We are in support of allowing restaurants and other on-premise licenses to offer reduced-price alcoholic beverages until 12:00am instead of the current 9:00pm cut off.

I respectfully oppose the Virginia Restaurant Lodging and Travel Association’s petition to amend current ABC regulations to allow happy hour promotions to continue until 12:00 a.m.

While I appreciate the economic pressures facing Virginia’s hospitality industry, extending alcohol promotions later into the night would likely increase the risk of alcohol misuse, impaired driving, and related harms—particularly among young adults and college-age populations. The current 9:00 p.m. cutoff provides a reasonable balance between business flexibility and public safety.

Decades of prevention research demonstrate that increased alcohol availability and extended hours of promotion are linked to higher rates of binge drinking, alcohol-related crashes, and injuries. These risks are amplified during late-night hours when impulse control is lower, alternative transportation options may be more limited, and enforcement resources are reduced.

Virginia’s success in reducing DUI convictions and alcohol-related fatalities in recent years reflects the effectiveness of existing safeguards. Weakening one of those guardrails could reverse that progress. Maintaining the current restriction reinforces our state’s commitment to responsible alcohol policy and public health.

Young adults—especially college students—are a vulnerable group when it comes to risky drinking behaviors. Expanding happy hour promotions later into the night normalizes prolonged drinking occasions and sends a message inconsistent with the Commonwealth’s efforts to prevent substance misuse and support safer campus and community environments.

For these reasons, I urge the Virginia ABC Board to deny the petition and maintain the existing 9:00 p.m. cutoff for happy hour promotions. Protecting lives, health, and safety must remain the priority.

Trân trọng gửi,

Kathy Reed, MA, ICPS

Giám đốc điều hành

Substance Abuse Free Environment (SAFE)

Happy hours are a tool that restaurants can use to drive customer demand on off-peak days and times of the day. It's getting tougher and tougher to run a restaurant these days and many restaurants need more customers past 9pm to survive, even if it means giving a discount like a happy hour promotion. This change would promote a more vibrant restaurant scene which is good for the community and employees. 

We are in support of extending beverage and alcohol discounts past 9pm until 12am. 

I am in full support of this amendment

Xin chào,

Our restaurant group would support the extension of happy hour until 12am. While we ourselves may not directly benefit, as we are mainly a breakfast & lunch restaurant, we do understand the issues our industry is currently facing. With the current economic climate, diners are looking for ways to save. Allowing extended happy hour can help with finding more revenue sources, as well as keep up with current trends of diners looking for options later in the evening.

Cảm ơn bạn đã dành thời gian và cân nhắc vấn đề này.

Amber Kostka

I am in favor of extending the times for happy hour as listed in the petition to midnight. 

This gives retailers the ability to be more flexible in running promotions to stimulate revenue and therefore enhance taxable revenues for the commonwealth. 

I am in favor of extending the times or Happy Hour as listed in the Petition to Midnight . 

This gives retailers the ability to be more flexible in running promotions to stimulate revenue and therefore enhance taxable revenues for the Commonwealth 

As a long-time operator of Full-Service restaurants in VA, I have always found the 9PM deadline for Happy Hours very restrictive to our business. Happy Hours are a means to incent folks to come out and patronize our restaurants during off peak times, not necessarily to drink more.  In this day and age of declining sales and rising costs, restaurants should have the right to incent guests with lower pricing or special deals as it sees fit.

Our company currently operates restaurants in 4 states, where we offer "all day Happy Hour (except Virginia, til 9PM)" Locations in other states perform better with late night sales because of this, and we think our locations in Virginia should be entitled to the same opportunity.

Our company whole-heartedly supports the expansion of late-night happy hour from 9PM until Midnight.

Trân trọng,

Gary Cohen

Glory Days Grill

The sale of alcohol at on-premise sites should not be extended to midnight. The data is clear that alcohol consumption increases as price decreases. The communities safety should not have to rely on the presence of police offices to spot, stop, test, and arrest drivers for elevated blood alcohol levels. The Commonwealth should maintain its current guidelines.