For those who are craving pizza and beer during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pizza Bros can provide.
The New York style pizzeria located on Chattanooga's Northshore has been selling 20 beers a day since Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee opened state rules to allow pickup and delivery of alcohol along with a food to-go order.
With over 70 beers to choose from - nearly half being locally crafted - and a full menu still available to order from, Pizza Bros co-owners and twin brothers Cal and Jack Todd hope their business can stay busy over the coming weeks and months.
Staff photo by Patrick MacCoon / A New York style pizzeria located in North Chattanooga called Pizza Bros is offering curbside pickup of food and alcohol in line with the governor's new regulations for restaurants and bars in Tennessee. Most breweries in town are awaiting new regulations set by the city to allow them to deliver alchohol while their tap rooms are closed during the COVID-19 pandemic."Our numbers have stayed pretty solid despite our dining room closure so far," said Ringgold native Cal Todd. "We are fortunate in that regard because there are a lot of people and businesses struggling right now. About 60 percent of our business was already takeout and delivery. With curbside pickup we can now sell closed containers of beer to our customers along with their order of food."
While Pizza Bros does not have a set policy on drink limits, the Todd brothers have advised all of their employees to use their best judgment. Cal says the most they have sold so far is a six-pack of alcohol from their licensed restaurant, which opened in October 2018.
JacobMyer's Restaurant on the River in Dayton, Tennessee, advertised that they have a full menu available at regular hours for to-go and curbside pickup of food along with beer and liquor orders that are in a closed container.
OddStory Brewing Company located at 366 East M. L. King Boulevard has started delivering alcohol orders accompanied by a food package. All customers are required to show valid identification of being 21 years or older upon the deliveries, which are being made by store employees.
Staff photo by Patrick MacCoon / OddStory Brewing Company, located on 336 East M. L. King Blvd, has started delivering alchohol to legal customers who also order food packages.However, many of the 11 local breweries in the Chattanooga area are not currently approved to make any deliveries because they do not have a food component available with those orders.
While the beer boards in Memphis, Knoxville and Nashville have passed regulations already for breweries to make consumer-home delivery, Chattanooga has not made changes to its rules yet despite appeals to do so as soon as possible by local brewers eager to maintain sales during the shut down of local bars.
"I have been on a couple of different phone calls with the city beer board trying to see if we can get some measures passed," said Wanderlinger Brewing Co. Co-Owner Chris Dial who is an elected representative of the Tennessee Brewers Guild.
"We are asking the city beer board (in Chattanooga) to pass new regulations like have been done in other cities across our state. They are a bit slower to act on it because they thought the ruling that came down from the governor had us (breweries) covered."
Staff photo by Patrick MacCoon / A New York style pizzeria located in North Chattanooga called Pizza Bros is offering curbside pickup of food and alcohol in line with the governor's new regulations for restaurants and bars in Tennessee. Most breweries in town are awaiting new regulations set by the city to allow them to deliver alchohol while their tap rooms are closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.Dial said he pleaded the case of breweries in a conversation with the city attorney on Tuesday. He also told the Times Free Press there are a wide variety of orders that could be made.
"We would be able to sell and deliver our canned bottles, glass growlers filled with beer or, what many of us have, which are crawlers that are 32-ounce sealed cans," he said. "We could even sell small kegs, but could not do large ones if the city beer board gives us approval."
Wanderlinger Brewing Co., makes 95 percent of its revenue off its alcohol sales and is in dire need of the city's help, Dial said.
"If there is a means to still move a little product, it makes complete sense," he said. "If this shutdown goes on for 12 weeks, we have beers that are going bad that we would have to dump down the drain. We need all the help we can get."
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.