In 2015 residents of one Cumberland County municipality voted to end a 90-year-old law prohibiting the sale of booze in restaurants.
Four years, later the first restaurant in Upper Allen Township to take advantage of the “wet” status has turned on the taps and stocked its coolers with beer.
Customers at Jo-Jo’s Pizza & Pasta at 2210 Aspen Drive can now order pale ale, IPA or porter alongside pizza, subs and calzones. The restaurant started pouring pints and selling six-packs to-go on Sept. 26.
So far, diners have been receptive to the idea.
“A lot of people seemed like they were pretty excited,” said Sal Pupura, Jr., one of the owners.
Pupura, whose father Sal Sr., started the first Jo-Jo’s 51 years ago in Mechanicsburg, said the beer will draw more families to the restaurant for meals.
Jo-Jo’s is not the first business in Upper Allen Township to sell booze.
Jo-Jo's Pizza & Pasta opened in 2018 in Upper Allen Township and serves pizza, subs, stromboli and entrees such as ravioli and eggplant parmigiana.
Already, two grocery stores, a Weis Markets and Giant Food Store, carry beer and wine. Cumberland County is one of the most competitive and priciest counties in the state when it comes to acquiring liquor licenses. Some sell for more than $550,000.
Because licenses are so limited, Jo-Jo’s owners purchased an Economic Development License, a type of license granted when there are none available for sale in a county regardless of quotas. Per the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, Upper Allen Township Board of Commissioners approved the license earlier this year.
Jo-Jo’s opened in 2018 in the Upper Allen Commons, which the Pupuras own.
Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.
https://www.pennlive.com/life/2019/09/first-restaurant-in-once-dry-west-shore-municipality-turns-on-the-beer-taps.html 2019-09-28 11:05:45Z
0 Comments:
Post a Comment