How Will The Bar Industry Bounce Back After The Pandemic? The Three Stages, According To…

“Bar owners didn’t fail, the pandemic took their business away,” says Jon Taffer, Executive Producer and Host of Paramount Network’s Bar Rescue. So what challenges face the bar industry coming out of the pandemic? After speaking with Taffer about the eight season of the show, we spoke further about what lies ahead for bar owners and customers.

How is the bar industry going to bounce back after the pandemic?

Last year, I was the first person to say on television that bars are going to go to 50% occupancy and kitchens will look like operating rooms. Laura Ingraham said I was crazy. But then I said we would come back in three stages. Stage one is the first-third of customers: the quick audience, the young crowd. They are fearless and not as concerned about COVID. The second stage group is coming back now. They are more reserved, and want to see safe procedures in place. The last third is the older crowd. They’re more susceptible to bad consequences, and they will not come out until they are certain the marketplace is safe for them.

What can bars do to speed things along?

Well, the economic problem is the first third of people to come back has the least money, and the last third has the most. So the bars have to be sensitive. After 14 months, behavior has changed, and they have to relaunch with the intensity of a grand opening. The early stages have to have more value-based offerings — bars will need to start with some incentives. The second stage will be how do you look? How are you safe? And then the third stage will be rebuilding the experience. If you had a great customer base before, it doesn’t mean they are coming back. 

Will there be permanent changes to the customer experience? 

I don’t think the old ways will completely return. I don’t see face masks being removed in the kitchens. I think that’s going to be a staple of public safety. Curbside service will stay with us. People like curbside, they like pulling up to a supermarket and having someone drop everything in their trunk. It’s a convenience that customers are enjoying. A year and a half ago, if you coughed in a bar no one would have thought twice. Today, you’re the devil. People aren’t going to be sitting close together — not six feet apart, but not close. Personal safety will be more of a focus than pre-pandemic times. 

What changes will there be to the business side of bars?

The real challenge, as we come out of the pandemic, is costs. When you take a look at what’s coming, taxes are going to go up, alcohol costs will go up, food costs will go up. If the Biden Administration pushes through the tax raise, that will be a hit to the bar business, that could erode 50% of the profits on an industry that already lives under small margins of profit.  

What other problem areas are there for bar owners?

Employees. Right now we can’t get employees, they are not getting back to work. National chains, like McDonald’s are pleading for workers, so what can a small bar do? Government is supposed to help them, but they’ve expanded unemployment, and now the government is an obstacle to success. The relief program has been wonderful, for things like back rent, but if we can’t get employees then we can’t seize the comeback. It’s a detriment. Employees need to be incentivized to come back to work. It’s a very serious problem.

Bar Rescue airs on Sundays, 10pm ET/PT on Paramount Network.