For many bars, Christmas can be the last call

Now bars that stay open rely on the critical holidays to generate enough income to keep the doors open. But cold weather, plus a patchwork of restrictions, make that effort nearly impossible for many of them.

Typically, this time of year Joe Robinson handed out a drink called “Fa la la la la la la la” in a luminous sweatshirt at his island-themed bar in Detroit, The Skip.

“It’s literally insane,” he said. “People wait outside in the freezing Detroit cold for over an hour to enter this bar.”

This year, the same bar barely gets past, serving up bottled cocktails with a swizzle stick, garnish and umbrella that fans can order online.

The hospitality industry is a fraction of the size of the restaurant industry, but has seen a higher percentage of closures, according to business review site Yelp and research firm Datassential.

Many bars that don’t serve food are completely banned from customer seating; some have stopped or kept a trickle of income from on-the-go cocktails.

“Bars have less leverage to win than restaurants,” said Mark Brandau, an analyst at Datassential.

The bar industry, which generated sales of $ 19.9 billion in 2019, has been in its most critical season for nearly a month, according to the American Nightlife Association trade group, and it’s not going well. Bars typically fill seven days a week with happy hours and work meetings, doubling them to triple their usual revenue, according to the United States Bartenders’ Guild, a nonprofit that represents bartenders.

With major cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago returning to some form of lockdown, potential partygoers are finding it easier and more affordable to drink at home.

According to the IWSR, a data firm that analyzes the alcohol market, online sales of alcohol in the US have skyrocketed. According to the IWSR, U.S. e-commerce alcohol sales are projected to reach $ 5.6 billion in 2020, up from about $ 3 billion last year, with 44% of alcohol e-shoppers saying they will be online alcohol for the first time in 2020 going to buy.

“This is the worst crisis to hit the industry since Prohibition,” said Aaron Gregory Smith, executive director of the United States Bartenders’ Guild.

Some bars that remain open in more enclosed areas use strategically placed Christmas trees for social distance, six-foot spacing on sidewalks, and capacity constraints.

Meanwhile, in less restrictive states, some bars are allowed to operate at 100% capacity indoors, but many are still experiencing revenue hits from social distance requirements that keep customers seated and avoid crowding at the bar.

Florida, for example, has left most of the restrictions to the discretion of the cafe owners. Jarrett Sabatini, owner of Intermezzo Coffee and Cocktails in St. Petersburg, said he expects to break even with the holiday boost this year. Never before has geographic location, in terms of weather and local constraints, played such an important role in the economic fate of any bar, bar owners said.

In New York City, Greg Boehm owns two popular Christmas-themed pop-up bar franchises – Miracle and Sippin ‘Santa – which are typically hosted by more than 100 independent bars across the country each year. He said budgets and planning were a problem for his operators this year; some are closed for good, others temporary.

“This year was a waiting game,” he said, “with locations figuring out whether they can open, how they can open, whether there can be propane heaters or no propane heaters. Some are big, some are small, some are on a roof, some are in a cellar. “

For major cities, the devastation in the cafe industry is hurting local government budgets already under pressure from the impact of Covid-19. The average cost to obtain a liquor license in the US is $ 4,500, according to the American Nightlife Association, money that goes straight to the local treasury. With bars closing their doors, fewer dollars are expected to come in from liquor licenses.

Max Overstrom-Coleman, 41, opened Wolf Tree, a 24-seat craft cocktail bar in White River Junction, Vt., In November 2019. The Manhattan native, who grew up dividing his time between New York and Vermont, moved permanently to Vermont ten years ago to get a PhD. But he never returned to school and instead spent years working at local distilleries and traveling internationally to learn about craft cocktails.

Last year, he finally rented a small space, installed new wiring and plumbing, and opened the 700-square-foot bar. “The only thing that could have been a worse idea was a kiss booth,” he said.

Two nearby theaters remain empty, decimating the crowds before and after the show, he said. “There are 300 people a night who are just not in town anymore.”

He described his financial situation as ‘dire’. It lost 50% of sales when the pandemic started and another 50% of that after the most recent shutdown on Nov. 13. Not only is his business at stake, but, like many small and independent operators, so is his personal accounts and property. .

Many independent bars and restaurant owners are required to pledge their own personal wealth and assets to obtain bank loans, said Edward Webb, a partner at BPM Partners, a consulting firm.

Kathleen Anderson, 47, and about 20 other women filled the local bars in Watertown, Massachusetts, for a vacation crawl every year. Usually they spent $ 500 on the first bar, she said, and then “it gets blurry.”

“The whole thing was just wearing ridiculous awful Christmas outfits and hats and things that flash,” she said. “We were a bunch of screaming mothers.”

This year, she said, the crew is talking about a Zoom party and maybe some wine at home.

Write to Julie Wernau at [email protected]