Bars & Nightclubs NAICS 722410

Oct 20, 2025 - Less Holiday Cheer

• According to PwC’s 2025 Holiday Outlook survey, consumers expect their seasonal spending to decline on average by 5% this year compared to 2024, the first notable drop since 2020. More broadly, 84% expect to cut back over the next six months, citing rising prices, new tariffs, and the high cost of living, according to PwC. That’s unwelcome news for many hospitality businesses, whose sales typically peak during the festive winter holidays. While overall average consumer spending is expected to drop 5%, Gen Z respondents (ages 17 to 28) said they plan to cut their holiday budgets by 23%, much more than their elders. Gen Z is also drinking less alcohol than previous generations, a longer-term concern for bars and nightclubs.
• Because insurance is among the most significant fixed costs for many bars and restaurants, an insurer's misclassification of an establishment’s true risk profile can add thousands of dollars to premiums, reports Bar & Restaurant News. Traditional insurers often rely on generalized industry codes or broad classifications to determine coverage and rates and may overlook factors that significantly influence actual risk, according to B&RN. Establishments that appear similar on paper may operate very differently, yet insurers may treat them as identical. For example, a small wine bar with limited hours and a primarily seated customer base may pay similar premiums to a late-night nightclub with live entertainment and liquor service, even though the actual liability risks differ dramatically. Misclassification is a growing concern in an industry that’s already struggling with record high operational costs. In the current environment, overpaying for insurance can have an outsized impact on profitability, warns B&RN.

• Rather than starting a bar tab, Gen Z is more likely to close out and pay after every drink, no matter how many they may order during the evening, a trend that’s unpopular with and unprofitable for bartenders, Mashed.com reports. Gen Z’s pay-as-you-go attitude and the fact that twenty-somethings are drinking far less alcohol than their elders, is a problem for bartenders who rely on volume and speed to maximize their pay. Bartenders who must take time to close out after each drink is served, are delayed serving other customers, which can impact their tips, according to Mashed.com. Gen Zers are also more budget conscious and may feel uncomfortable opening a tab. Constantly closing out can hurt a bar’s bottom line in other ways. Every time a bartender swipes a customer’s credit card, the bar pays a fixed fee plus a percentage for that transaction.
• Employment by bars and nightclubs grew to a new high in July, up 5.4% compared to a year ago, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Employment by alcoholic beverage drinking places has grown 17% over the past decade, faster than the 13% growth in overall private employment. The average industry wage rose 3.7% in July to $23.03 per hour, easing from its peak in May. With wages almost double that of a decade ago (up 99%) and employment at a record high, payrolls at bars and nightclubs have swelled. However, the industry's rising labor costs are supported by sustained consumer spending, with personal consumption expenditures (PCE) rising 2.6% year over year and 0.2% month over month in July, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.