Bill to lower food-to-liquor ratio for restaurants shot down by General Assembly yet again

A bill intended to loosen the state’s food-to-liquor sales ratio law didn’t get a House committee hearing before the General Assembly wrapped up the 2025 session. (BizSense file)

The latest attempt to change the state’s food-to-liquor sales ratio law for bars and restaurants has failed to move forward yet again.

The General Assembly last week killed Senate Bill 1163, which had sought to lower the current food-to-liquor sales ratio imposed on the holders of mixed beverage restaurant, caterer’s and limited caterer’s ABC licenses.

Under the failed bill, those licensees would have been able to sell more spirits relative to food.

State law requires that the licensees have at least 45% of their gross receipts per year come from food sales, which leaves 55% of their annual sales to be filled out by liquor sales.

The latest version of SB 1163 would have required beverage restaurant, caterer’s, or limited caterer’s licensees with at least $4,000 in monthly food sales to meet an annual 30% food sales ratio.

The bill, which was tweaked while it worked through the Senate, also would have required restaurants to have at least as many seats at tables as they do at counters. It also called for mixed beverage licensees to stop liquor sales once food was no longer being served. The legislation, had it been enacted, would have had a sunset date of July 1, 2027.

Republican Sen. Ryan McDougle sponsored SB 1163. The original version of the bill pitched a framework in which licensees with at least $4,000 but less than $20,000 in monthly food sales would need to meet or exceed an annual 35% food sales ratio. Under the first proposal, licensees with monthly food sales of at least $20,000 wouldn’t have been subject to a sales ratio at all. Both of those aspects of the original pitch were removed by the time the Senate passed the legislation.

Virginia’s liquor sales law dates back decades, and has been a sore spot for some bars and restaurants over the years. Opponents of the law have argued that it is too difficult to abide by, and there have been past legislative attempts to change it.

Sales of beer and wine aren’t subject to a food-to-beverage sales ratio.

The bill passed 36-4 in the Senate earlier this month, and then was forwarded to a House of Delegates committee as a step toward a vote by the full House. The bill was effectively killed when the committee didn’t vote on it by last week’s deadline for committees to take action on the legislation before them. The General Assembly ended its 2025 session on Saturday.

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