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The Franklin News/Post
Franklin, VA RICHMOND A major legislative change to Virginia's liquor laws is reshaping how Virginia bar-restaurant hybrids do business. House Bill 975 took effect July 1, replacing decades-old food-to-beverage sales requirements that determined whether restaurants could keep their mixed-beverage licenses. For hospitality businesses that rely more on cocktail sales than dinner service, losing a mixed-beverage license could effectively put them out of business. Supporters say the law doesn't make it easier to open bars. Instead, it gives hospitality businesses with more complex operating models greater flexibility by no longer forcing them to fit the financial profile of a traditional sit-down restaurant. What was the food-to-beverage ratio that governed Virginia's liquor laws? Before HB 975, restaurants and caterers with mixed-beverage licenses had to show that at least 45% of monthly sales came from food and nonalcoholic beverages, while mixed drinks could not exceed 55% of total monthly sales. The requirement traces its roots to Virginia's post-Prohibition liquor laws and had remained largely unchanged since the 1980s. Owners of more complex hospitality businesses explained that the old liquor laws forced money-wasting business decisions simply to meet the 45% minimum on food sales, while capping liquor sales they needed to make to stay in business. Natalie McNamara is CEO and managing partner of Harry's at Hofheimer in Scott's Addition. The three-story, 14,000-square-foot venue combines a restaurant, bars, private event space and a rooftop with its own bar that draws large crowds during warmer months. While customers may come for dinner, an event or rooftop cocktails, Virginia's previous rules evaluated the business like a traditional restaurant. That became a problem two years ago when Harry's failed Virginia ABC's annual Mixed Beverage Annual Review, or MBAR, partly because of a reporting error and partly because its business model didn't produce the required food-to-beverage sales ratio. Each year, Virginia ABC uses the MBAR to determine whether mixed-beverage licensees comply with the required sales ratios. A failed review could ultimately jeopardize a business's mixed-beverage license. "I was failing it because I have a very complicated business," McNamara said. "I'm being compared to a typical restaurant when I'm a three-story building and a destination that people come to to have a drink on the rooftop." In her case, the MBAR was forcing the restaurant to discount food so it could sell enough to meet the minimum sales requirement. One example, she said, was selling late-night pizza on the rooftop not because customers were asking for it, but because the business needed additional food sales. "Last year, one of my strategies was to sell pizzas on the roof when it got a little bit later and people didn't want to eat. We still needed to serve food, though, and I lost so much money on labor and cost of goods to serve that stupid pizza. It wasn't a good business decision, but I had to make these types of decisions just to appease ABC and this old bill," she said. How the new food-to-beverage ratio works HB 975 changes that system. Rather than applying one standard to nearly every restaurant, the law creates different requirements based on a business's average monthly food sales. Businesses averaging at least $48,000 in monthly food sales no longer have to meet a food-to-beverage ratio, and the cap on mixed-beverage sales is eliminated. Those averaging at least $25,000 but less than $48,000 must maintain a 30% food-to-70% liquor sales ratio. Those averaging at least $4,000 but less than $25,000 generally remain under the existing 45%-food-to-55% liquor ratio, although some smaller venues may qualify for the 30% standard. The bill also requires restaurants to maintain at least as many table seats as counter seats. Eric Terry, president of the Virginia Restaurant Lodging and Travel Association (VRLTA), said, "VRLTA supported the legislation this year as the fundamentals of the restaurant industry have changed dramatically. Alcohol consumption is down significantly and with the rise of fast-casual restaurants, many offer spirits-based drinks to patrons. In addition, many of our select service hotels were having issues with the MBAR ratio as well. As Virginia's Restaurant and Lodging Association for over 75 years, we represent all businesses, not just a few who want to stifle competition." For smaller operators, the shift brings relief rather than reinvention. "We've already built our business around managing those food-to-drink ratios, so HB 975 doesn't really force us to change how we operate day to day," Kevin Liu, owner of The Jasper, a cocktail bar in Carytown, said. "What it does is take away that yearly anxiety of being off by a fraction of a percent and facing big consequences." For McNamara, the change means operations can better reflect how customers actually use the space instead of being built around fear of an annual compliance calculation. Mike Byrne is the director of operations at the Tobacco Company Restaurant and the director of the Richmond Restaurant Association. He is against the new laws. He said, "What you're taking is a very healthy industry that is being challenged by the cost of food, and by the cost of labor, and you're eliminating a lot of that overhead for the bar operator who doesn't have to have that staff and that investment." Complaints about the old ratio rule, and HB 975 Supporters of the change argue the former rule pushed restaurants into costly, inefficient behavior. Owners could feel compelled to expand menus, staff kitchens or design specials around compliance rather than customer demand. McNamara framed the old system bluntly: "Now, I can make decisions based on what is good for my business and to keep my employees employed not just to meet some law." HB 975, she said, gives operators more control over drink-heavy nights, events and programming without the same fear that one annual review could shut down the business. Critics, however, have questioned whether loosening the ratio could change the business model by blurring the lines between bars and restaurants. Byrne said, "eliminating the ratio [changes] the model. If I don't have to worry about the ratio, then I open up a bar and I serve sandwiches, pizza, I serve food for two or three hours, and then I shut down, and I'm just a bar until close." He continued, saying, "Bubba opens a bar from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m., and didn't have any of that overhead, so the guy who has the restaurant with the inventory, the staff and the training now has to charge more to pay his bills. He's at a distinct disadvantage because the bar-only operator is operating on probably 8% payroll, whereas the restaurant operator is working on a margin of maybe 35% to 40% payroll." Tommy Herbert, director of government affairs for the VRLTA, said, "Mr. Byrne has raised these concerns before, but the idea that an operator could average $48,000 per month in food sales by selling pizzas or sandwiches for a few hours a day is simply not in the realm of reality." Does Virginia ABC plan to track bill's impact? Virginia ABC remains central to the new system. Virginia ABC will continue overseeing annual compliance reviews under the new law. It also must study how the revised standards affect food sales and compliance, then report its findings to the General Assembly by Nov. 1, 2027. Byrne feels that the new law will shift Virginia from a restaurant-centered cocktail model to a bar-heavy landscape, giving low-overhead bars an edge and putting full-service, food-focused restaurants under more economic pressure. McNamara believes much of the debate surrounding HB 975 stems from misunderstandings about what the law actually does. "When you get all these people that don't actually understand the bill, they start having assumptions and beliefs, and opinions that aren't correct." Beginning July 1, restaurants will start finding out what the law changes in practice. For operators like McNamara, the answer isn't whether they can sell more alcohol it's whether they can make business decisions based on customers instead of compliance formulas. Bristol Herald Courier
Virginia liquor sales are continuing to decline, but somehow the Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority is still turning a profit for the state budget. ABC leaders expect to return almost $231 million in profit to the state general fund budget by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, but the authority has lowered its net revenue estimate by more than $15 million below the forecast used for this year's budget, driven by a projected $20 million drop in store sales. They still expect to exceed the state profit requirement by $500,000, but they're counting more on reducing operating costs than expanding alcoholic beverage sales, which have dropped sharply in Virginia and other states that control liquor sales since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. "We're still contributing more than $230 million back to the Commonwealth," said David Alfano, chief financial officer, in a presentation to the ABC Board of Directors on Wednesday. Virginia ABC profit goes up for now as revenue declines ABC is doing it by shrinking its operations closing 10 of its roughly 400 retail stores and leaving 70 jobs vacant through the end of April. Board members made clear on Wednesday that trend will continue to reduce annual operating costs by about $400,000 per store. "As long as we continue to get declining sales, we will get closing stores," said CEO Dale Farino, a former wholesale wine and beer distributor, who then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin appointed in 2024 after the departure of the previous CEO under cost-cutting pressure from the governor's new chief transformation officer. For Virginia distillers, who must rely on ABC for selling their products in an alcohol-control state, the focus on reducing costs and closing stores misses the point for a state-run monopoly that exists for retail sales. "They're a retail operator what are they doing to get traffic through stores?" asked David Cuttino, owner of Reservoir Distillery in Richmond and vice president of the Virginia Distillers Association. Association President Becky Harris, co-founder of Catoctin Creek Distillery in Loudoun County, said Virginia distillers are looking for more freedom from ABC to boost their sales making it easier to sell at farmers markets, for example as they face mounting challenges from the effects of inflation and slackening job growth on consumer spending. "Virginia distillers are hurting," Harris said in an interview on Wednesday. "I'm talking to a lot of people who are thinking they may not make it through the year." With about 60 home-grown distillers in Virginia, the industry is also worried about ABC cutting back on the range of alcoholic products it offers, including theirs, as a way to offset falling sales. Small distillers can't compete on price with big national brands Tito's vodka remains ABC's top-selling brand but Harris said, "That doesn't mean they're not in demand across the commonwealth." She said Virginia distillers contribute more than just store sales. They buy grain from Virginia farmers and wood for barrels from state lumber companies. "Our economic impact is more than just store sales," Harris said. ABC sales were strong coming out of the pandemic, but the Youngkin administration wanted the semi-independent authority to boost its net profit margins by cutting costs and raising its revenue target. It demanded almost $24 million in expense reductions in 2023, while raising revenue expectations by 5% a year, despite signs that liquor consumption was falling nationally for a variety of reasons, including competition from cannabis products. The trends forced the state to reduce its revenue expectation by $110 million in the two-year budget it adopted in 2024, and ABC has maintained its focus on cutting costs ever since. "That's a continuing, ongoing, daily process," Farino said in response to board questions about future cuts. ABC Chairman Tim Hugo, a former Republican delegate from Northern Virginia whom Youngkin appointed in early 2023, said the authority is responding to the same decline in liquor sales as other states since the end of the pandemic. "The numbers are just going down across the country," Hugo told the board. In Virginia, the downward trend intensified in March, with store sales down by $5 million and gross profit by $1.7 million after adding excise tax collections. The authority partly offset the revenue loss by reducing expenses, but it ended the month with $1.1 million less profit than expected, a decline of 6%. Through the first nine months of the year, store sales were down by $10.6 million, but ABC reduced its operating and regulatory costs to increase net profit by $4.3 million. Compared to 2025, however, ABC's net profit was down by $7.2 million, or 4%. Most of the cost savings came from lower salaries and benefits because of unfilled jobs. As a result, the authority revised its budget forecast last month to reflect a $19.8 million decline in store sales, projected through the end of June, and an unexpected $2 million expense from the $1,500 bonus that the General Assembly and Gov. Abigail Spanberger awarded state employees in the revised budget she signed on Feb. 20 for the current year. In order to meet its profit requirement for the budget, ABC reduced its operating expenses by $5.2 million and carried forward $4.8 million in profit from last year. The next step is to adopt a new budget for the fiscal year that will begin on July 1. 12/21/2025 Drinkers say Texas vodka worth a shot Tito's was the 2025 spirit of choice around the commonwalthRead Now The Virginian Pilot
john.buzbee @virginiamedia.com Tito's Handmade Vodka was once again the preferred hooch of Virginians this year, according to the Virginia ABC. Tito's was the state alcoholic beverage control authority's top seller for the eighth year in row - customers purchased $75 million worth. Bottled and distilled in Austin, Texas, Tito's poured past the No. 2-selling liquor by over $40 million. Hennessy VS Cognac sold $32.2 million worth of units. Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whisky sold $27.4 million statewide, Jim Bean Bourbon sold $22 million and Patrón Silver tequila $20 million. Tequila sales grew last year, making up six of the 10 fastest-growing labels. About 1.6 million cases of vodka were sold, making it the preferred spirit of the commonwealth based on volume sold. There were about 1.1 million cases of tequila sold, followed by about 800,000 cases of whiskies, 526,000 cases of cordials and 406,000 cases of rum. In 2024, Virginia ABC reported nearly $1.5 billion in total gross sales, marking an increase from the 2023 total. But the number of adults who partake in alcohol has dropped to an all-time low in the past 90 years, at just 54%, based on a 2025 Gallup poll. Profits generated by Virginia ABC stores, the only retailers of liquor in the commonwealth, go toward the state's general fund. The authority describes itself as the leading contributor to the fund, which supports education, health and transportation initiatives. Its roughly 400 stores have levied about $3 billion for the general fund in the past five years, the authority reports. The Washington Post
By Marissa J. Lang and Dana Munro Virginia animal protection officials say the furry bandit is suspected in break-ins at a nearby martial arts studio and Department of Motor Vehicles office. So, it seems the raccoon might have a problem. Not just the drinking — though its recent bender through a Virginia state-run liquor store did capture international headlines and the imagination of sketch comedy writers at Saturday Night Live. It may also have a bit of a break-in habit. The raccoon, who has remained unnamed because it is, well, a wild animal, is suspected of sneaking into multiple businesses in the same Ashland shopping center before its Nov. 29 spree that landed it in the liquor store bathroom, passed out and wasted, according to county officials. In a recent episode of local podcast “Hear in Hanover,” Animal Protection Officer Samantha Martin told county spokeswoman Kristin Smith Dunlop that the now-famous mammal is probably the same raccoon that had previously sneaked into a martial arts studio and a Department of Motor Vehicles office in the same building as the liquor store. The striped-tail creature, which has been affectionately dubbed Hanover County’s “trashed panda,” left a trail of evidence, Martin said, including broken liquor bottles and ransacked snacks. “Each time we get him out, we don’t relocate him because that’s a death sentence for raccoons,” Martin said. “But somehow he knows how to get back into that building. He’s a smart little critter.” Neither the DMV nor the martial arts studio responded to requests for comment. The raccoon may have previously been on animal control’s radar, but it wasn’t until the masked mammal went on an after-hours spree in the liquor store last month that the rest of the world came to know its story. Sometime between when the store closed on a Friday evening and reopened Saturday morning, authorities said, the raccoon wiggled in through the ceiling of the Ashland store, triggering a motion sensor. The animal then began digging through the merchandise in storage and destroying 14 bottles of liquor: rum, scotch, whiskey, vodka, moonshine and even spiked eggnog. Security video taken around 3:30 a.m. Saturday shows the raccoon scampering throughout the closed store and “generally having a ball,” said Virginia ABC spokeswoman Carol Mawyer. When the store manager returned to open up shop in the morning, the storeroom aisles were slick with drink and the creature was splayed out in the employee bathroom next to the toilet. “He locked himself in the bathroom, so he knew what he was doing,” Martin said on the podcast Thursday. “People can see the human side of it. I mean, everybody’s been there, everybody’s had a few extra and passed out by the toilet and hoped someone can come and help you the next morning.” After a social media post from the animal welfare agency exploded, the raccoon became part international celebrity, part mascot for the county’s Animal Protection department, which has capitalized on the attention to fundraise: Merch bearing the raccoon’s likeness — passed out, face down with a drained liquor bottle knocked over beside it — has helped raise more than $200,000 for Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter as of Saturday, said Jeffrey Parker, the department’s chief. It’s the most money the department has seen from outside donations in at least two decades, said Parker, who has been at the agency for 19 years. “It’s been phenomenal,” he said. “We can’t be thankful enough for what has happened.” The agency has not decided what to do with its groundswell of new funds, though Martin said in the podcast interview that Animal Protection needs more resources to keep up with a ballooning county population and increased calls for animal welfare support. The department is considering improvements to its water pressure system, increasing vet services or renovating its animal wash room, Parker said. Other local organizations have also tried to get in on the raccoon action by launching themed events, slogans and ad campaigns. The Downtown Ashland Association is hosting an ongoing raccoon-based scavenger hunt to lure visitors into local businesses. Meanwhile, Virginia Distillery Company posted a message on social media seemingly aimed at the animal: “Virginia Distillery Company: Irresistibly smooth. Even if you eat mostly trash, please drink responsibly.” Martin, on the other hand, has used her time on the airwaves to caution humans about the dangers of handling wildlife — inebriated or not. She noted during her podcast appearance that any raccoon that bites and breaks the skin of a human must be considered a potential rabies exposure and would then be euthanized and tested for the disease Parker, the chief of animal protection, said he hopes the raccoon is off somewhere “doing raccoon things” and, most importantly, “staying out of trouble.” But only time will tell if the now-infamous critter can resist the temptation to return to its favorite shopping center and slip into yet another business for a midnight snack or a nightcap.Ask The Post AIDive deeper He’s not that far away, after all. Martin said after the raccoon slept off his alcohol-soaked spree in a dog-kennel-turned-drunk-tank at the county’s animal shelter, officers released it back into the woods about a mile from the liquor store. But raccoons are roamers and can travel up to eight miles a day in search of a mate — or, maybe, something else. Greta Cross and Melina Khan, USA TODAY
A drunken raccoon has inspired merchandise that is helping raise money for a Virginia animal shelter. The Hanover County Animal Protection & Shelter in Hanover, Virginia had raised more than $156,000 on Dec. 8 for merchandise that displays a dazed raccoon "splooted" beside a spilled bottle of alcohol. The merchandise has been dubbed "Trashed Panda." The "Trashed Panda" shirts, hoodies and travel mugs honor a raccoon that went viral for breaking into a Virginia liquor store, drinking what he could get his paws on and then passing out in the bathroom during Thanksgiving weekend. "We are absolutely blown away," Hanover County Animal Protection & Shelter said in a Facebook post on Dec. 5. "Your support doesn’t just give us a great laugh, it directly helps fund training, equipment and shelter needs for our animals and the officers who protect them. We couldn’t do this without you." How to buy drunk raccoon or 'Trashed Panda' merchandiseThe "Trashed Panda" merchandise is available for purchase on Bonfire, a fundraising website, through the end of Dec. 8. Classic t-shirts cost $25, hoodies are $42, stickers are $5 and travel tumblers are $36. Orders are expected to be delivered before Dec. 31, according to Bonfire. The Hanover County Animal Protection & Shelter in Hanover, Virginia is selling Trashed Panda merchandise as part of a fundraising campaign. The merch is inspired by a raccoon who broke into a Virginia liquor store and passed out in the bathroom intoxicated on Nov. 29, 2025. Drunk raccoon also led to new cocktailsThe raccoon has also inspired three cocktails, crafted by Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (ABC), the government agency that operates the store the animal broke into. The cocktails include a Rye Rascal Sour, Midnight Masked Gin Fizz and Trash Panda Old Fashioned. Recipes for the drinks are available on the Virginia ABC website. What happened to the drunk raccoon?The creature broke into the Virginia ABC store in Ashland, Virginia on Nov. 29. Upon entering the store, the raccoon fell through one of the ceiling tiles and "went on a full-blown rampage, drinking everything," animal protection officer Samantha Martin told the Associated Press. Photos of the scene show a variety of bottles, including some shattered, strewn across a store aisle. Another photo shows the suspect in question lying on the floor of the store's bathroom, apparently unconscious. The raccoon was safely captured and returned to the wild, the Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter said in a statement. |
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