attorneys to efficiently and anonymously consider industry questions and ideas for regulatory relief, but they have taken immediate and meaningful actions to address regulatory restrictions that may stress or harm this important industry (read my take on quickly executing promotions here). They have even reversed some of their own relief actions when their initial response didn’t go far enough (see ABC’s second notice of regulatory relief here). 
 
It may be the growing threat to the future of the California hospitality industry, which is largely driven by ABC licensees that produce, distribute or sell alcoholic beverages. It’s the one thing hospitality has in common, be it Hollywood hotels, Berkeley farm to table restaurants, Pebble Beach golf resorts, Paso Robles tasting rooms, San Diego craft breweries… they all sell alcohol. It may help that we have a hospitality industry veteran as the Governor, or it could be that the mass unemployment is largely from the hospitality industry, or that the tourism industry depends on food and beverage (with the emphasis on beverage). It could be the alcohol industry has experienced lobbyists and trade groups that know how to influence public policy, or that the regulators know the industry well because they have worked with it for 80+ years. 
 
Regardless of why, the ABC’s response has been an excellent example of their ability to focus on the priority issues around retail sales and essential operations to keep the industry alive. For once, I’m thrilled that the ABC takes themselves as seriously as they do and acts with the highest and best use of every first responder – their ability to respond quickly and effectively to emergency incidents. 
One of my favorite Washington, D.C. reporters, @mattyglesias tweeted ignorantly that he thought it “weird that liquor stores are deemed essential.” Now, keeping the liquor flowing may not seem like an emergency purpose, but look at Prohibition’s history (this might be a good time to recommend again Ken Burns’ Prohibition to binge watch). See what Prohibition did to society during a strong economic period. Now imagine its absence during a crashing economic period. It’s no coincidence that Prohibition ended during the Great Depression. 
 
I did a video happy hour with college girlfriends last week and a couple of them demanded why all of us were not starting happy hour at 5pm. 6:30pm was deemed far too late. Another good friend whose birthday I missed because I lost track of the days, texted me that if people unemployed and stuck at home humans didn’t have alcohol and the internet, there would be riots in the street. 💯 
 
America drinks a lot of alcohol – right or wrong, that’s not the point. It’s a big part of our economy when you consider its outsized role in the hospitality industry, because it carries margins and customer demand that literally no other consumer product does. Alcohol may be too big to fail because it creates family businesses and community centers that are essential to a functioning society. It creates local industry jobs in agriculture, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, tourism, creative arts, advertising, events, and entertainment.  Alcohol is usually recession-proof and drives the California economy, but when it can’t thrive in a time of social distancing, the regulators need to create alternative pathways to reach consumers who still need the product but are stuck at home. We thank the regulators and industry groups that have stepped up to preserve the Industry in a time of need, for all of us Californians who rely on it, in more ways than one.