A New York company said it’s expanding its one-hour alcohol delivery service to Hartford and several surrounding communities starting Tuesday.
Ultra, which launched earlier this year and is planning a 15-city expansion that includes Connecticut, has partnered with an area package store that will provide the deliveries, Ultra Founder Aniket Shah said in a telephone interview Monday.
Ultra will start with deliveries to Hartford, West Hartford and Farmington. Shah said he is in talks with a second package store partner in Avon, where he hopes to offer service within the next several weeks.
Shah would not disclose the name of the store he has partnered with, citing concerns of potential competition. But those who order from the service will likely be able to figure it out when the driver arrives to deliver the order and card them, he said.
Ultra gets a cut of each delivery, but the service is free to customers. Order minimums range from $25 to $40 in Greater Hartford.
Shah said he hopes Ultra’s partner network will grow as consumers learn about the service.
In-state package stores licensed by the state are permitted to deliver alcohol, but out-of-state deliveries — with the exception of wine — are banned.
Ultra recently ran into some trouble with Washington, D.C. regulators, who opined that Ultra would need a license because it was soliciting orders, according to the Washington Post. But D.C. officials recently ruled that Ultra could take online alcohol orders in the nation’s capital, but a licensed package store must store the booze and deliver it.
Because Ultra’s package store partner has responsibility for all financial transactions with customers, Ultra does not require any special license from state regulators, Claudette Carveth, a spokeswoman for the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection said in an email Tuesday afternoon.
