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Retailers must hold a Virginia ABC tobacco permit to sell cigarettes, vapes and nicotine products starting Oct. 1. Applications take 20 to 30 days, and comment on the rules governing the program does not close until Oct. 24.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
April's destructive freeze left some vineyards with only a fraction of their normal crop. Wineries are now cutting production, rationing inventory and confronting Virginia's farm-winery sourcing requirements.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
More than 30 sessions, a trade show and three nights of receptions bring Virginia's brewing industry to the Delta Hotels Richmond Downtown. The agenda leans hard on profitability, consolidation and taproom performance.
VHN Staff · · Richmond
Two Virginia brands are already open at Dulles and three more arrive with Concourse E in October. Honor Brewing's location will be both a restaurant and a licensed brewery.
VHN Staff · · Northern Virginia
Ada's on the River, The Liberty Trust, Southern Revere Cellars, Belmont Farm Distillery and Wolf Gap Vineyard lead the 2026 Ordinary Awards winners, named Tuesday night in Short Pump.
VHN Staff · · Richmond
The Cannabis Control Authority's first draft sets fees, security rules and a 350-store retail cap ahead of adult-use sales in July 2027. For hospitality operators the decisive rule is already law: no marijuana license may be granted at a place where alcohol or tobacco is made, sold or used.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
The country's largest wine and spirits distributor entered a 24-month non-prosecution agreement covering improper payments, gift cards, trips and false invoicing. The conduct described is centered in California, and federal documents do not identify Virginia.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
The advertised BPOL ordinance exempts businesses at $2 million or less, then taxes all receipts once a business passes it. A restaurant doing $38,500 a week is at the line. The hearing is Sept. 15.
VHN Staff · · Fredericksburg & Central Virginia
A 7,400-square-foot winery, bistro and event venue opened on Chartermark Drive in Chesterfield County on Aug. 17, the California franchise's first Richmond-area location and its second in Virginia. About 30 people work there, and on-site production is coming.
VHN Staff · · Richmond
Staff would take the daily food truck limit from four hours to six in commercial and industrial districts, and replace the 'associated service use' test that has governed restaurants in office and industrial buildings. Nothing is adopted, and the numbers are still in brackets.
VHN Staff · · Northern Virginia
GSA's FY2027 rates lift the government's room ceiling in nine of Virginia's ten per diem localities, with Northern Virginia's spring rate up $19 a night. Williamsburg's off-season rate drops to the national floor.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
The food code that took effect Sept. 10 reaches far beyond sesame. It changed rules for hand sinks, thawing, manufacturer cooking instructions, shellfish records, patio animals, sous vide and other daily operations at roughly 31,000 VDH-permitted establishments.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
A Richmond commission wants the city to seek a lower blood-alcohol threshold in the 2027 General Assembly session. It is not yet an official city position, but it could change the legal line for any Virginian who drives after drinking.
VHN Staff · · Richmond
Twosome Place will open its first American café on King Street in mid-October. The company is using Northern Virginia as the starting point for a company-operated expansion that could reach 15 U.S. stores in its initial phase.
VHN Staff · · Northern Virginia
A county-commissioned study by Agritecture LLC recommends changes to farm tax treatment, county zoning, support for working farmers and long-term infrastructure. Final recommendations go to the Board of County Supervisors this fall.
VHN Staff · · Northern Virginia
The Commonwealth is paying more to inspect a Northern Virginia restaurant than three out of four Washington-area restaurants pay the manager running it. The General Assembly funded 17 new special agents this year, and the reason is the permit that takes effect October 1.
VHN Staff · · Northern Virginia
Kinder Bauernhof Farm and Chilly Hollow Brewing sued Clarke County in October 2023 over rules banning weddings, cover charges and advertised events. The owners confirm to VHN that the case has settled. Terms were not disclosed and no court ruled.
VHN Staff · · Shenandoah Valley
Eataly and Macerich confirmed the deal on July 22. Two levels, an exterior entrance, restaurants plus a market. For Northern Virginia operators the story is the hiring, not the pasta.
VHN Staff · · Northern Virginia
The 2018 Restaurateur of the Year and 2020 VRLTA chairman announced his retirement on August 31. He spent the last years of his tenure making the industry's case in public, on the record, under his own name, and he says he intends to keep doing it.
VHN Staff · · Northern Virginia
Davidson Hospitality Group replaces Crescent Hotels & Resorts as operator of the 247-room hotel on October 1, twelve months after it opened. The Marriott flag stays. No reason or financial terms were given.
VHN Staff · · Northern Virginia
Every press account from May through July said ShenandoaH2O would open in October 2026, with reservations in the summer. Reservations never opened and the resort now lists early 2027. No delay has been announced.
VHN Staff · · Shenandoah Valley
Virginia ABC's FY2026 final Board orders record 589 disciplinary matters, $1,143,700 in civil penalties and 12 revocations. Selling to someone under 21 accounted for more than half the caseload and roughly two thirds of the money.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
Attorney General Jay Jones announced the Regulated Products Enforcement Unit on July 30. Hours earlier the Fourth Circuit upheld North Carolina's vape directory against a preemption challenge, the ruling a Virginia injunction had been waiting on since December.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
Selvedge Brewing's Batiste won Best of Show out of 347 entries. Fine Creek Brewing of Powhatan is Virginia Brewery of the Year. The top three were a pilsner, a smoked beer and a Belgian wit.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
SB 424 doubled the daily spirits limit from three ounces to six and turned tastings into sales. It also requires food reasonably available, which the statute says a food truck or the patron can supply. The whole thing sunsets July 1, 2028.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
Since July 1 the expanded polystyrene ban reaches every food vendor, not just 20-location chains. Styrofoam is a DuPont trademark for building insulation and has never been used for a food container, so a supplier can truthfully say that a banned cup is not Styrofoam.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
The state tourism office's lodging list, updated August 28, is dominated by small and strange properties: five suites above a Waynesboro brewery, domes in Prince Edward County, and three historic buildings coming back as hotels.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
Since July 2025 every supplier advertising a price must show a total including mandatory fees. Restaurants and hotels get a safe harbor: disclose the percentage of any automatic gratuity. The federal junk fee rule covers hotels too, and does not cover restaurants at all.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
The minimum wage steps to $13.75 on January 1 and $15.00 the January after. The tipped cash wage does not move, so the credit an employer relies on gets bigger, and so does the shortfall owed when tips fall short.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
The Golden Pineapple goes to Shamin Hotels' vice president of operations. Bennett-Parker carried the food-to-beverage ratio rewrite as a delegate, then won a Senate seat mid-session. The rest of the 26 awards are named September 15.
VHN Staff · · Richmond
The 50-year-old Great Falls institution comes under Warren Thompson's stewardship this month. Chef Jacques Haeringer stays, the menu stays, and coverage is notably vague about what kind of transaction this actually is.
VHN Staff · · Northern Virginia
The Henrico-based company filed in federal court in Lubbock, Texas on September 2, arguing the FDA has never met the 180-day statutory deadline for premarket tobacco applications and that some have been pending more than six years.
VHN Staff · · Richmond
State law protects a specific list of farm winery activities from local ordinance, and sets a high bar before a locality can restrict the rest. Most disputes turn on the phrase 'usual and customary.'
VHN Staff · · Statewide
Congress passed a one-month delay on September 1 and sent it to the President. The federal limit is 0.4mg of total THC per container. Virginia's cap, in force since August 15, is 2mg per package.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
Del. Delores Oates convened VDACS Commissioner Charles Green and Virginia Tourism Corporation staff for an agritourism summit on August 28, with regulatory barriers and farmland preservation on the agenda.
VHN Staff · · Shenandoah Valley
A draft farm business ordinance would allow 30 events a year without a permit, cap by-right attendance at 150, and treat weddings as agritourism but not concerts. The board sent it back to staff on August 28.
VHN Staff · · Charlottesville
A downtown music venue lost its license for 30 days. The shows moved into a warehouse and two houses. The fire department closed all three, because none of them was legally allowed to hold a crowd.
VHN Staff · · Shenandoah Valley
Virginia's largest single hospitality opening in a generation lands off I-95 in November 2026: 907 rooms, 13 food and beverage outlets, and a hiring target that will pull staff from Richmond to Fredericksburg.
VHN Staff · · Fredericksburg & Central Virginia
Supervisors voted to remove all caps on winery and brewery events in May, reversed themselves 15 days later, then handed the question to a nine-member committee that cannot reopen it. Wineries, breweries and distilleries come up on November 9.
VHN Staff · · Northern Virginia
Richmond lost Assante's, Pig & Brew, Charlotte's and the Carytown Daily inside a week. The quieter story is Ellwood Thompson's falling behind on payments to local suppliers.
VHN Staff · · Richmond
Not the interesting numbers. The ones that decide whether you keep your license. Each one is a threshold somebody crosses without noticing.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
The Virginia Craft Brewers Guild is collecting the 450 prepaid applications the DMV requires before a specialty plate can go to the General Assembly. Revenue above the threshold would fund guild programs.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
The minimum wage steps to $13.75 in January and $15.00 in 2028. Tips are now statutory wages with treble damages attached. The non-compete ban now covers anyone eligible for overtime. Paid sick leave arrives in 2027.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
The 25-to-1 ratio allowance is gone, replaced by a hard two-milligram total THC cap per package as of August 15. Regulation moved from VDACS to the Cannabis Control Authority, which now has cease-and-desist power.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
Virginia's local meals tax is climbing, and the referendum that used to stand in a county's way has been gone since 2020. In Roanoke, unpaid meals tax has produced criminal charges against restaurant owners.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
Spanberger vetoed the retail marijuana framework on May 19. Five weeks later the same framework was written into the budget with her agreement. Sales begin July 1, 2027. No restaurant or bar can hold a license or allow consumption.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
Virginia's retail tobacco permit takes effect October 1, 2026. It covers restaurants and bars, not just smoke shops, and ABC says applications take 20 to 30 days. The window to be legal on day one is closing now.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
The statewide figure is out. Locality-level numbers, which is where operators can actually see their own market, are due around Labor Day.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
BriefingPolicy & Legislation
The tiered ratio takes hold, the Ordinary Awards close voting, and the Styrofoam ban widens. Short takes and links to the reporting.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
VRLTA's 2026 Ordinary Awards added a category for newly opened restaurants. The nominees span Hopewell to Tysons, and the list says something about where Virginia's growth is.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
HB 975 replaced the flat 45% food requirement for mixed beverage licensees with three tiers keyed to monthly food sales, and added a new seating rule. The change took effect July 1, 2026.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
The session is usually summarized as the food-to-beverage rewrite plus a list of defeats. Against the legislature's own bill file, several of those defeats are attached to the wrong bill numbers, and one subject widely reported as dead became law on a different bill.
VHN Staff · · Statewide
