New ABC license effective July 1 requires delivery personnel to pass training course

A new license designed to ensure a safe and secure way for licensed businesses to deliver alcoholic beverages will take effect on July 1.

The new third-party delivery license, which was part of legislation passed by Virginia’s General Assembly and signed into law by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, requires delivery personnel to pass an alcohol delivery safety and responsibility training course.

Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority’s education and prevention team has created the Responsible Alcoholic Delivery Driver online public safety course, which is offered at no charge for licensees and businesses seeking a third-party delivery license.

The course includes a pretraining survey, four training modules and a success survey.

Training topics include alcoholic beverage delivery strategies to prevent underage sales and promote responsible consumption.

The third-party delivery license is the result of a stakeholder study group that met in 2021 to address safety concerns about the new alcohol delivery service. Representatives from food and beverage delivery businesses; alcoholic beverage manufacturing, retail and wholesale companies; and restaurant and hospitality industries; as well as Virginia ABC leadership contributed to the collaborative effort to create the license designed to protect public safety and health.

As part of the study, representatives from third-party delivery services participated in a workgroup to create a licensing structure for Virginia. The group brought experiences from other states and industry best practices, which were significant in the creation of the license.

“Virginia ABC was most appreciative of the earnest and candid input from the approximately 40 stakeholders in this group,” said Virginia ABC CEO Travis Hill. “We were pleased that state lawmakers took the two-pronged approach of continuing the cocktail to go privilege while also creating the license for third-party delivery entities to better assure safe and lawful delivery of alcohol. In the ensuing years, ABC will continue to monitor delivery of alcohol to determine if further policy changes are required.”

The new third-party delivery license, which addresses issues including age verification and food requirements, stipulates that licensees annually certify their compliance with the new regulations, including delivery personnel’s completion of the training course.

Seller Training Approval Program for alcohol delivery personnel trainings developed by entities other than Virginia ABC are also accepted for certification. Virginia ABC’s certification of delivery driver public safety trainings started June 1 and will continue through July 15, 2022.

The application form, training criteria and submittal instructions are available on ABC’s website.

For more information about these trainings, contact ABC Education and Prevention at [email protected] or call (804) 977-7440.

More information about the third-party license requirements is available on Virginia ABC’s website.