The idea of squeezing into a crowded bar or nightclub has given many people nightmares over the last year. But, as more than half of US adults are vaccinated, more people are feeling more open to going out after a year alone at home.
“On the nightlife front, Vegas is surely leading the charge where the city and the hospitality industry have an open dialog and shared interest in reopening to full capacity soon and safely, given how dependent the market is on entertainment,” said Pavan Pardasani, Chief Marketing Officer of Tao Group Hospitality.
The good news for clubs and bars is that spring and summer temperatures will likely make it easy to reimagine the social experience with outdoor gatherings – a first step for those nervous about going out to crowded places.
“With the weather warming up in Los Angeles and COVID rates dropping daily, our outdoor venues are experiencing pre-pandemic-like interest and we are seeing the start of that in NYC as well,” added Pardasani. “Indoor nightclubs and bars in both those markets will take a little more time to recover as locals in those cities seem to be taking a cautious approach in their day to day outings. Certainly, we believe international travel will be limited, so over the next few months our seasonal cities like Los Angeles and Las Vegas will benefit tremendously from national and regional travel. It’s with that future in mind, we continue to explore expanding in those markets where the ability to offer outdoor spaces are the most in demand.”
“We believe many consumers will be eager to return to bars and clubs once it is safe to do so,” said John Barrett, Chief Commercial Officer at Pernod Ricard. “We are already starting to see on-premise returning in states like Texas and Florida and expect this trend to continue as more of the population gets vaccinated and local and state restrictions are lifted. Over the summer of 2020, we saw restaurants make the shift to outdoor dining in accordance with state and federal requirements. And consumers took advantage of that new option throughout the year, even if it meant eating outside in the winter under a heated lamp.”
Alcohol and beverage brands have been looking for ways to support their bar and nightclub partners throughout the pandemic through fundraising efforts, to-go cocktail programs and even featuring bartenders in content marketing video recipe series. Even as the beverage companies themselves generally did well during lockdowns with people continuing to drink at home and see friends on virtual cocktail hours, there is something to be said for the brand’s bottle being taken from the shelf and mixed and poured by an in-real-life professional bartender.
“Due to the social nature of human beings, I believe that we’ll see a return to bars and clubs in a post-COVID world, but I wouldn’t go as far as to oversimplify it to a return to what it was exactly before COVID,” said Luis Freitas, CRM & Omnichannel Director at Moet Hennessy USA. “There are new behaviors that consumers have developed during COVID that will fundamentally shift how they socialize and the role that bars and clubs play in their social life. There is an element of experience and expertise that only a bar can deliver, the same way that only a restaurant can deliver in the food territory. So, the reason people might be going back to bars might see a shift in the scale from ‘the place I see my friends’ to ‘the place where I can have a great drink without having to worry about how to open it, make it, etc.’”
“The Moet Hennessy brands will continue exploring how to bring our brands’ ethos to life in the consumers’ lives regardless of where they are. It’s about delivering against the expectations that we have with our brands and products wherever they are and on demand, enabling celebrations and special moments with the right product,” Freitas continued. “I personally look forward to the day that I can cheers with a glass of Veuve Clicquot in a bar with my closest friends in a safe way.”
Richard Oppy, VP Global Brands at AB InBev reminds us that so much happens over a beer.
“It is our firm belief that as the world starts to open up again, people will be euphoric about getting back to doing what they love,” said Oppy. “Remember what it was like to go to a pub with colleagues after work? Or a concert, a club, or sporting event with friends? There was nothing better.”
AB InBev has seen that in markets like China and Australia there was pent up demand for going out when the opportunity is available and the bars and pubs are able to open. “People rush back in droves,” he said.
AB InBev spent a lot of the global lockdowns supporting local bars so that when they did reopen, they would still be able to. Stella ran the Rally for Restaurants where consumers could purchase gift cards to their local restaurant to create cash flow. In Europe, AB InBev ran the Save Pub Life effort in which they matched the financial commitments made by consumers to raise $11.56 million for 24,000 venues around the globe. Additionally, Budweiser pulled its Super Bowl for the first time in 37 years to donate the money they would have spent on a 30 second spot to the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative towards vaccine awareness so that people could get back to bars, concerts, and sporting events again.
“At AB InBev, our purpose is to bring people together, and as the world opens up, our global brands are committed to driving creative and scalable solutions that will facilitate these much-missed experiences every step of the way,” Oppy said.
As bars and clubs fully reopen, Barrett anticipates consumers to have new expectations about value and convenience. “High prices for a premium drink at a bar or nightclub may be less desirable when consumers have been making similar items at home,” he said. “We expect consumers will want the overall experience of being in a bar or club to rise to the occasion from a value perspective. We also believe that convenience will be redefined to include safety. This will be true for both businesses and consumers. For businesses, it is about keeping employees safe and allowing them to be productive. For consumers, health and safety will be a key concern and component of the bar experience.”
“As we begin to see our environment shift, we are optimistic about the future,” Barrett continued. “The spirits industry has an opportunity to reinvent itself, in light of these trends, and define the bar and club experience of the future. We view it as our responsibility to help our brands and our business partners make the shift and succeed in this new world.”
