The shutdowns ordered to curb the coronavirus pandemic have rocked every part of the economy. But perhaps few sectors have been devastated as much as the hospitality industry, which operates on razor-thin margins.

For the first several days after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call to shutter bars and nightclubs, Cache Bouren agonized over the uncertainty. “My first thought,” he says, “was the livelihood of the staff.”

The owner of Haberdasher cocktail lounge in San Jose’s SoFA District grew up in the industry, raised by a bartending mom before following in her footsteps and eventually running his own high-end watering holes. So, the prospect of being even temporarily banned from a trade he spent a lifetime mastering felt like a punch to the gut.

“I spent that first week laying on the couch, eating chips and feeling sorry for myself and everyone else,” Bouren says. Granted, he also took advantage of the forced closure to clean up his below-ground speakeasy and renovate the bar top—a project he says he and his crew wouldn’t otherwise have had a chance to do.

Thankfully, some unprecedented regulatory intervention saved him from spending the entire pandemic-related lockdown on remodeling. In the second week of the regional stay-at-home order, California’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) eased the rules around boozy beverage delivery, making it much easier for the Cache Bourens of the world to make a living.

Pivoting to cocktails-to-go presented an opportunity as much as a challenge.

“It’s almost as if we had to reinvent ourselves,” Bouren says. “I mean, I’ve always believed that a place has long-term success when it gets really good at making guests feel sexy and good-looking and cool because you’re sipping on this really amazing cocktail. But how do we transfer that feeling if we’re delivery only? How do we do something that feels cool and classy but that gives guests a way to take it home?”

The answer concocted by Bouren and his team of mixologists comes in a mason jar. Haberdasher’s refashioned menu of curbside cocktails include variations on classics such as the Old Fashioned ($12), Sazerac ($10) and Negroni ($10)—just in a rustic jar and, if you’re feeling a little peckish, with a side of pot pie from Willow Glen’s Sweet Dragon Bakery ($8).

Also on the menu, which you can peruse at haberdashertogo.com: whisky highball flights, canned beer, cigars and various artisan bar bites, including chicharrons, spiced nuts and brisket jerky.

“It was tough,” Bouren says of the sudden switch from brick-and-mortar to car bar. “And the uncertainty is still hanging over us—will this last six weeks? Twelve? We don’t know. On the other hand, at least I can feed my employees again. Staff like this are so impossible to find—they work so hard and are so dedicated—so it feels good to have them get back to work again.”