Soon, Greater Lehigh Valley residents will be able to order a bottle of wine online and have it delivered to their door with their pepperoni pizza.
Big Woody’s Pizza & Sports Bar restaurants in Allentown and Forks Township, the Twisted Olive in Bethlehem and a number of Giant Food Stores and Weis Markets in the Greater Lehigh Valley are among the 84 Pennsylvania businesses to receive wine expanded permits, which allow them to sell wine in this new manner, in addition to 12-pack and other less-quantitative beer sales they already do.
Besides selling wine by the bottle and box at its restaurants, Big Woody’s will add wine delivery to the beer delivery service it already provides.
According to Matt Marks, director of marketing for Big Woody’s, in-restaurant to-go wine sales will begin Thursday. One more permit is needed, in addition to the wine expanded permit, in order to deliver the wine. He said he expects that approval in a couple of weeks.
The permits were approved by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board on Monday, one week after Act 39, which allowed for the permits, went into effect.
To obtain the expanded permit, businesses would have already had to have had the restaurant or hotel license that allowed for beer sales in approved “beer cafes,” said Elizabeth Brassell, PLCB spokeswoman. The expanded permit will allow sales of up to three liters of wine per transaction.
Marks said receiving the approval will be good for Big Woody’s and will allow it to be more competitive as a small business.
Twisted Olive owner Steve Kershner said he has no set plan for how the retail sales of wine will be organized at his restaurant. Having just received the approval, he is taking his time to ensure the sales are handled properly and in accordance with law, he said.
He is happy to receive the approval, however, and thinks it will be a big benefit – especially in December – when people may be looking to buy a bottle of wine along with a gift certificate for holiday presents.
Grocery stores have billed the approval as an added convenience they can offer customers, selling wine and beer that patrons can serve with the food that they buy, in a way more similar to what the stores are able to offer in other states.
The 84 approvals were out of 174 requests. Brassell said that a wine expanded permit cannot be granted unless the licensee is certified through the Responsible Alcohol Management Program. The majority of permits that were denied were denied because the applicant had not yet obtained that certificate.
Among the Greater Lehigh Valley businesses that received the wine expanded permits are:
- The Winedown Café & Grill on Penn Avenue in West Reading.
- The Beer Zone on Delaware Avenue in Palmerton.
- Big Woody’s Sports Bar & Restaurant on West Liberty and South Forth Street in Allentown and on Sullivan Trail in Easton.
- The Twisted Olive on Broad Street in Bethlehem.
- Weis Markets on Sullivan Trail in Forks Township.
- Giant Food Stores on Route 611 in Bartonsville.
- BDCD In. on Kinsley Drive in Brodheadsville.
