Capital Region bars reflect on year of facing difficulties
After coping with closures, shifting pandemic regulations, a time to look ahead
One of the most examined injuries of the COVID -19 pandemic is that imposed on the hospitality industry. Restaurants have shown how a lack of customers and government-sponsored funding can cripple an entire subset of vital business, with lengthy tomes dedicated to dissecting the near-lifeless body that restaurants have become despite their best efforts. Less inquiry is paid to bars, the stand-alone watering holes that — until recently — rarely served more nourishment beyond alcoholic tipple and whatever was available from a warmed glass popcorn machine in a dark corner.
The image of a bar, with shallow, lacquered wood bowls of nuts and popcorn for any unwashed hand to gather snacks from and bodies leaning into each other in order to grip the attention of the bartender, is one to send sheer panic through the most cautious during the pandemic. Beyond that, public health experts and trusted voices like Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have painted bars as the origin points of viral spread in a community, claiming that when bars are open, illness follows. In a late November interview with Martha Raddatz on ABC’S “This Week,” Fauci made his point bluntly: “Close the bars and keep the schools open.” Neighborhood taverns, nightclubs and down-and-dirty dives have become persona non grata during
a global health crisis, and bar owners are feeling the impact, especially as the end-of-year holidays — known for their
toasts and cheers — near.
Jason Bowers, owner of Excelsior Pub in Albany, said he has received blowback from the
general public on keeping his doors unlocked. “We’re getting concerned people questioning
why we are open,” Bowers said, and he harbors guilt about maintaining hours during a pandemic. “If you can afford to shut down, that’s fantastic,” he said, noting that some bars in the area (like Lionheart Pub in Albany) have temporarily shuttered until spring, at the earliest, as a means to prevent potential COVID spread. But Bowers feels like staying open is a public service, and Excelsior’s reputation as a small, friendly neighborhood pub has helped him generate enough business to keep the lights on. “People come to us because they know we are small and we are safe. We know our regulars,” he said. In his opinion, being a place where locals, especially those living alone and working remotely, can get out and experience human interaction (even when it is 6 feet apart or divided by plexiglass partitions) is beneficial to mental health while living through a pandemic.
Compared to 2019, Bowers said business is down 75%. “It’s not a matter of making money, per se, as it is maintaining the ability to stay open.” State and federal relief programs do not cover the expenses that would remain if he decided to close for the winter (Bowers said there are still diehard patrons who drink outside and bring their own snow gear and blankets) and as of now he is trying to offer as many hours to employees as possible in order to provide income for them.
Holiday parties were never a large part of his business model but there is a significant decline in holiday-related small gatherings in his bar. “The night before Thanksgiving is a busier night and we’re down on (holiday) numbers, but we’ve never been a place where we are trying to pack them in deep,” Bowers said. Under current 50% capacity limits, he can seat 24 people. “We only need a few people to do business,” he said, and noted that bars that focus on live music or dancing are being impacted significantly more.
Bars known for serving food have fared better than bars without food menus, said Bowers, due to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s mandate that drinking establishments serve food with each drink order. Excelsior Pub has a limited food menu of New York statefocused specialties and adapting to offering food was not an issue. For other bars, like Allen Street Pub in Albany, it was another hurdle to clear in order to stay open. Owner Paul Engel said
most nights at his bar included a “second wave” of customers between 9 p.m. and midnight, mostly of restaurant workers who came in once their shifts were over. The 10 p.m. curfew Cuomo imposed on restaurants in September applied to bars, as well, and Engel said, “we’re not going under, but that was a nail in the coffin.” Business dropped off significantly for Allen Street Pub since the start of the pandemic, but Engel did not take any Payroll Protection Program money, offered through the federal government. “Things are flat. The core neighborhood folks still come, but people from outside of Albany didn’t come back,” he said. He is projecting that he will need financial assistance offered in the latest pandemic relief efforts provided by Congress.
One way restaurants have found success in ways bars have not is via New York state’s allowance of alcohol to be sold for off-premise (meaning, not in the restaurant) consumption. Cocktail programs, discounted wines and mixed packs of beer to accompany to-go orders at restaurants have been a boon for the industry, which is heavily reliant on the profit margin allowed by alcohol prices. Beverage producers, like wineries, breweries, cideries and distilleries, have also been able to make deliveries and ship their products, which in most cases would have been disallowed in PRE-COVID times. Direct-to-consumer alcohol sales are up dramatically, with companies like Winc, an online wine club, reporting 20,000 new members from the start of the pandemic, and Nielsen data hs shown increases in off-premise wine sales compared to 2019.
August Rosa, who owns the Pint Sized bar and bottle shops in Albany and Saratoga Springs, began delivering bottles and cans of beer and cider this year and launched an online ordering system in late November. Pint Sized
started as a retail shop selling beer and coffee (known as Brew when it opened in Albany in 2014) and Rosa said he “reverted back to the old model” when it came to finding a way to stay afloat during the pandemic. “There is a huge range of comfortability for our customers,” he said, and while many wanted to continue to support Pint Sized, they were not comfortable being in public. Beyond that, delivery allows Rosa to buffer upstate New York’s weather fluctuations, which impact customer turnout. “When we get bad weather days, the bar business is just nonexistent. Weather is worse for bars,” he said. Pint Sized does not have a kitchen to serve food from and was fined $1,500 in October for violating on-premise serving size regulations under the state mandate requiring food service with alcohol orders, and pushing to-go and delivery orders limits any inconsistencies in following those protocols. Overall, Rosa said offpremise sales have capped a loss of business to under 25% for the year, as opposed to 2019 revenue.
The lasting impact on bars is yet to be seen, though some predict beloved bars might fall victim to permanent closure if more is not done to keep them in operation. Stringent regulations from the state had a significant impact on the bar industry in 2020, but the public perception of bars being a breeding ground for coronavirus spread may have an even longer term negative impact on bars, as the collective psychology of consumers and increased awareness of viral spread may keep them away. “I do believe we can all operate safely,” said Rosa, but that theory will not be proven without barflies willing to publicly imbibe in local snugs, taprooms and taverns.