Proposed changes to Virginia’s food-to-beverage ratio requirements once again failed to advance in the General Assembly this year. Currently, restaurants with a mixed beverage license are required to make 45% of their sales through food. Conversely, only 55% of their sales may come from mixed beverages, defined as “drink[s] composed in whole or in part of spirits.” Beer and wine do not count towards this ratio.
For the last several years, legislation has been introduced that has proposed lowering this ratio, though none of these previous efforts have passed the General Assembly and been signed into law. In 2025, one bill was introduced to this effect: SB 1163 (McDougle).
In its final form, SB 1163 (McDougle) proposed the following changes:
- Mixed beverage licensees must have as many seats at tables as seats at counters.
- Mixed beverage licensees would be required to make 30% of their sales through food (and therefore could make up to 70% of their sales through mixed beverages), though they must have monthly food sales of at least $4,000.
- No mixed beverages may be served once food is no longer being sold for on-premises consumption.
As proposed, these above provisions would have expired on July 1, 2027. Additionally, this legislation tasked the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (ABC) with collecting data regarding the compliance of mixed beverage licensees with these new provisions and analyzing the impact that this new 30/70 ratio has had on the gross amount of food consumed on premises. ABC would have been required to report this information back to the General Assembly by November 1, 2026, which would have provided legislators enough time to potentially develop additional legislation (and/or make these changes permanent) before the 2027 General Assembly session and before these provisions would have expired.
SB 1163 (McDougle) passed the Senate this February by a vote of 36-4. Ultimately, however, members of the House of Delegates could not come to an agreement on how best to proceed. Despite the bill’s initial success, this legislation was never formally heard or considered in the House, so when the General Assembly adjourned for the year, this legislation was effectively killed for the year.
