Restaurants and bars can now offer seating within 1,000 feet from their main location and serve alcohol to those customers under legislation signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday. 

The allowance of cocktails-to-go that was made to help bars and restaurants during the pandemic is one step closer to being permanent.

New guidance through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) allows anyone fully vaccinated to forgo face coverings in public settings, which could prove difficult for small businesses currently enforcing mask mandates.

In its first week after launching the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved over 16,000 applicants nationally.

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States is hailing a bill that has just passed out of committee in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

More than 60 Adams County tourism and hospitality-focused businesses will receive a share of $1.1 million through Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program (CHIRP).

Four Republican Pennsylvania senators plan to introduce a series of bills they say will provide financial and tax relief for the state’s small businesses.

Restaurants can resume bar service, sell alcohol without customers needing to purchase food first and fill their dining room to 75% capacity beginning April 4, Gov. Wolf announced in a press release on Monday.

Inspectors issued closure orders for 11 midstate restaurants last week for refusing to follow the state’s COVID-19 mitigation requirements.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s limited-time mitigation efforts prohibiting all indoor dining at restaurants is still set to expire at 8 a.m. on Jan. 4, Wolf announced in a press conference on Wednesday.

Since Dec. 21, 33 restaurants across the state have been closed by inspector order after refusing to comply with Gov. Wolf’s temporary order prohibiting dine-in services.

State lawmakers praised the coming of the $900 billion federal stimulus package approved by the Senate and Congress this week but noted that much more must be done before the nation recovers from its public health and economic crisis.

Sonic Drive-In locations in Lancaster and Berks counties have closed after they were unable to secure buyers to continue operations.

Restaurants that refused to comply with Gov. Tom Wolf’s three-week mitigation plan to limit the spread of COVID-19 received warning letters from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services this week.

The Central Penn Business Journal recently sat down with John Longstreet, president of the PRLA, to talk about how its members are coping with the pandemic and what the organization is doing to help.