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Cake pops and cocktails were the talk of the latest General Assembly session that adjourned last month.
In early December of last year, Kelly Phillips, owner of Richmond-based KP’s Kake Pops & Treats, received an email from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services informing her that she was forbidden from selling her baked goods at a holiday pop-up event in which she has participated for the past eight years. At the time, the law stated that homemade foods such as Phillips’ cake pops, which are made in kitchens that haven’t been inspected by a certified official, are only permitted for sale directly out of the home and at farmers markets.
The email also told Phillips she couldn’t advertise her products online, even though she was planning to make all of her sales face to face. Phillips sent her story to the Institute for Justice, an Arlington-based law firm whose “mission is to end widespread abuses of government power and secure the constitutional rights that allow all Americans to pursue their dreams.” The firm sent a letter to VDACS on Phillips’ behalf calling the advertising restriction “breathtakingly unconstitutional” and a violation of the First Amendment “at a bedrock level.”
VDACS has since realigned its interpretation of the rules about advertising online. Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed HB759, commonly known as the “cake pop bill,” into law last week. It expands where cottage food (defined as any food made in a home kitchen for sale) businesses are permitted to sell their products and solidifies their right to advertise online.
The bill, introduced by Del. Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper), also allows for cottage food goods to be sold at any temporary event lasting less than 14 consecutive days, including pop-ups in stores or other businesses.
“They’re supporting a baker like myself and having them come into their store, who’s also a small business. So it’s making money for everyone,” Phillips says. “There’s no loser in this situation; it’s all winning, and I’m very proud of that.”
Before being dubbed the cake pop bill, HB759 was known as the “pickle bill” and focused on the sale of pickles and other acidified vegetables. The legislation raises the maximum revenue from selling such products out of the home from $3,000 to $9,000.
“I’m very fortunate that this bill was already being introduced and on the docket and they were able to add this amendment that really benefited not just me but other cottage bakers,” Phillips says.
Another major food-and-beverage-related bill recently inked by the governor was HB688. The new law permanently allows restaurants, bars and distilleries to sell alcoholic beverages to go, a crucial business model adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic that proved to be a lifeline.
In March 2020, then Gov. Ralph Northam enacted a measure allowing restaurants in Virginia with a valid license to sell wine and beer on-premises, offer them for purchase to go, or offer delivery. The following month, the measure was expanded to include cocktails after Virginia ABC lifted the ban. Soon after, restaurants and distilleries were pouring concoctions into Capri Sun-style baggies and bottling boozy beverages for purchase.
According to the Distilled Spirits Council, 26 states, including Virginia, and the District of Columbia have enacted laws to permanently allow the sale of cocktails to go. Cirrus Vodka Director of Sales & Marketing Tom Ellington says the Richmond-based potato vodka distiller started offering to-go cocktails as soon as the law went into effect during the pandemic and that it’s been incredibly beneficial.
“Pre-COVID, we consistently had customers who were visiting our tasting room ask us for the recipes for some of our signature cocktails,” he says via email. “To-go cocktails have given us the opportunity to offer these cocktails in a convenient, but still high-quality, take-home format.”
In addition to selling to-go cocktails at its tasting room, Cirrus also began offering them online for delivery through its website and DoorDash, which has extended the distiller’s brand reach to more customers around the Richmond area.
“There are definitely occasions where a customer may not want to purchase an entire bottle (budget-related and also convenience), and just having the extra option of to-go cocktails has been a valuable ‘additional cart’ item,” Ellington says.
