NY pub sells 'Cuomo chips' to comply with governor's restaurant rules
Harvey's Restaurant and Bar adds $1 'Cuomo chips' the menu after the state requires patrons to order food if they want to buy alcohol; co-owners Matthew Bagley and Adam Humphrey join 'Fox & Friends.'
Want to buy alcohol at a restaurant or bar in New York state? Then you’ll need to order something more filling to eat besides “Cuomo chips.”
After a New York pub started selling “Cuomo chips” for a dollar a bag to get around a rule requiring that food be sold with every alcohol order, the State Liquor Authority has updated its guidance, according to a report.
Now customers will have to order a “substantial food” item – such as chicken wings, hot dogs or a salad, NY1.com reported.
The idea behind the original rule was to keep patrons in their seats – and not gathering in groups amid coronavirus social distancing requirements, the report said.
Fearing a loss of business, Matthew Bagley and Adam Humphrey, co-owners of Harvey's Irish Pub in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., came up with “Cuomo chips” –- just a standard bag of potato chips renamed for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
During an appearance Tuesday on “Fox & Friends,” Bagley and Humphrey claimed their idea – which spread to other bars and restaurants around the state -- was an immediate hit.
Humphrey said the chips “got some pretty good feedback from our bar regulars and restaurant guests that came in.”
He added that customers “thought it was kind of funny” and “kind of lightened the blow that they had to buy another food item.”
Bars and restaurants around New York state were selling "Cuomo Chips" to comply with a state regulation -- but now the State Liquor Authority has closed the loophole, according to a report.
Humphrey noted that some customers come in to his pub after eating elsewhere and just want “to buy a pint of beer or something, but they now have to buy food [at] every bar they go to.”
In Astoria, Queens, in New York City, restaurant owner Anne Muldoon told NY1 that the change in the rule will mean some inconvenience for her and her staff.
“Now we have to take time out to explain to people that they can’t just order a beer and a bag of chips and they have to order more,” Muldoon, owner of Lowery Bar & Kitchen, told the news outlet.
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“We have one lady who comes in who has high food allergies. She never eats out, but has a couple glasses of wine and it’s a little freedom -- and now we have to tell her she has to order food. So she walks out our doors.”
It’s a situation her restaurant can’t afford amid the coronavirus slowdown, Muldoon said.
“Every customer counts right now,” she said.
Fox News’ Talia Kaplan contributed to this story.
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