As chilly weather approaches, tasting rooms, now outdoors, seek approval to go inside
Courtesy / Ricker Hill
Ricker Hill in Turner set up an outdoor tasting room for its hard cider, but owner Andy Ricker, president of the Maine Winery Guild, is concerned about whether he can continue operations outdoors as temperatures cool.
Restaurants have been allowed to operate indoors with certain restrictions under Maine's plan for business reopening in the pandemic. But winery, brewery and distillery tasting rooms have been left to operate outdoors.
That’s a growing concern for the state's beverage industry as wetter, colder weather arrives this fall.
The Maine Winery Guild recently met to discuss how to continue tasting room business under the restrictions affecting beverage manufacturers.
The state’s Phase 3 reopening plan currently groups tasting rooms with lounges and bars, which were scheduled to reopen July 1 but have been pushed off indefinitely.
Under the restrictions, tasting rooms have been unable to operate inside their establishments. Most winery owners pivoted to extend outside alcohol premises and seating.
That worked well for the sunny, dry summer weather but is already posing problems, with nighttime temperatures dipping into the 40s.
The guild recently hosted a representative from the Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations, who discussed options that wineries may have to work around the restrictions to tasting rooms by becoming a Class 3 restaurant. The option would require wineries to purchase an additional license, pay inspection fees, add food preparation equipment and staff, and comply with additional regulations.
But the option will increase costs for business owners and won’t contribute to existing safety guidelines, guild member Constance Bodine told Mainebiz.
Bodine co-owns Sweetgrass Farm Winery & Distillery in Union.
The guild is asking the state to allow wineries to open their tasting rooms with the same indoor-service operating restrictions that restaurants have had in place since the middle of June, she said.
“I want to emphasize that this industry, Maine wine/spirits/beer manufacturers, has done everything asked of us since this pandemic started,” Bodine said by email.
With exception of some counties that allow for curbside service, she added, “we have been closed completely except for 3.5 months, then allowed to open for 'outside tasting' only for nearly three months, while all other industries — i.e. restaurants with bars — are open fully with COVID guidelines in place, like more distance between tables, masks, enhanced sanitation/cleaning, etc., and doing so safely.”
Relevant guidelines that restaurants with bars operating now have in place include:
• Bar or counter service within restaurant establishments must follow physical distance guidelines. Provide physical barriers to protect customers and wait staff such as partitions or plexiglass barriers or face coverings plus face shields for staff if there is not six feet of distance between customers and counter staff.
• Establishments where counter service is combined with liquor service must also take measures to ensure customers do not congregate at the counter.
The question is why the state won’t allow tasting rooms to open under the same precautions.
“As the weather gets colder and wetter, it is imperative we get an answer, or this industry will perish,” Bodine said. “We have already started to see decisions to close.”
That includes Cellardoor Winery’s recent decision to close its Thompson's Point tasting room in Portland at the end of this month while continuing vineyard operations in Lincolnville and distributing its wine at retail outlets throughout the state and online.
Sweetgrass has three tasting rooms. Tasting room operations are different from bars, she explained. Typically, they operate during the daytime hours and offer customers a chance to taste the manufacturer’s wine before buying, rather than sitting for hours as they would at a bar.
Dress in ski wear?
Sweetgrass has continued its indoor retail operation and set up an outdoor tasting room, both with the mandated restrictions. Both have attracted business, although the business’s revenues dropped 60% compared with last year, she said.
The outdoor set-up required an investment of thousands of dollars in outdoor furniture, an online reservation system and updated insurance for outdoor premises. Additional investment to become a restaurant is untenable, she said.
“We bleed money to get set up and then they want us to do even more when it doesn’t make us any safer,” she said.
Without a solution, she added, “We can’t sustain this. I’m worried about getting through the winter. Outside in Maine, unless you’re at a ski resort dressed in full ski wear, this isn’t going to work much longer.”
Many guild members in more rural settings have been able to use tents and outdoor areas to taste, said Andy Ricker, the guild’s president and owner of Ricker Hill, a maker of hard cider in Turner.
But members in urban settings have had limited or no options for outdoor set-ups, he said.
“Either way, as it cools off in the next few weeks, it’s not going to continue to work as it is,” he continued.
Tasting rooms are essential to the winery business, he explained.
“In Maine, this is a small industry and it’s mostly very small wineries, so people are not generally familiar with our products to the point where they want to just grab a bottle,” he said. “They want to try a sip of it first, to find one they like before purchasing a bottle to take home. Most of our member function on that model.”
He said, “We’re not watering holes. Generally you don’t have a ton of people inside at any one time.”
The guild will continue to appeal to the state. “After that, I‘m not sure what direction we’ll take,” he said.
Ricker has enough wholesale business that it’s surviving this year, although revenues are down 30%.
“The question is, can I survive another year like this?” he said. “A number of our members are on the edge right now and I don’t know if they’ll make it.”
Beer and spirits
Leaders of the Maine Brewers Guild and Maine Distillers Guild have similar concerns.
“It’s the highest priority right now for us,” said Maine Brewers Guild Executive Director Sean Sullivan,
Some members have been able to operate indoors because they also own a restaurant license. About 75% have just a brewing license and have not been able to operate indoors.
“They’ve been successful doing the tasting room component outdoors up to now,” he said. “That’s been helpful. They’re also doing curbside pick up and delivery and are able to sell small amounts of beer through other traditional sales channels such as restaurants and at grocery stores and bottle shops.”
Some members, he added, are thinking about how to encourage customers to bundle up and enjoy their beer outdoors.
“But how many times can you do that?” he asked. “Yes, they can get heating lamps, they can put up a tent. But does it really make sense to be open outdoors in December if it’s 20 degrees and you have to have heat lamps? It’s kind of diminishing returns.”
Tasting rooms have varying degrees of importance in the beer business.
“Some brewers sell an enormous amount of beer through grocery stores and bottle shops,” he said. “You have others who sell almost 100% of their beer out of their tasting rooms.”
Like the winery guild, the brewers guild has been talking with the state about figuring out a plan and a timeline to reopen indoors, he said.
“First of all, it, the top priority is the safety of the consumers and the public,” Sullivan stressed, adding that rigorous sanitation is integral to the industry as a standard.
“We understand it’s an uncertain situation,” he continued. “We also are committed to following the guidance of the science and the data. We think there’s an opportunity for a metrics-based approach to reopening that takes away some of this subjectivity and opacity regarding how these decisions are being made as to who can reopen and when and why.”
He added, “I’m fielding multiple calls every week from breweries that are very fearful of what the next few months might hold and anxious to get some sense of a timeline.”
There’s been some bad luck this year because of the pandemic, including the permanent closures of Nuts & Bolts Brewing in Biddeford and Andre’s Brewing Co. in Lincolnville. Sullivan said that while neither cited COVID-19 as the sole reason for shutting their doors, in both cases it was the final straw.
Still, he said, “I think everyone is holding on right now in hopes that things are going to get better.”
Like the brewers, some distillers already have restaurant licenses that have allowed them to bring people inside, said Ned Wight, president of the Maine Distillers Guild and owner of New England Distilling in Portland.
“But the majority don’t have that license and/or don’t have access to adequate outside space,” he said.
For some distillers, tasting rooms are a primary source of revenue. Direct sales through tasting rooms can range from 25% to more than 50% of overall revenue, he said.
“It’s a big issue for us,” he said. “You look at all of the businesses around the state and, to the best to my knowledge, to some extent everything has opened for inside activity. We’ve got this one line of business — tasting rooms and bars — that have been left out. We’re going to see people closing soon. It’s definitely a scary prospect. Hopefully we’ll get some change.”
In Maine there are 27 wineries, 17 distilleries, and nearly 200 breweries employing over 2,000 people full-time and providing $98 million in wages. Beverage manufacturing is one of Maine’s fastest growing industries with a 66% increase in employment since 2010.
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So what safety to customers or staff is added by serving food? Inquiring minds want to know!
I just don't get it! There is no logic on why these establishments are being treated differently based on liquor license type. There is no greater/lesser danger to a customer. I think the state government should be held accountable if they are stopping business for some and not others based on licensing. Small business owners need help, and with no additional government monetary relief in sight, how about do what makes sense (following the same guidelines as restaurants) and support these industries and all the people in the state they employ?
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