During the COVID-19 pandemic response, Virginia alcohol delivery laws allowed expanded opportunities for the delivery of wine, beer, and mixed beverages, frequently described as "cocktails to go," by Virginia ABC-licensed retailers. As part of these expanded opportunities for delivery, retailers could either self-deliver the alcoholic beverages to consumers or use third-party delivery providers to deliver the alcoholic beverages to consumers. Similar developments occurred in many states.

When the General Assembly addressed the expansion of alcohol delivery options, the General Assembly created a new license, the third-party delivery license, to regulate this new economic activity. The creation of the license ensured the third-party delivery providers would be subject to appropriate regulatory oversight, similar to Virginia ABC's regulation of self-delivery by retail licensees, with a licensing and license fee structure to accommodate the unique nature of the third-party delivery business. Third-party delivery licenses are issued to an entity to cover the entire state, and the license fee for the third-party delivery license is commensurately higher in recognition of the scope of the license privileges and the expenses necessary to monitor compliance by third-party delivery licensees. The newly created third-party delivery license, along with the rest of the new cocktails to go legislative authorization, was set to sunset, after one intermediate extension, on July 1, 2024.

In 2023, Virginia ABC conducted underage buyer operations to assess alcohol delivery compliance by third-party delivery licensees. The 2023 underage buyer operations, of which only thirty-one were completed, found only a 58% compliance rate by third-party delivery licenses. During the 2024 General Assembly Session, HB 688, patroned by Delegate Leftwich, and SB 635, patroned by Senator Rouse, generally removed the sunset on the cocktails to go legislative authorization. However, in response to the unacceptable 58% underage buyer compliance rate found for third-party delivery licensees, HB 688 and SB 635 repealed the third-party delivery license, effective July 1, 2026, and directed Virginia ABC to convene the present work group to study the third-party delivery license. The work group's stakeholder list may be found in Appendix 1.