Bar Video Statistics

Key takeaways

1. In our November 13, 2026 read of YouTube’s 556 most-viewed ‘cocktail bar’, ‘bartender’ and ‘nightclub’ videos, bars, lounges and nightclubs speaking as themselves drew 0.1% of the views of the 382 on-topic videos, from 5 channels; cocktail, travel, food, nightlife and general creators drew 88.2%. (Mark Studios) See details
2. 25 on-topic videos named one bar, Bar Centifolia in Tokyo, or its bartender, and they drew 18.7% of the on-topic views. They came from 16 channels, none of them the bar’s own. (Mark Studios) See details
3. 47.6% of the on-topic videos ran 60 seconds or less, and those shorts drew 74.5% of the on-topic views. (Mark Studios) See details
4. No venue channel in the sample is in Florida, and no channel of any kind names Palm Beach, Broward or Martin County. The one U.S. bar channel, run by the owner of Ember & Alma, uploaded 108 videos in the year to November 13, 2026. (Mark Studios) See details
5. BLS counted 42,249 U.S. bars, taverns, cocktail lounges and nightclubs with employees in 2025: 2,031 in Florida, 85 in Palm Beach County, 172 in Broward and 23 in Martin. (BLS) See details
6. From 2014 to 2025 that count fell 4.1% nationally, 17.9% in Florida, 42.6% in Palm Beach County and 26.5% in Broward, and rose 15.0% in Martin (our calculation from BLS annual averages). (Mark Studios, from BLS) See details
7. That is 5.4 bars with employees per 100,000 residents in Palm Beach County, 8.5 in Broward and 13.8 in Martin, against 8.7 for Florida and 12.4 for the U.S. (our calculation). (Mark Studios, from BLS and Census) See details
8. 41.4% of U.S. drinking-place businesses had no paid employees in 2023: 28,799 nonemployers against 40,835 bars with employees (our calculation from Census counts). The newest count, for 2024, is 30,184 businesses with no employees. (Census Bureau) See details
9. Alcoholic drinks made 72.8% of the 2022 sales of U.S. bars with employees, drinks made with spirits alone 35.3%; food and soft drinks were 19.4%, and cover charges and admissions 1.5% (2022 Economic Census). (Census Bureau) See details
10. Bartenders held 45.7% of the 410,960 jobs at U.S. drinking places in May 2025 (187,630), at a median wage of $33,300 a year. (BLS) See details
11. Prices of alcoholic drinks away from home were 12.4% higher in October 2026 than their 2019 average by the CPI-U, and beer away from home 24.3% higher, against 32.0% for all items (our calculation from BLS indexes). (BLS) See details
12. Florida’s licence file held 3,143 current quota liquor licences for drinking on the premises on November 12, 2026: 215 in Palm Beach County, 330 in Broward and 22 in Martin (our count). (Mark Studios, from Florida DBPR) See details
13. Palm Beach County holds 420 quota licences of every kind and status, against 210 that Florida’s one-per-7,500-residents formula gives for its 2025 population. The statute keeps licences issued before the growth rule began, so the gap is not a breach (our count). (Mark Studios, from Florida DBPR) See details
14. Lucky Strike Entertainment ran 366 locations at June 28, 2026, 35 of them in Florida, and Dave & Buster’s ran 243 stores and put 4.4% of its fiscal 2025 revenue into advertising and marketing (SEC filings). (SEC filings) See details
15. 1,004 annual reports on Form 10-K filed from 2001 to 2025 say “nightclub” or “nightclubs”, peaking at 67 in 2009 and down to 21 in 2024 (our EDGAR count). (Mark Studios, from SEC EDGAR) See details
16. We found no counted source for “60% of bars fail in their first year”. The study it borrows from found 26.16% of Columbus, Ohio restaurants changed hands or closed in their first year (1996-1999), and BLS finds 85.3% of new accommodation and food places still open a year on. (Mark Studios) See details
17. The “bars lose 20% of their liquor” figure comes from a bartender-training blog citing “current estimates”, and the other versions from inventory-software sellers with no published sample; BevSpot’s 18–24% pour-cost range comes from its own customers’ data, with no sample size given. (Mark Studios) See details

Who gets the views on YouTube's most-viewed cocktail bar, bartender and nightclub videos?

Creators, not the bars: in our November 13, 2026 YouTube Data API read of the most-viewed videos for 'cocktail bar', 'bartender' and 'nightclub', bars, lounges and nightclubs speaking as themselves drew 0.1% of the on-topic views, while cocktail, bartender and flair creators drew 47.9% and travel, food and nightlife creators 25.9%. Cocktail, travel, food, nightlife and general creators together drew 88.2%; venues, restaurants and club and event promoters together drew 1.9%, and drinks brands 0.3% (our calculation).

This is a view-sorted global search snapshot, not a census of bar video: we took the top four pages of YouTube's view-sorted results for each phrase that day, 556 unique videos from 327 channels. 382 of them were about bars, bartending, drinks served in bars, nightclubs or nightlife, and they drew 62.8% of all views in the sample; the median one had 3,554,806 views (our calculation).

0 on-topic videos came from music artists, DJs or labels: songs and DJ sets posted by music channels count as off-topic here, and the DJ sets we kept were posted by venues or by a video studio filming one club's nights (our calculation).

Views bunch at the top. Purin Oji, a Japanese food creator, drew 11.2% of all on-topic views with five shorts, and the three most-viewed channels drew 27.9%; the ten most-viewed drew 61.1%. Michelle The Bartender, a bartender creator, had 39 videos in the on-topic sample, more than any other channel (our calculation).

One Tokyo bar stands out without a channel of its own: 25 on-topic videos named Bar Centifolia or its bartender Yuzo Komai, the 'samurai bartender', in their title or description. They came from 16 channels, none of them the bar's, and drew 18.7% of the on-topic views (our calculation).

How do bars and nightclubs themselves do in YouTube's results?

Barely: 5 venue channels made the top four pages for any of the three phrases on November 13, 2026, and they uploaded 5 of the 382 on-topic videos, 0.1% of the views. 3 of them were nightclubs, and 1 was placed in the United States (our calculation).

The most-viewed venue channel was PATS RECORDS, a channel of the PATS nightclub group in Indonesia, with 1,750,770 views on one hour-long DJ set filmed at its PATS X club. Lui Fernandes, head bartender and owner of Ember & Alma Cocktail Bar, was second, with 1,013,889 views on a three-minute video asking whether craft-cocktail prices are a ripoff. Move Nightclub Exeter had 432,965 views on one hour-long DJ set, and STAY BAR., a bar's own channel in Japan, had 296,861 on one daiquiri short. Teaching the trade does better: 9 bartending schools, educators and bar consultants drew 4.9% of the on-topic views, and 3 drinks brands drew 0.3% (our calculation).

Florida: 0 venue channels in the sample are in Florida by their own stated place, and 0 channels of any class name Palm Beach, Broward or Martin County. 3 on-topic titles named a Florida place, all of them news or police-footage videos about Orlando nightclubs, two of them on the Pulse shooting (our calculation).

How much of YouTube's "nightclub" and "bartender" results is about bars?

Less than half of 'nightclub': 57.8% of the unique videos YouTube returned for 'nightclub' on November 13, 2026 were not about bars, bartending or nightclubs, against 18.6% for 'bartender' and 11.7% for 'cocktail bar'. 27 of the off-topic 'bartender' videos were songs titled Bartender, by T-Pain, Lady A, James Blunt, Rehab, Morgan Wallen and others. In the 'nightclub' list, 32 off-topic videos were games, mostly GTA Online nightclub guides and nightclub-security and Nightclub Simulator play-throughs, and 38 were songs (our calculation).

Each phrase pulls a different crowd. Cocktail, bartender and flair creators drew 53.5% of the on-topic views in the 'bartender' list, travel, food and nightlife creators drew 42.1% in the 'cocktail bar' list, and news, TV and media drew 19.5% in the 'nightclub' list (our calculation).

Where are the channels behind the most-viewed bar videos?

The United States by views: channels placed in the United States by their own text or country setting drew 54.2% of the on-topic views in our November 13, 2026 sample, from 59 channels, and channels placed in Japan drew 13.8%, most of it Tokyo bar visits by food creators (our calculation).

How long are the most-viewed bar videos, and what are they about?

Mostly a minute or less: 47.6% of the on-topic videos in our November 13, 2026 sample ran 60 seconds or less, and they drew 74.5% of the on-topic views; the median short one had 3,708,333 views, against 3,310,748 for the median longer one. 68.6% of the on-topic videos were published in 2024 or later (our calculation).

Drinks lead the titles: 140 on-topic titles named a cocktail, a shot, a drink or a recipe (37.2% of the views). 36 named bartender life, a shift, tips or a POV from behind the bar, and 30 named flair, tricks, a skill or a performance, including the samurai bartender (10.4%). 28 named a DJ, a party, nightlife, clubbing or a night out (2.3%); 22 rated or ranked bars, clubs or drinks; 16 named a fire, a shooting, a death, a crime or a court case; 13 named a tour, a visit or going inside; 12 carried a price or named cheap, expensive or luxury; 11 named a prank, a challenge or a versus; 10 named IDs, underage drinkers, spiked drinks, angel shots or cutting someone off; 7 named a fight, a bouncer, security or being turned away at the door; 6 named the business of owning, opening or closing a bar or club; and 3 named Bar Rescue. The formats bars sell with are missing from the top results: 0 titles named a happy hour, a drink special or a menu (our calculation).

How often does a U.S. bar in YouTube's top results post?

About twice a week, for the one we found: Lui Fernandes, head bartender and owner of Ember & Alma Cocktail Bar and the only U.S.-placed venue channel in our sample, uploaded 108 videos in the year to November 13, 2026, 2.1 a week. 10.2% of them ran 60 seconds or less, and the median upload had 11,197 views; 2 reached six figures and the top one had 1,014,712. 46.3% of the year's titles named a cocktail, a shot, a drink or a recipe. This is one channel from one search, not a survey of U.S. bars (our calculation).

Method and limits: YouTube Data API, read November 13, 2026, three search phrases, global (no region filter). We did not watch the videos; channel classes were set by hand from each channel's own text, and the uploader decides the class, so a creator's or TV show's visit to a bar counts as the creator's or the show's, not the bar's. We do not name private patrons that bars, creators or TV shows film. Personal uploads by private people with no creator or business identity (night-out, party and bar-visit clips, anonymous footage of patrons) and channels built around children (a family channel and a children's creator group, whose videos are off-topic) are published as counts only, 18 videos from 15 channels, with no title, channel, date or views; shares on this page include their views. 0 sample videos were set by their uploaders as made for kids. YouTube's uploader label for altered or synthetic content appeared on 0 videos (the field was absent on every one). Many titles are in Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Vietnamese, Hindi or Italian; the title topics read their English words, hashtags and a few listed words, so topic counts are floors. View counts are lifetime snapshots and include ad views. Restaurants and brewery, winery and distillery tasting rooms have their own pages: food video marketing statistics, brewery video statistics, winery video statistics and distillery video statistics. The data are in youtube-bar-videos.csv, youtube-bar-channels.csv and youtube-bar-us-venue-channels.csv.

What do studies say about bars' and nightclubs' own social media posts?

The few studies that read bars' own posts found heavy drink promotion, and linked it to how much students drink. In a 2020 Canadian study, a probability sample of 477 students at four universities named their drinking habits and favourite drinking venues, and a second sample of 78 students rated those venues' Facebook and Instagram posts against Canada's broadcast code for alcohol advertising (the CRTC Code) (Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada, Paradis et al., 2020). Popular venues were overwhelmingly posting content that broke the code, and students who preferred venues with less compliant posts drank on more days and drank more per occasion (Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada); the study measured associations, not cause. In a 2019 study in one city in North West England, researchers analysed the social media posts of 12 nightlife venues and found venues aimed drink promotions at students through social media, posters inside the venue and promoters on the street, and that those promotions often decided which venues students visited and what they drank (Addictive Behaviors Reports, Ross-Houle & Quigg, Liverpool John Moores University, 2019).

Exposure is common among young adults. In a telephone survey of 675 Hong Kong residents aged 18 to 34, fielded June to August 2021, 52.3% had seen alcohol marketing on social media in the past month (Drug and Alcohol Review, Chan et al., The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2024). Whether watching it changes norms is less clear: a 2026 three-wave panel of 883 adolescents aged 14 to 18 found no evidence that exposure to alcohol-related TikTok content changed their perceived drinking norms over time within the same person (Health Communication, Tribelhorn & Friemel, University of Zurich, 2026). Not all drinking content on short video comes from venues: in a 2024 content analysis of 103 highly viewed TikTok videos tagged #borg, a home-made party drink in a gallon jug, alcohol was visible in 78 (Health Promotion Journal of Australia, Mandzufas et al., 2024). We found no peer-reviewed study in PubMed that measured U.S. bars' or nightclubs' own Instagram or TikTok videos; the closest are the Canadian and English studies above.

How common are happy hours and drink specials at bars?

Very common near colleges: in a 2018 national telephone survey of 403 randomly selected bars and nightclubs near large residential public universities in every U.S. state, 65% had happy hour specials (Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, LoParco et al., University of North Texas Health Science Center, 2022). The cheapest draft beer averaged $3.62 and the cheapest vodka shot $4.77 (Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research). Bars in states with no law banning happy hour specials outright were more likely to offer them (Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research). The pattern is old: in the 2001 Harvard College Alcohol Study, observers visited 830 on-premise establishments around U.S. colleges, and almost three quarters of them offered specials on weekends (American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Kuo et al., Harvard School of Public Health, 2003). A 2021 pilot that watched 13 bars in the downtown nightlife district of a small southeastern U.S. city counted more alcohol promotions inside the bars than outside (Health Education & Behavior, Cox et al., East Carolina University, 2022).

Studies tie specials to more drinking, but not always. In a 2014 U.S. study of 1,423 bar-going respondents in a college survey, drinking more because of happy hours or bar specials was one of the strongest predictors of negative alcohol-related events (Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, Baldwin et al., University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2014). A 2019 ethnography by a team of 12 researchers in pubs, bars and nightclubs in four Danish cities listed how venues sell more drinks: advertising, happy hours and 'all you can drink' offers, bartenders' flirtation and encouragement, shot glasses and pitchers, and room layouts, used most in cheap venues with the youngest patrons (International Journal of Drug Policy, Tutenges & Bøhling, Lund University, 2019). The oldest study we found points the other way: when Ontario banned happy hours, observers in five taverns saw no significant change in how much patrons drank (Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Smart & Adlaf, 1986). Florida's own rules on drink specials are in the rules section of this page.

How often do people go to bars?

On an ordinary day, few do: in a 2014-2018 household travel survey of 23,512 people in Victoria, Australia, 1.6% travelled to a bar on their survey day, and most bar trips went outside the person's home area (Drug and Alcohol Review, Mehranbod et al., Columbia University, 2024). Bars matter more for some groups. In the 1997 and 1999 Harvard College Alcohol Study of 12,830 U.S. college students who had drunk alcohol in the past 30 days, 68% drank at off-campus bars (Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Harford et al., 2002). In a 2022 survey of 860 adult drinkers in California's East Bay, higher-income adults drank more often in bars, clubs, restaurants and stadiums, and heavier drinkers drank more often at bars (Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Sumetsky et al., 2022). Across 7,956 U.S. adults in the 2015 and 2020 National Alcohol Surveys, frequent drinking at bars and parties went with higher odds of very heavy drinking at every age (Alcohol and Alcoholism, Cook et al., Alcohol Research Group, 2024).

The trade is shifting toward drinking at home in Great Britain: drinking diaries from 162,296 men and 138,452 women between 2001 and 2019 showed a smaller and falling share of drinking occasions in pubs, bars and other on-trade venues, though younger cohorts drank a larger share of their occasions in modern bars and nightclubs (Drug and Alcohol Review, Hardie et al., University of Glasgow, 2022). Where bars cluster, nights get busier for police: across Sweden's 290 municipalities in 2012-2021, a 10% rise in the number of venues licensed to serve after 1 am went with a 0.46% rise in nighttime emergency calls to police (Drug and Alcohol Review, Norström et al., 2025). Every study in this section counts self-reports or associations; none measured a single bar's customers.

How many Americans drink, and is it falling?

Fewer than half drink in a given month, and the share is falling: in 2025, 44.4% of people in the U.S. aged 12 or older drank alcohol in the past month, down from 47.4% in 2021, according to the federal National Survey on Drug Use and Health (SAMHSA, 2025 NSDUH). Binge drinking fell from 21.7% to 19.5% over the same years (SAMHSA). In 2025, young adults aged 18 to 25 were slightly less likely than adults 26 or older to drink in a given month, at 46.2%, but more likely to binge drink, at 26.7% (SAMHSA).

Florida drinks a little less than the typical state. In CDC's 2025 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 49.49% of Florida adults had at least one drink in the past 30 days, against a median of 50.2% across states, DC and territories (CDC BRFSS). 12.67% of Florida adults binge drank, against a median of 14.0% (CDC BRFSS), down 3.1 percentage points from 15.8% in 2019 (our calculation). Among Florida adults aged 25 to 34, 22.31% binge drank, the highest of any age group (CDC BRFSS).

Gallup's long-running poll shows the same turn. In July 2026, 54% of U.S. adults said they drink alcohol, level with 2025's record low and down from 62% in 2023 (Gallup), in telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,200 adults (Gallup). Adults aged 18 to 34 were the least likely to drink, at 50% (Gallup). Drinkers had a mean of 3.2 drinks in the past week (Gallup); 36% most often drink beer, 32% liquor and 30% wine (Gallup). 17% of adults drank a non-alcoholic beer, wine or spirit instead of alcohol in the past year (Gallup), and 51% said one or two drinks a day is bad for health (Gallup). These are counts of all drinking, at home and out; none of these surveys reports how much of it happens in bars.

How many people work in U.S. bars, and what are they paid?

U.S. drinking places (NAICS 722410: bars, taverns, cocktail lounges and nightclubs) employed an annual average of 408,723 private-sector workers in 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), which counts jobs covered by unemployment insurance (BLS). The average weekly wage was $523 (BLS), before inflation and counting part-time jobs as whole jobs. Tips are in that figure only where employers report them as wages, and owners who pay themselves no wage are in none of these counts.

The pandemic emptied bars and the jobs came back. QCEW counted 401,465 bar jobs in 2019 (BLS) and 270,757 in 2020 (BLS), a fall of 32.6% (our calculation); by 2025 employment was 1.8% above 2019 (our calculation), while the number of bars was lower. The Census Bureau's 2022 Economic Census counted 441,817 paid employees at drinking places in March 2022 (Census); it counts a March pay period from the Business Register, so it does not match the QCEW annual average.

How many bar jobs are there in Florida and in Palm Beach, Broward and Martin counties?

Florida's drinking places employed an annual average of 26,069 private-sector workers in 2025, at an average weekly wage of $665, per BLS QCEW (BLS). Broward County had the most bar jobs of the three South Florida counties and Palm Beach County paid the most. Each count below is a QCEW 2025 annual average of private jobs covered by unemployment insurance.

Average weekly wages are low because many bar jobs are part-time and much of a bartender's pay is cash tips that employers do not report: QCEW divides reported pay by every job, full- or part-time. With so few jobs, Martin County's average can move a lot from one year to the next.

Who works in bars, and what do bartenders earn?

Bartenders are the largest group: they held 45.7% of the wage and salary jobs in U.S. drinking places in May 2025 (our calculation), 187,630 of 410,960 (BLS), according to BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Their median annual wage in drinking places was $33,300 (BLS). OEWS publishes the industry as NAICS 722400 Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages), which holds the one industry 722410; it does not publish a separate 722410 file. OEWS counts wage and salary workers only, and counts tips only as employers report them.

Most bartenders do not work in bars. OEWS counted 756,390 bartender jobs across all U.S. industries in May 2025 (BLS), so only 24.8% were in drinking places (our calculation); the rest pour in restaurants, hotels, casinos, clubs and stadiums. The all-industry median annual wage was $34,340 (BLS). Florida had 55,170 bartender jobs (BLS) at a median of $35,150 (BLS); the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area, which includes Palm Beach and Broward counties, had 14,510 (BLS) at a median of $34,700 (BLS); and the Port St. Lucie metro area, which includes Martin County, had 1,050 (BLS). BLS publishes no bartender estimate for the West Palm Beach or Fort Lauderdale metropolitan divisions on its data API.

How much more do drinks at a bar cost than before the pandemic?

Alcoholic drinks bought away from home cost 12.4% more in October 2026 than in 2019, by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) (our calculation): the index averaged 205.490 in 2019 (BLS), 230.525 in 2025 (BLS) and stood at 231.031 in October 2026, the newest month (BLS). Prices overall rose much faster: the all-items index rose 32.0% over the same span, from 255.657 (BLS) to 337.511 (BLS) (our calculation). These indexes price drinks at every kind of on-premises seller (restaurants, hotels and stadiums as well as bars).

Beer rose most. Beer, ale and other malt drinks away from home rose 24.3% from the 2019 average to October 2026, from 230.114 (BLS) to 285.956 (BLS); wine away from home rose 7.9%, from 194.772 (BLS) to 210.247 (BLS); and distilled spirits away from home rose 4.7%, from 171.782 (BLS) to 179.898 (BLS) (our calculations). Each index has its own base, so compare the changes, not the index levels.

Over the latest year, bar drink prices barely moved. From September 2025 to September 2026, BLS reports alcoholic beverages away from home up 0.2% (BLS), beer away from home up 2.2% (BLS), wine away from home down 1.2% (BLS) and distilled spirits away from home down 0.7% (BLS), while all items rose 3.7% (BLS). BLS did not collect October 2025 prices during the 2025 shutdown, so no change over the year to October 2026 exists.

How many bars are there in the United States?

The United States had an annual average of 42,249 private drinking places with employees in 2025 (NAICS 722410 Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages): bars, taverns, pubs, cocktail lounges and nightclubs whose main business is serving drinks), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) (BLS). That is 12.4 bars per 100,000 residents (our calculation, against the Census Bureau's July 1, 2025 population). Each establishment is one location, so a bar group with five venues counts five times, and owners who run a bar with no paid staff are not counted. A bar that mainly sells meals is counted as a restaurant, and a brewery, winery or distillery tasting room is counted with its maker, so this is a count of places that are mainly bars, not of every place with a bar.

The count is drifting down slowly. QCEW counted 44,051 drinking places in 2014, the first year of its open data (BLS), and 42,912 in 2019 (BLS), so 2025 was 4.1% below 2014 (our calculation). The Census Bureau's County Business Patterns shows a longer fall: 50,205 drinking places with paid employees in 1986, under the older SIC 5813 code (Census); 52,618 in 1998, the first year on the NAICS code (Census); and 40,835 in 2023 (Census), 22.4% fewer than in 1998 (our calculation).

Most bars are small. 15,813 of the 2023 drinking places with paid employees, or 38.7%, had fewer than five employees in the March pay period (Census) (our calculation); in Florida it was 625 (Census) of 1,835, or 34.1% (our calculation from County Business Patterns (Census)).

How many bars are there in Florida and in Palm Beach, Broward and Martin counties?

Florida averaged 2,031 private drinking places with employees in 2025, per BLS QCEW (BLS): 8.7 per 100,000 residents, below the national rate of 12.4 (our calculation). Palm Beach County had the lowest rate of the three South Florida counties, 5.4 per 100,000 residents, and Martin County the highest, 13.8. Florida's count fell 17.9% from 2014 to 2025 and Palm Beach County's fell 42.6% (our calculations), far faster than the national 4.1%.

The per-100,000 rates divide each count by the Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 resident population estimates for July 1, 2025: 341,784,857 for the United States (Census Bureau), 23,462,518 for Florida, 1,575,726 for Palm Beach County, 2,013,317 for Broward County and 166,272 for Martin County (Census Bureau).

Rates per 100,000 residents and changes are our calculations. The counts are small, so one bar opening or closing moves Martin County's figures a lot. Many South Florida venues with a full bar are classed as restaurants or hotels, so these counts and the number of liquor licences in each county (see the licences section) measure different things.

How many bars are run by their owners with no employees?

About 41.4% of U.S. drinking-place businesses had no paid employees in 2023: 28,799 nonemployer drinking places (Census) against 40,835 drinking places with paid employees (our calculation, Census Nonemployer Statistics 2023 against County Business Patterns 2023). In Florida the share was 58.4%, and in Palm Beach and Broward counties about two in three: 67.7% and 67.6% (our calculations). Nonemployer Statistics is built from IRS business tax records and counts businesses that report receipts but pay no wages, most of them sole proprietors; it publishes drinking places at the five-digit level (NAICS 72241, which holds the one industry 722410). A nonemployer is a tax filer, not a venue: it can be a bar its owners staff themselves, or a business with no public bar at all, so the share is an upper bound on owner-run bars.

The newest count is higher: 30,184 nonemployer drinking places in 2024 (Census), up 4.8% in a year (our calculation), and 2,918 in Florida (Census), up from 2,575 in 2023 (Census).

How much do bars sell, and what do they sell?

U.S. drinking places with paid employees had sales of $33,653,442 thousand (about $33.7 billion) in 2022, per the 2022 Economic Census (Census), from 40,911 establishments (Census): about $823,000 per bar (our calculation). That was 40.6% more than the $23,936,346 thousand of 2017 (Census), when the census counted 39,859 drinking places (Census), before inflation (our calculation). Florida had 1,871 drinking places with paid employees in 2022 (Census). The Census Bureau's Annual Integrated Economic Survey put 2024 receipts of drinking-place firms at $34,933,743 thousand (Census); that survey publishes no advertising expense for drinking places or any other food service industry (the Census Data API returns no value).

Drinks are most of the money. Alcoholic drinks served on the premises made 72.8% of drinking places' 2022 sales (Census), down from 75.0% in 2017 (Census). Drinks with distilled spirits were the largest line at 35.3% (Census), beer not brewed on site 23.7% (Census) and wine 10.6% (Census). Food, snacks and soft drinks made 19.4% (Census). Cover charges and other admissions to dance halls and clubs made 1.5% (Census), less than gambling machines at 1.7% (Census), per the Economic Census product lines.

How many new bars survive?

BLS does not publish survival rates for bars on their own; its Business Employment Dynamics tables cover the whole accommodation and food services sector (NAICS 72: hotels, restaurants, caterers and bars together). Of the establishments in that sector that opened in the year ended March 2025, 85.3% were still operating a year later, in March 2026 (BLS). Of those that opened in the year ended March 2023, 68.8% were still open three years later (BLS), and of the 2021 cohort, 56.3% survived five years (BLS). These count locations with employees only; owners who work alone are not in them.

How many liquor licences do Florida bars sell under?

Florida had 3,143 current quota liquor licences for drinking on the premises on November 12, 2026, the licence a stand-alone bar needs to pour spirits (our count of the retail licence file of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation's Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, DBPR). A licence covers one premises, not one bar: restaurants, hotels, clubs and venues hold the same licences, and the file does not say which premises is a bar. Many more places sell drinks under licences outside the quota. The same file holds 9,454 current special food service licences, which let a restaurant serve liquor, 1,940 other special liquor licences for hotels, bowling alleys, airports, civic centres, boats and similar named premises, 13,326 current beer and wine licences for drinking on the premises and 187 beer-only ones (our count). Off-premises beer and wine stores hold another 18,313 package licences (our count).

The special licences come with conditions a bar does not meet. DBPR's licence chart (updated 2025) says a special food service licence needs a restaurant with at least 120 physical seats (DBPR) that takes at least 51 percent of its food and beverage revenue from food and soft drinks (DBPR). A special hotel licence needs 100 guest rooms or more in all but the smallest counties (DBPR), and a special bowling alley licence needs 12 or more lanes (DBPR). A bar without a kitchen of that size needs a quota licence for spirits, or a beer and wine licence.

The state's annual licence fees rise with county population; the top tier applies in the largest counties. The quota licence for drinking on the premises costs up to $1,820 a year (DBPR) and the quota package licence up to $1,365 (DBPR). A beer and wine licence for drinking on the premises costs up to $392 (DBPR), a beer-only one up to $280 (DBPR), and a beer and wine package licence up to $196 (DBPR). These are state fees, not what a quota licence sells for between businesses.

Broward has the most quota bar licences per resident of the three counties, and Palm Beach and Martin sit close to the state rate (our calculation from DBPR's file and Census Bureau 2025 population estimates). "Current" means the status DBPR's public records page keys as Current. Quota licences held in escrow, status 41 (DBPR), are not in these counts: an escrowed licence exists but is not in use at a premises. County is the premises county DBPR records.

How many quota licences does Florida's population formula allow, and how many exist?

Florida's quota licences already outnumber the one-per-7,500-residents formula by a wide margin. DBPR says Florida law lets it issue no more than one quota licence for every 7,500 residents in a county (DBPR). On the Census Bureau's 2025 population, that formula gives Florida 3,128 quota licences (our calculation), but DBPR's file holds 6,152 (our count). The count takes in every quota licence in the file, package and on-premises, in every status the file carries (current, escrow, delinquent and temporary), and no special licences.

The gap is not a sign that anyone broke the rule. The quota statute keeps licences issued before October 2000 and creates new ones only as a county grows: DBPR says one new quota licence is created for every population increase of 7,500 in a county (DBPR). The statute counts people with the state's own April population estimate, not the Census figure we use, so DBPR's own numbers can differ a little.

Growth adds only a few licences a year. DBPR offered 63 new quota licences across 30 counties in its 2026 drawing (DBPR), 52 in 26 counties in 2025 (DBPR), 54 in 32 counties in 2024 (DBPR) and 89 in 30 counties in 2023 (DBPR). Broward and Palm Beach were on the 2024, 2025 and 2026 lists; Martin was on none of them. Demand far outruns supply: for the 2022 entry period DBPR received more than 26,000 entries for 35 licences in 19 counties (DBPR). Winning the drawing gives only the right to apply. Earlier drawings selected 51 entrants from the 2019 entry period (DBPR), 62 from 2020 (DBPR) and 49 from 2021 (DBPR).

New quota liquor licences carry a one-time fee of $10,750 that goes to the Florida Department of Children and Families (DBPR). DBPR says those Hughes Act transfers came to $559,000 in fiscal year 2024-25 (DBPR) and $365,000 in 2025-26 (DBPR).

Why do bar counts differ?

Each counter counts something different, so the U.S. bar count runs from 40,835 (Census County Business Patterns, 2023) to 42,249 (BLS QCEW, 2025) for bars with employees, plus 30,184 owner-only drinking-place businesses in 2024. BLS QCEW and Census County Business Patterns count locations with employees, and the Economic Census counts them only in census years; Nonemployer Statistics counts businesses with no employees from tax records; Florida's licence file counts licences to sell alcohol, which restaurants, hotels and stores hold too; and the bar and entertainment chains' own filings count their own venues. All the federal counts use the same industry, NAICS 722410 Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages), which leaves out restaurants with a bar and makers' tasting rooms.

The 2022 Economic Census county counts come from the same Census Bureau release (Census). QCEW and County Business Patterns use the same code but different sources (state unemployment insurance records averaged over the year, against the Census Bureau's Business Register in the March pay period), so they do not match. Adding the 28,799 nonemployers of 2023 to the 40,835 employer bars of the same year makes 41.4% of all drinking-place businesses owner-only, and a nonemployer filer need not run a public bar.

How often do public companies mention nightclubs and cocktail bars in their annual reports?

1,004 Form 10-K annual reports filed from 2001 to 2025 contained the word “nightclub” or “nightclubs”, by our count with the SEC’s EDGAR full-text search (our calculation). 260 companies filed them (our calculation). The count peaked at 67 10-Ks filed in 2009 (our calculation) and has fallen since: 21 in 2024, 20 in 2025 and 19 from January 1 to November 13, 2026 (our calculation). Over the ten years 2001-2010 there were 432 such 10-Ks; over the ten years 2016-2025 there were 299 (our calculation).

“Cocktail bar” is much rarer. Only 29 Form 10-Ks filed from 2001 to 2025 used “cocktail bar” or “cocktail bars” (our calculation), from 11 companies, most of them Las Vegas casino owners such as Mandalay Resort Group, MGM Mirage and the Stratosphere (our calculation). 0 were filed from 2015 through 2024 (our calculation). The phrase came back in 2025 with two new filers that run cocktail bars themselves: Seaport Entertainment Group and Venu Holding.

How we counted: we queried EDGAR full-text search (efts.sec.gov) on November 13, 2026 for each exact phrase, read every page of hits, and counted each Form 10-K once by its filing year, even when the phrase appears in several of its documents. EDGAR full-text search covers filings from 2001 on. Older 10-KSB and 10-K405 reports are counted in their own columns, not in the 10-K totals. The count misses “night club” written as two words and other wordings such as “bar”, “lounge” or “tavern”, and almost every bar in the country is a private business that files nothing with the SEC. The per-year counts, filer names and query links are in edgar-bar-10k-counts.csv.

Which companies mention nightclubs and cocktail bars in their 10-Ks now, and why?

64 Form 10-K filings filed from January 2024 to November 13, 2026 contained “nightclub(s)” or “cocktail bar(s)”, from 28 companies (our calculation). We read the passage around every mention and classed each company. Only 4 run bars or nightclubs themselves or license a nightclub brand: RCI Hospitality, Scores Holding, Seaport Entertainment Group and Venu Holding (our calculation). 7 are casino, resort, hotel or cruise operators that name nightclubs at their own properties or in their agreements, such as Caesars, Boyd Gaming, Carnival and Wynn Resorts (our calculation). 5 are entertainment or dining venue chains (Dave & Buster’s, Bowlero, Pinstripes, Topgolf Callaway and the cinema owner Reading International) that list nightclubs among their competitors (our calculation). 6 sell to bars and nightclubs or earn money from them: ID-check software, liability insurance, music publishing, beverages and photo software (our calculation). The rest name nightclubs in passing: two real estate trusts naming tenants, a lease’s list of banned uses, smoking bans, and one director’s biography. The passage, class and filing link for each hit are in edgar-bar-10k-contexts.csv.

How many venues do the public bar and entertainment chains run, and how many are in Florida?

Lucky Strike Entertainment (formerly Bowlero) runs the most: 366 bowling and entertainment locations at June 28, 2026 (Lucky Strike Entertainment Form 10-K, fiscal 2026), 35 of them in Florida (Lucky Strike Entertainment Form 10-K, fiscal 2026), or 9.6% (our calculation). Dave & Buster’s owned and operated 243 stores at February 3, 2026 (Dave & Buster’s Form 10-K, fiscal 2025), 13 in Florida (Dave & Buster’s Form 10-K, fiscal 2025), or 5.3% (our calculation). RCI Hospitality had 70 venues open at September 30, 2025 (RCI Hospitality Form 10-K, fiscal 2025), 4 in Florida (RCI Hospitality Form 10-K, fiscal 2025), or 5.7% (our calculation).

Venue counts are each company’s own, at its fiscal year end, and they count different things: Lucky Strike counts bowling centers and water parks, Twin Hospitality includes franchised restaurants, and Ark counts fast food concepts separately. Ark’s Florida restaurants include the Rustic Inn in Dania Beach and Shuckers in Jensen Beach. Twin Hospitality’s and Pinstripes’ newest 10-Ks on EDGAR are for fiscal 2024. Topgolf is now dated too: Topgolf Callaway Brands sold a 60% stake in Topgolf to funds managed by Leonard Green & Partners, effective January 1, 2026 (Callaway Golf Company Form 10-K, 2025), and renamed itself Callaway.

How much of a public bar company’s revenue comes from alcohol?

At RCI Hospitality, sales of alcoholic beverages were 43.7% of total revenues in fiscal 2025 (RCI Hospitality Form 10-K, fiscal 2025), on total revenues of $279,434 thousand (RCI Hospitality Form 10-K, fiscal 2025). The share was 42.7% in its Nightclubs segment (RCI Hospitality Form 10-K, fiscal 2025) and 52.0% at its Bombshells sports bars (RCI Hospitality Form 10-K, fiscal 2025).

At the entertainment chains, games and lanes earn more than the bar. Dave & Buster’s entertainment revenues were 62.9% of total revenues (Dave & Buster’s Form 10-K, fiscal 2025); its alcoholic beverage revenues were $243.1 million (Dave & Buster’s Form 10-K, fiscal 2025), or 11.6% of its $2,102.8 million of revenue (Dave & Buster’s Form 10-K, fiscal 2025). Food and beverage together were 35% of Lucky Strike’s revenues (Lucky Strike Entertainment Form 10-K, fiscal 2026), on total revenues of $1,245,318 thousand (Lucky Strike Entertainment Form 10-K, fiscal 2026). Caesars says the food and beverage operations at its casinos, including dining venues, bars, nightclubs and lounges, were about 15% of its total net revenues in 2025 (Caesars Entertainment Form 10-K, 2025). Ark Restaurants’ total revenues were $165,751 thousand in fiscal 2025 (Ark Restaurants Form 10-K, fiscal 2025).

How much do public bar and entertainment companies spend on advertising?

Dave & Buster’s spent $93.0 million on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2025 (Dave & Buster’s Form 10-K, fiscal 2025), 4.4% of its revenue (our calculation) and up 15.8% on the year before (our calculation). The smaller companies, each from its own filing:

• RCI Hospitality: $11,512 thousand of advertising and marketing (RCI Hospitality Form 10-K, fiscal 2025), 4.1% of total revenues as the filing states (RCI Hospitality Form 10-K, fiscal 2025).
• Twin Hospitality Group: $19,751 thousand of advertising in fiscal 2024 (Twin Hospitality Group Form 10-K, fiscal 2024), 5.6% of total revenue as the filing states (Twin Hospitality Group Form 10-K, fiscal 2024).
• Venu Holding: about $6,102,505 of advertising in 2025 (Venu Holding Form 10-K, 2025), up 71.0% on 2024 (our calculation), the year it opened Brohan’s, a craft-cocktail bar, in November 2025 (Venu Holding Form 10-K, 2025).
• Seaport Entertainment Group: $3.9 million of marketing and advertising in 2025 (Seaport Entertainment Group Form 10-K, 2025).
• Pinstripes: $5,868 thousand of advertising costs in fiscal 2024 (Pinstripes Holdings Form 10-K, fiscal 2024).

The companies count advertising differently (some add giveaways, broadcasts or new-venue marketing, some put it inside other operating costs), so the figures compare only roughly. Lucky Strike and Ark give no advertising total in their 10-Ks.

What do bar and entertainment companies’ filings say about social media, video and influencers?

Dave & Buster’s gives the longest list. Its media include linear and connected television, “social and digital video marketing”, programmatic displays, paid social and influencers (Dave & Buster’s Form 10-K, fiscal 2025). Lucky Strike uses search engines, mobile, online videos and social media platforms to attract and retain guests (Lucky Strike Entertainment Form 10-K, fiscal 2026).

• Twin Peaks’ corporate TikTok account, launched in 2022, had over 300,000 followers at December 29, 2024 (Twin Hospitality Group Form 10-K, fiscal 2024), and the company says its waitstaff “often command large social media followings” (Twin Hospitality Group Form 10-K, fiscal 2024).
• Seaport Entertainment says its rooftop concert venue at the Seaport had about 191,000 Instagram followers at the end of 2025 (Seaport Entertainment Group Form 10-K, 2025). It runs restaurants, “cocktail bars, nightlife and entertainment venues” (Seaport Entertainment Group Form 10-K, 2025).
• Pinstripes planned to grow on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and X (Pinstripes Holdings Form 10-K, fiscal 2024).
• Venu Holding lists “Use of social media and influencers” among its risk factors (Venu Holding Form 10-K, 2025). RCI Hospitality’s media group owns more than a dozen industry and social media websites (RCI Hospitality Form 10-K, fiscal 2025).

None of these filings reports video views, video budgets or sales from video.

What do their filings say about dram-shop liability?

7 of the nine newest bar and entertainment 10-Ks we read mention “dram shop” statutes, the laws that can make a business that served alcohol liable for harm an intoxicated guest later causes (our calculation). RCI Hospitality says “dram shop” statutes apply to it (RCI Hospitality Form 10-K, fiscal 2025); Dave & Buster’s says it is subject to “dram shop” statutes in certain states (Dave & Buster’s Form 10-K, fiscal 2025); Ark Restaurants says it is subject to “dram-shop” statutes in most of the states where it operates (Ark Restaurants Form 10-K, fiscal 2025). Twin Peaks was the subject of five lawsuits alleging violations of dram shop statutes at the end of 2024 (Twin Hospitality Group Form 10-K, fiscal 2024). Seaport Entertainment’s and Callaway’s 10-Ks do not use the phrase. These are the companies’ own risk statements; a count of them says nothing about how any claim turned out. Florida’s own dram-shop rule is covered in the rules section below.

How many full liquor licences can a Florida county have?

Florida caps its quota liquor licences at one for each 7,500 residents of a county, under s. 561.20(1) of the 2026 Florida Statutes (Florida Legislature). The cap covers the licences issued under s. 565.02(1)(a)-(f), the ones that let a bar pour liquor as well as beer and wine. Since October 1, 2000, a new quota licence opens for each 7,500-resident rise above the county's population in the April 1, 1999 state estimate, and after that from the last regular state estimate (Florida Legislature). A county that allows liquor sales still gets at least three licenses whatever its size (Florida Legislature). Statute text as read on November 13, 2026; this is a summary, not legal advice.

• New quota licences go to a public drawing. Under rule 61A-5.0105, the entry period starts on the third Monday in August and runs for 45 days in any year a county has a licence free (Florida Administrative Code).
• No quota vendor may hold an interest in more than 30 percent of the quota licences a county is allowed (Florida Legislature).
• A quota licence must be used. The state may suspend or revoke one whose premises are not open for at least 6 hours a day for 120 days or more in any rolling year (Florida Legislature).
• Restaurants and hotels can sell liquor outside the quota on a special licence. A special restaurant licence needs at least 2,000 square feet of service area (Florida Legislature), 120 physical seats (Florida Legislature), and at least 51 percent of food and beverage revenue from food and nonalcoholic drinks (Florida Legislature). Large hotels can get a similar special licence. A bar that sells mainly drinks cannot use these routes.
• The adopted rule on special food service licences, 61A-3.0141, effective in 2016, still states a service area of 2,500 square feet or more (Florida Administrative Code). The statute now says 2,000 square feet. A later notice on flrules.org proposed updating the rule; no amended rule had been adopted when we read it.

Our count of active quota licences in Palm Beach, Broward and Martin counties, set against what this formula allows, is in the licence section above.

What does a Florida bar pay the state for its licence, and what can it sell?

A bar that serves liquor for drinking on the premises in a Florida county of more than 100,000 residents pays a state licence tax of $1,820 a year under s. 565.02(1)(b) (Florida Legislature). Palm Beach, Broward and Martin counties are all above that size. These are state fees, as read on November 13, 2026.

• A package-only liquor store pays 75 percent of the on-premises tax for its county (Florida Legislature).
• A venue with more than three separate rooms holding permanent bars pays an extra $1,000 a year (Florida Legislature). Service bars closed to the public and temporary bars for one event do not count.
• Florida licenses bars as vendors, which sell alcoholic beverages at retail only (Florida Legislature).

What are Florida's rules on age, hours and location for bars?

Florida bars anyone from selling or serving alcohol to a person under 21, or letting anyone under that age drink on licensed premises (s. 562.11(1)(a)) (Florida Legislature). Statute text as read on November 13, 2026.

• Staff can be younger. The under-21 possession ban does not stop a licensed business from employing people 18 years of age or older to sell, mix or serve drinks (Florida Legislature). A licensed vendor may not employ anyone under 18 years of age unless an exception applies (Florida Legislature). A bar may not hire as bartender or manager anyone convicted of a beverage-law offence in the past 5 years (Florida Legislature).
• Unless a county or city sets other hours, alcohol may not be sold, served or drunk on licensed premises between midnight and 7 a.m. (Florida Legislature). Many counties and cities do set their own hours, and the state does not enforce them.
• A new on-premises alcohol location may not open within 500 feet of a school unless the county or city approves it (Florida Legislature). Premises licensed by July 1, 1999 (Florida Legislature) and restaurants with at least 51 percent food revenue are excepted.

Does Florida ban happy hours, drink specials or free drinks?

No. As read on November 13, 2026, the 2026 Florida Statutes chapters 561, 562, 563, 564, 565 and 568 contain no ban on happy hours, drink specials, "all you can drink" offers or free drinks. We searched the full text of each chapter for those phrases and for "unlimited", "two for one" and "reduced price", and found none. The same search of rule chapters 61A-1, 61A-2, 61A-3, 61A-4 and 61A-5 of the Florida Administrative Code found none either. We did not search county or city ordinances, which can set their own rules.

What the state texts do say about drinks and promotions:

• A licensee, employee or hired entertainer may not beg or solicit a customer to buy them a drink, a second-degree misdemeanor (s. 562.131) (Florida Legislature). The text bans soliciting a patron "to purchase any beverage" for staff, not discounts.
• For the special restaurant licence's food-revenue test, rule 61A-3.0141(4) values each alcoholic drink at "the price of the product as offered for individual sale" by the licensee (Florida Administrative Code). This is an accounting rule, not a limit on prices.
• Florida licensees may not use malt beverage coupons, on paper or on screen, that an alcohol maker, distributor or brand owner produced or sponsored and the seller redeems (s. 561.42(13)) (Florida Legislature).

What can drinks brands give a bar, or say about it in their ads?

Florida's tied-house law, s. 561.42, bars alcohol makers, distributors and importers from holding any financial interest in a bar or helping it with gifts, loans or rebates, and bars the bar from accepting them; advertising materials are an exception (Florida Legislature). Law and rule text as read on November 13, 2026.

• A distributor may give a bar no more than 10 cases of branded glassware a year per licensed premises (Florida Legislature). Florida's rules on promotional displays and advertising may not be more stringent than the federal rules (Florida Legislature).
• A brand's ad may name the bars where its drinks are sold only if it names two or more unaffiliated vendors, shown inconspicuously, with no bar sharing the cost (rule 61A-1.01015) (Florida Administrative Code). Brands shall not underwrite a bar's publications or events by buying advertising or sponsorships (Florida Administrative Code).
• The federal tied-house rules in 27 CFR part 6 cap product displays a supplier gives a retailer at $300 per brand at any one time in one retail establishment (eCFR), and outside signs at $400, with no payment to the retailer for displaying them (eCFR).

When is a Florida bar liable for a drunk customer, and what can the state fine?

Under Florida's dram-shop statute, s. 768.125, a seller is not liable for harm caused by an intoxicated customer of lawful drinking age. The exceptions are willfully and unlawfully serving someone under the lawful age, and knowingly serving a person habitually addicted to alcohol (Florida Legislature). The state's Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco may impose a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for violations arising out of a single transaction, and may suspend or revoke a licence (Florida Legislature). Statute text as read on November 13, 2026; this is a summary, not legal advice.

What do YouTube, Google Ads and the FTC require of bar videos and reviews?

Google Ads allows alcohol ads in the United States, and ads for drinks of 0.5% alcohol or more must show the ABV on the landing page (Google Ads Help). YouTube's child safety policy defines a minor as someone under 18 and bars videos of minors drinking alcohol (YouTube Help). When a creator ticks YouTube's paid promotion box, the disclosure label appears at the beginning of your video (YouTube Help). Policies as read on November 13, 2026.

• The FTC's Endorsement Guides, 16 CFR Part 255, in their current form date from July 26, 2023 (eCFR). If a creator was paid or given free drinks, and viewers would not expect that link, it must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously (eCFR).
• The FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials, 16 CFR Part 465, dates from Aug. 22, 2024 (eCFR). A business may not pay or reward customers for reviews that express a particular sentiment, positive or negative (eCFR). Buying fake indicators of social media influence, such as fake followers or views, for a commercial purpose is also barred (eCFR).
• A knowing violation of an FTC rule, such as the rule against fake reviews, can cost up to $53,088 per violation (eCFR).

How many people die in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes?

In 2024, 11,904 people were killed in U.S. crashes in which a driver had a blood alcohol concentration of .08 g/dL or higher, NHTSA's count from its census of fatal crashes (NHTSA). That was 30 percent of all U.S. traffic deaths (NHTSA). These figures are context for the rules above: they do not say where any driver drank, and they say nothing about any bar.

• The U.S. count fell 3.9 percent from 12,382 in 2023 (NHTSA).
• Florida had 769 alcohol-impaired-driving deaths in 2024, the third most of any state after Texas and California (NHTSA). That was 24% of Florida's traffic deaths (NHTSA). In 2015 the Florida count was 794 (NHTSA).
• Among drivers in fatal U.S. crashes in 2024, 31% were alcohol-impaired at night (NHTSA), against 10% during the day (NHTSA).

What do the popular bar numbers really say?

Four of the most repeated bar numbers do not say what they are used to say. The first-year failure rate is a restaurant figure, not a bar count, and the study behind it found far lower first-year closures. The liquor-loss shares come from inventory-software and audit sellers, with no sample or method we could read. The ideal pour cost range was a rule of thumb before one software seller checked it against its own customers. The “video lifts conversions 80%” line comes from a video vendor’s client, not a bar. We traced each to the oldest source we could read and say below what that source counted. Several usual sources bar automated readers, so we did not read them: Sculpture Hospitality, DoorDash for Merchants and Oracle GloriaFood in their site terms, Restaurant Hospitality, The Daily Record and BizTimes in robots.txt, and Toast’s blog, whose robots.txt answers with an error. Every “earliest” below is the earliest we found.

“60% of new bars fail in the first year” and “80% fail within five years”

No count of bar closures stands behind either number, and the restaurant study they borrow from found about a quarter closing in year one. Bar owners hear it as a bar figure. In a June 2024 episode of The Bar Business Podcast, bar business coach Chris Schneider calls the claim that 80% of bars fail within five years oft-quoted but unsubstantiated (The Bar Business Podcast). He says people often add that 60% fail in the first year, and that he searched for hours and could not find a study behind either (The Bar Business Podcast). The same pair appears as a restaurant figure on a bar-software blog. BinWise, which sells beverage inventory software to bars, says approximately 60% of restaurants fail within the first year (BinWise) and 80% within five years (BinWise), naming no study.

The study most often credited is Parsa and colleagues’ article in the Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly (August 2005). It reports that in summer 2003 an American Express advertisement aired during NBC’s Restaurant: A Reality Show (Parsa et al.) claimed that “90 percent of restaurants fail during the first year of operation” (Parsa et al.). Asked for its data, American Express said in writing that it could not provide data supporting the 90 percent claim (Parsa et al.). The authors’ own count used 2,439 restaurant operating-licence permits from the Columbus, Ohio, health department, 1996 to 1999 (Parsa et al.). A change of ownership needs a new permit, so a restaurant that was sold and stayed open counts as a “failure”. On that broad measure, 26.16% of restaurants turned over in their first year (Parsa et al., Exhibit 1) and 59.74% within three years (Parsa et al., Exhibit 1); independents ran 27.51% in year one (Parsa et al., Exhibit 1). Ohio State’s September 2003 release on the study rounded these to about 26 percent in the first year (Ohio State University) and 59 percent over three years (Ohio State University), and cited a 1991 Michigan State and Cornell study that found 57 percent over three years (Ohio State University). The paper’s restaurant segments include no bar or tavern group. The three-year 59.74% is the likely source of the first-year version.

The only bar count we found is local. The D.C. Policy Center, using Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration licence data obtained by public-records request, counted just over 800 bars, restaurants and nightclubs with liquor licences in Washington, D.C. in 2008 (D.C. Policy Center) and just under 1,300 in 2016 (D.C. Policy Center). Of the 165 new licences granted to restaurants, bars and nightclubs in 2010 (D.C. Policy Center), just under half were still active in 2016 (D.C. Policy Center). Of the 198 openings in 2011 (D.C. Policy Center), nearly 15 percent did not survive their first year (D.C. Policy Center), and roughly 10 percent of all licensed bars, restaurants and nightclubs exited each year (D.C. Policy Center). It does not separate bars from restaurants, and a licence that ends is not always a failed business.

Government data measure survival, by location, every year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Business Employment Dynamics counts establishments still operating for accommodation and food services, the sector that includes bars (NAICS 722410): of the sector’s establishments that opened in the year ended March 2025, 85.3% were still operating a year later, and 56.3% of those that opened in the year ended March 2021 were still operating five years later. BLS publishes no bar-only series, and it counts locations, including new branches of existing firms. Use instead: the BLS first-year survival figure for accommodation and food services, labelled as the whole sector, or “the 1996-1999 Columbus study found 26.16% of restaurants turned over in year one, counting sales as failures”. Do not write 60% of bars.

“Bars lose 20% (or 23%, or 25%) of their liquor to overpouring, spillage and theft”

We found no counted study behind any of these shares: each comes from a seller of inventory software or audits, with no sample, period or method published. The wordings also mix three different bases: inventory, profit and “the bottom line”. A 2023 post on BartenderTraining.ca, a bartending training blog, says about 20% of inventory disappears due to free drinks, overpouring and outright theft (BartenderTraining.ca) and that this translates to an average loss of 23% of total profits (BartenderTraining.ca), citing only “current estimates”. It credits the National Restaurant Association, without a link, with saying staff account for 75% of inventory losses (BartenderTraining.ca).

WISK, which sells bar inventory software, wrote in 2021 that shrinkage can be responsible for losses as much as 25 percent of a bar’s bottom line (WISK) and called a shrinkage rate of up to 20 percent the industry standard (WISK). Its 25 percent links to a 2011 trade-magazine article quoting the head of a beverage inventory service; that site bars AI readers, so we did not cite it. The same post credits the National Restaurant Association with saying employee theft is 36 percent of all restaurant shrinkage (WISK), a different number from the 75% credited to the same group above. By August 2026 WISK said auditors who weigh bottles have found the average bar is missing more than 25% of its beverage profits (WISK), naming no auditor, and credited Sculpture Hospitality’s audits with roughly 20% of inventory lost when it isn’t actively managed (WISK). Sculpture Hospitality sells bar inventory audits; its site terms bar automated readers, so we could not read its own figure. Use instead: describe loss as something a bar measures for itself (counted inventory against sales); if you quote a share, name the seller that gave it and say it published no sample.

“The ideal pour cost is 18-24%”

This one has a count behind it, but only one, and it is a software seller’s look at its own customers. In a May 2016 post, BevSpot, which sells bar inventory software, said professionals and bar managers had argued that pour costs should hover in the 18-24% range (BevSpot) and that such targets were based on anecdotal experience. It then looked at its customers’ data and found typical bars with total average pour costs of around 18–24% (BevSpot), with the median bar just above 20% (BevSpot). By category its medians were 15% for spirits (BevSpot), 24% for beer (BevSpot) and 28% for wine (BevSpot). BevSpot does not say how many bars, which years or where. Ten years on, BinWise still says most industry benchmarks put average liquor cost for bars and restaurants between 18% and 24% (BinWise), naming none. Use instead: “In BevSpot’s 2016 look at its own customers, the median bar’s pour cost was just above 20%; BevSpot did not publish its sample.” Pour cost depends on the drink mix, so a wine-heavy bar runs higher.

“Video lifts conversions 80%”

The figure is a best case from one video vendor, EyeView, about a client website, not a bar. In February 2009 EyeView’s blog said viewers of its videos for one client, UMOO, were 80% more likely to become depositing users, comparing viewers with non-viewers (EyeView, archived). That comparison does not test what adding a video does. By August 2010 Unbounce, a landing-page software seller, wrote that a study by eyeviewdigital.com showed video on landing pages can increase conversion by 80% (Unbounce, archived).

The larger later evidence points the other way. Unbounce’s own 2021 analysis of about 35,000 customer landing pages in each of three periods (Unbounce) concluded that video appears to have a minimal or negative impact on landing-page performance (Unbounce). Its April 2025 article of landing-page examples still says landing pages with video can increase conversions by 80% (Unbounce). Bar marketing repeats it with no test: a 2023 page from BeverlyBoy Productions, a video production company, says marketing video for bars and nightclubs can increase landing page conversions by 80% (BeverlyBoy Productions), naming no study. We found no conversion test by a bar or nightclub behind any of them. Use instead: “Unbounce’s 2021 study of about 35,000 landing pages per period found video had a minimal or negative effect; we found no conversion test by a bar.”

Every popular claim our research pages trace, 934 in all, is on one page: popular video statistics, fact-checked.

How we built this page

We started from the questions people search for about bar video statistics and looked for the organization that actually produced each answer. Every figure on this page sits in an evidence ledger with its source, the exact table or paragraph it came from, the measurement period, the population measured, and the date we checked it. This edition holds 502 figures from 43 publishers.

On November 13, 2026, each sourced figure on this page was re-fetched with the fetch cache cleared and matched against the recorded wording: BLS establishment and pay counts (Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages open data files), occupation wages and consumer prices (through the BLS data API), and business survival (an archived BLS table, because bls.gov refuses scripts); Census County Business Patterns, Nonemployer Statistics, the 2017 and 2022 Economic Census, the Annual Integrated Economic Survey and population estimates (through the Census data API and data files); the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s public licence file and its quota drawing notices; the Florida Statutes and the Florida Administrative Code; eCFR; NHTSA fact sheets; YouTube and Google Ads Help; SEC filings on EDGAR; SAMHSA’s national survey report, CDC survey data through its data API, a Gallup survey PDF, and journal articles (PubMed records re-read through NCBI’s E-utilities, because the pages answer scripts with a bot check). Bar software sellers, a bartender-training blog, a bar podcast, a video producer, a landing-page software seller, a policy group and a university news office appear in the origins section, labelled as the counters or repeaters they are. Our YouTube figures come from the YouTube Data API, our licence counts from DBPR’s file of November 12, 2026, and our filing counts from EDGAR full-text search. One archived 2009 vendor post behind the “80%” claim is copied from our earlier pages and checked by hand, because the vendor’s robots rules bar our agents. We left out sources whose robots rules or terms bar our agents: Gallup’s web pages (its robots rules let our agents read only its PDFs), SevenRooms, TouchBistro, Sculpture Hospitality, DoorDash’s merchant site and Oracle’s GloriaFood (terms ban automated access), and Restaurant Hospitality, The Daily Record and BizTimes (robots rules). Nothing here is legal, licensing or business advice.

We only cite the producer: government agencies, regulators, company filings and official posts, and the survey owner's own report. We do not cite statistics roundups, Statista-style aggregators, or salary sites without a public method. We did not bypass paywalls or sign-up forms; where a full report was gated, we used only the figures its publisher states publicly.

Figures marked "our calculation" are arithmetic on the cited numbers, and anyone can reproduce them:

This edition contains no Mark Studios customer data.

Limitations

• The bar code counts drinking places, not every place that serves drinks. NAICS 722410 counts businesses whose main trade is drinks: bars, taverns, cocktail lounges and nightclubs. Restaurants with bars, hotel lounges and brewery taprooms are counted elsewhere, and Florida’s licence file counts every holder, restaurants and stores included, so the licence counts and the bar counts measure different things.
• Our owner-only share mixes two Census programmes. Nonemployer Statistics counts businesses that file taxes with no employees, at the five-digit code 72241, and County Business Patterns counts locations with employees. Some nonemployers are not storefronts at all, so the share is a guide, not a census of one-person bars.
• Our YouTube read follows YouTube’s ranking. The 556 videos are what YouTube’s search returned for ‘cocktail bar’, ‘bartender’ and ‘nightclub’ (the top 200 results for each, sorted by views, with no country filter) on November 13, 2026. It is not a census of bar video: a few creators hold most of the views, and 57.8% of the ‘nightclub’ results were songs, games and other topics. View counts are lifetime snapshots and include paid views. We read titles and channel text, not the videos themselves. Personal uploads by private people are published only as a class and counts.
• The studies are small and mostly outside Florida. Several are surveys of students or single cities, some are decades old, and the social media studies are from Canada, England, Hong Kong, Australia and Switzerland. Year, sample and place are given in each sentence.
• Few bar companies file with the SEC. The public chains on this page run arcades, bowling centres, golf venues and adult nightclubs as well as bars, and they define drink sales and advertising in different ways, so the shares between them compare only roughly. EDGAR full-text search finds a phrase, not a topic; we read every 2024 to November 13, 2026 hit by hand.
• Rules and origins as read on November 13, 2026. This is not legal advice. We searched state law, not county or city ordinances. Every “earliest we found” in the origins section rests on web pages and reports we could read; newspaper databases were not searched, and several of the usual sources bar our agents.

How to cite this page

For a single figure, cite the original publisher named next to it, and link here if the verification trail is useful to your readers. Each figure has its own anchor, so you can link straight to it, for example https://www.markstudios.com/research/bar-video-statistics#DRV-073. To cite the page as a whole:

Mark Studios. "Bar Video Statistics." Last verified Nov 13, 2026. https://www.markstudios.com/research/bar-video-statistics

@misc{markstudios_bar_video_statistics_2026,
  author = {{Mark Studios}},
  title = {{Bar Video Statistics}},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  url = {https://www.markstudios.com/research/bar-video-statistics},
  note = {Last verified 2026-11-13}
}

Our calculations and the evidence table are free to reuse with attribution and a link to this page. Each underlying figure remains the claim of its original publisher, and some publishers ask for a link when their figures are reused.

Sources

Download the evidence table (CSV)

1. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada (Paradis et al., Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction and University of Victoria), What popular bars post on social media platforms: a case for improved alcohol advertising regulation (2020-06). Accessed 2026-11-13.
2. Addictive Behaviors Reports (Ross-Houle and Quigg, Liverpool John Moores University), Content, perceptions and impact of alcoholic drink promotions in nightlife venues that are targeted towards students (2019-01-31). Accessed 2026-11-13.
3. Drug and Alcohol Review (Chan et al., The Chinese University of Hong Kong), Who is being targeted by alcohol social media marketing? A study of Chinese young adults in Hong Kong (2024-07-01). Accessed 2026-11-13.
4. Health Communication (Tribelhorn and Friemel, University of Zurich), The Influence of Presumed Social Media Influence: Longitudinal Analysis of Exposure to Alcohol-Related TikTok Content and Social Norm Perceptions (2026-11-11). Accessed 2026-11-13.
5. Health Promotion Journal of Australia (Mandzufas et al., Telethon Kids Institute and University of Western Australia), 'Black Out Rage Gallon' (aka borg): An investigation of a risky drinking trend on TikTok (2024-05-19). Accessed 2026-11-13.
6. Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research (LoParco et al., University of North Texas Health Science Center), A national assessment of on-premise drinking establishments near public universities: Drink prices, drink specials, indoor tobacco use, and state-level alcohol laws (2022-11). Accessed 2026-11-13.
7. American Journal of Preventive Medicine (Kuo et al., Harvard School of Public Health), The marketing of alcohol to college students: the role of low prices and special promotions (2003-10). Accessed 2026-11-13.
8. Health Education & Behavior (Cox et al., East Carolina University), Natural Observation of Alcohol Price and Promotions at Bars: Implications for Alcohol Misuse Prevention (2022-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
9. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy (Baldwin et al., University of Arkansas at Little Rock), It's five o'clock somewhere: An examination of the association between happy hour drinking and negative consequences (2014-04-23). Accessed 2026-11-13.
10. International Journal of Drug Policy (Tutenges and Bøhling, Lund University), Designing drunkenness: How pubs, bars and nightclubs increase alcohol sales (2019-08). Accessed 2026-11-13.
11. Journal of Studies on Alcohol (Smart and Adlaf, Addiction Research Foundation), Banning happy hours: the impact on drinking and impaired-driving charges in Ontario, Canada (1986-05). Accessed 2026-11-13.
12. Drug and Alcohol Review (Mehranbod et al., Columbia University), Individuals' travel to alcohol outlets: The fallacy of the local bar (2024-01-11). Accessed 2026-11-13.
13. Journal of Studies on Alcohol (Harford, Wechsler and Seibring, Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study), Attendance and alcohol use at parties and bars in college: a national survey of current drinkers (2002-11). Accessed 2026-11-13.
14. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (Sumetsky et al., University of Pittsburgh and Prevention Research Center), Alcohol Use Frequencies and Associated Problems Across Drinking Contexts (2022-01). Accessed 2026-11-13.
15. Alcohol and Alcoholism (Cook et al., Alcohol Research Group), Drinking contexts, coping motive, simultaneous cannabis use, and high-intensity drinking among adults in the United States (2024-05-14). Accessed 2026-11-13.
16. Drug and Alcohol Review (Hardie et al., University of Glasgow and University of Sheffield), Understanding changes in the locations of drinking occasions in Great Britain: An age-period-cohort analysis of repeat cross-sectional market research data, 2001-2019 (2022-10-12). Accessed 2026-11-13.
17. Drug and Alcohol Review (Norström et al., Stockholm University), More pubs-More problems? A longitudinal analysis of Swedish panel data (2024-12-02). Accessed 2026-11-13.
18. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2026). Accessed 2026-11-13.
19. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Prevalence Data (2011 to present), data.cdc.gov dataset dttw-5yxu (2026). Accessed 2026-11-13.
20. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Prevalence Data (2011 to present), data.cdc.gov dataset dttw-5yxu (2026). Accessed 2026-11-13.
21. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Prevalence Data (2011 to present), data.cdc.gov dataset dttw-5yxu (2026). Accessed 2026-11-13.
22. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Prevalence Data (2011 to present), data.cdc.gov dataset dttw-5yxu (2026). Accessed 2026-11-13.
23. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Prevalence Data (2011 to present), data.cdc.gov dataset dttw-5yxu (2026). Accessed 2026-11-13.
24. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Prevalence Data (2011 to present), data.cdc.gov dataset dttw-5yxu (2026). Accessed 2026-11-13.
25. Gallup (Consumption Habits survey; Gallup does not sell alcohol), Gallup Poll Social Series: Consumption Habits, Final Topline, July 1-19, 2026 (2026-08-20). Accessed 2026-11-13.
26. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW Open Data: 2025 annual averages, industry 722410 (CSV) (2026-09). Accessed 2026-11-13.
27. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW Open Data: 2019 annual averages, industry 722410 (CSV) (2020). Accessed 2026-11-13.
28. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW Open Data: 2020 annual averages, industry 722410 (CSV) (2021). Accessed 2026-11-13.
29. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census: Geographic Area Statistics (Census Data API) (2025). Accessed 2026-11-13.
30. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment for bartenders (SOC 35-3011) in Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) in the United States (2026-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
31. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment for all occupations in Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) in the United States (2026-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
32. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Annual median wage for Bartenders in Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) in the United States (2026-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
33. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment for waiters and waitresses (SOC 35-3031) in Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) in the United States (2026-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
34. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment for first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers (SOC 35-1012) in Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) in the United States (2026-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
35. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment for security guards (SOC 33-9032) in Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) in the United States (2026-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
36. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers (SOC 35-9011) in Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) in the United States (2026-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
37. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment for Bartenders in All Industries in the United States (2026-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
38. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Annual median wage for Bartenders in All Industries in the United States (2026-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
39. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment for Bartenders in Florida (2026-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
40. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Annual median wage for Bartenders in Florida (2026-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
41. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment for Bartenders in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL (2026-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
42. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Annual median wage for Bartenders in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL (2026-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
43. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment for Bartenders in Port St. Lucie, FL (2026-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
44. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Alcoholic beverages away from home in U.S. city average, all urban consumers, not seasonally adjusted (2020-01). Accessed 2026-11-13.
45. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, All items in U.S. city average, all urban consumers, not seasonally adjusted (2020-01). Accessed 2026-11-13.
46. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Beer, ale, and other malt beverages away from home in U.S. city average, all urban consumers, not seasonally adjusted (2020-01). Accessed 2026-11-13.
47. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wine away from home in U.S. city average, all urban consumers, not seasonally adjusted (2020-01). Accessed 2026-11-13.
48. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Distilled spirits away from home in U.S. city average, all urban consumers, not seasonally adjusted (2020-01). Accessed 2026-11-13.
49. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW Open Data: 2014 annual averages, industry 722410 (CSV) (2015). Accessed 2026-11-13.
50. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 1986 (Census Data API) (1988). Accessed 2026-11-13.
51. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 1998 (Census Data API) (2000). Accessed 2026-11-13.
52. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (Census Data API) (2025). Accessed 2026-11-13.
53. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (Census Data API) (2025). Accessed 2026-11-13.
54. U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Resident Population Estimates, Vintage 2025 (nation and states, NST-EST2025-ALLDATA) (2026-01-27). Accessed 2026-11-13.
55. U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Resident Population Estimates for States and Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (co-est2025-alldata) (2026-03-26). Accessed 2026-11-13.
56. U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2023 (Census Data API) (2025). Accessed 2026-11-13.
57. U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2024 (Census Data API) (2026). Accessed 2026-11-13.
58. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (Census Data API) (2025). Accessed 2026-11-13.
59. U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 Economic Census: Geographic Area Statistics (Census Data API) (2020). Accessed 2026-11-13.
60. U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Integrated Economic Survey: All Sectors: Summary Statistics for Employer Firms, 2024 (Census Data API) (2026). Accessed 2026-11-13.
61. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census: Industry by Products Statistics (Census Data API) (2025). Accessed 2026-11-13.
62. U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 Economic Census: Industry by Products Statistics (Census Data API) (2020). Accessed 2026-11-13.
63. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics: Table 7. Survival of private sector establishments by opening year, Accommodation and Food Services (2026-10). Accessed 2026-11-13.
64. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Licenses and Permits for Alcoholic Beverages (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
65. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco - Public Records (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
66. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, DBPR Announces Results of Annual Quota Alcoholic Beverage License Drawing (2023-09-25). Accessed 2026-11-13.
67. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Florida DBPR Opens Entry Period for 2025 Quota Beverage License Drawing (2025-08-18). Accessed 2026-11-13.
68. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Florida DBPR Announces 63 Quota Beverage Licenses Available in 2026 Entry Period (2026-08-19). Accessed 2026-11-13.
69. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Florida DBPR Opens Entry Period for 2024 Quota Beverage License Drawing (2024-08-19). Accessed 2026-11-13.
70. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Florida DBPR Opens Entry Period for 2023 Quota Beverage License Drawing, Announces Public Drawing Date for 2022 Entry Period (2023-08-21). Accessed 2026-11-13.
71. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation Releases Results of Annual Quota Alcoholic Beverage License Drawing (2020-08-19). Accessed 2026-11-13.
72. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Florida DBPR Releases Results of Annual Quota (2021-06-29). Accessed 2026-11-13.
73. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Florida DBPR Releases Results of Annual Quota Alcoholic Beverage License Drawing (2022-06-21). Accessed 2026-11-13.
74. Lucky Strike Entertainment Corporation, Lucky Strike Entertainment Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 28, 2026 (2026-08-27). Accessed 2026-11-13.
75. Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc., Dave & Buster's Entertainment Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 3, 2026 (2026-03-31). Accessed 2026-11-13.
76. RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc., RCI Hospitality Holdings Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025 (2026-03-19). Accessed 2026-11-13.
77. Twin Hospitality Group Inc., Twin Hospitality Group Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2024 (2025-02-28). Accessed 2026-11-13.
78. Pinstripes Holdings, Inc., Pinstripes Holdings Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 28, 2024 (2024-06-28). Accessed 2026-11-13.
79. Ark Restaurants Corp., Ark Restaurants Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 27, 2025 (2025-12-18). Accessed 2026-11-13.
80. Callaway Golf Company (formerly Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.), Callaway Golf Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 (2026-02-27). Accessed 2026-11-13.
81. Caesars Entertainment, Inc., Caesars Entertainment Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 (2026-02-17). Accessed 2026-11-13.
82. Venu Holding Corporation, Venu Holding Corporation Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 (2026-03-31). Accessed 2026-11-13.
83. Seaport Entertainment Group Inc., Seaport Entertainment Group Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 (2026-03-04). Accessed 2026-11-13.
84. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 561.20, Limitation upon number of licenses issued (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
85. Florida Department of State (Florida Administrative Code), rule of the DBPR Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, 61A-5.0105 Selection of Applicants for Quota Alcoholic Beverage Licenses by Public Drawing (2019-08-12). Accessed 2026-11-13.
86. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 561.29, Revocation and suspension of license; power to subpoena (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
87. Florida Department of State (Florida Administrative Code), rule of the DBPR Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, 61A-3.0141 Special Food Service Licenses (Florida Administrative Code, rule text) (2016-09-13). Accessed 2026-11-13.
88. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 565.02, License fees; vendors; clubs; caterers; and others (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
89. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 561.14, License and registration classification (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
90. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 562.11, Selling, giving, or serving alcoholic beverages to person under age 21 (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
91. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 562.111, Possession of alcoholic beverages by persons under age 21 prohibited (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
92. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 562.13, Employment of minors or certain other persons by certain vendors prohibited; exceptions (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
93. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 562.14, Regulating the time for sale of alcoholic and intoxicating beverages; prohibiting use of licensed premises (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
94. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 562.45, Penalties for violating Beverage Law; local ordinances (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
95. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 562.131, Solicitation for sale of alcoholic beverage prohibited; penalty (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
96. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 561.42, Tied house evil; financial aid and assistance to vendor by manufacturer, distributor ... prohibited (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
97. Florida Department of State (Florida Administrative Code), rule of the DBPR Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, 61A-1.01015 Advertising Vendor Locations Where Brand Sold Exception (2010-09-15). Accessed 2026-11-13.
98. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), eCFR: 27 CFR Part 6, Tied-House (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
99. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 768.125, Liability for injury or damage resulting from intoxication (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
100. Google (Google Ads policy), Alcohol - Advertising Policies Help (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
101. YouTube (Google), Child safety policy - YouTube Help (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
102. YouTube (Google) Help Center, Add branded content restrictions & disclosure labels (YouTube Help) (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
103. Federal Trade Commission (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), eCFR: 16 CFR Part 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (2023-07-26). Accessed 2026-11-13.
104. Federal Trade Commission (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), eCFR: 16 CFR Part 465, Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (2024-08-22). Accessed 2026-11-13.
105. Federal Trade Commission (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), eCFR: 16 CFR 465.4, Buying positive or negative consumer reviews (2024-08-22). Accessed 2026-11-13.
106. Federal Trade Commission (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), eCFR: 16 CFR 465.8, Misuse of fake indicators of social media influence (2024-08-22). Accessed 2026-11-13.
107. Federal Trade Commission (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), eCFR: 16 CFR 1.98, Adjustment of civil monetary penalty amounts (undated). Accessed 2026-11-13.
108. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), National Center for Statistics and Analysis, Traffic Safety Facts, 2024 Data: Alcohol-Impaired Driving (DOT HS 813 815) (2026-06). Accessed 2026-11-13.
109. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), National Center for Statistics and Analysis, Traffic Safety Facts, 2024 Data: State Alcohol-Impaired-Driving Estimates (DOT HS 813 813) (2026-07). Accessed 2026-11-13.
110. The Bar Business Podcast (Chris Schneider, bar business coach), Debunking Bar Failure Myths & Boosting Profitability (2024-06-12). Accessed 2026-11-13.
111. BinWise (beverage inventory software seller to bars and restaurants; repeater), Restaurant Failure Rate Statistics (2024-11-13). Accessed 2026-11-13.
112. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly (Parsa, Self, Njite & King; The Ohio State University), Why Restaurants Fail (2005-08). Accessed 2026-11-13.
113. The Ohio State University (news release on H.G. Parsa's study), Restaurant Failure Rate Much Lower Than Commonly Assumed, Study Finds (2003-09-07). Accessed 2026-11-13.
114. D.C. Policy Center (Kate Rabinowitz, DataLensDC; ABRA licence data), D.C. nightlife is booming, but not necessarily for much longer (2017-08-14). Accessed 2026-11-13.
115. BartenderTraining.ca (bartending training blog; repeater), How to Catch a Bartender Stealing: Techniques That Work (2023-07-03). Accessed 2026-11-13.
116. WISK (bar and restaurant inventory software seller; repeater), Is shrinkage really that big of a deal? (2021-03-05). Accessed 2026-11-13.
117. WISK (bar inventory software seller; repeater), Why Don't 90% of Bar Owners Know Their Real Pour Cost? (2026-08-27). Accessed 2026-11-13.
118. BevSpot (bar inventory software seller; analysis of its own customers), What's the Average Pour Cost in the Bar Industry? (2016-05-27). Accessed 2026-11-13.
119. BinWise (beverage inventory software seller; repeater), Liquor Cost Percentage (2026-05-08). Accessed 2026-11-13.
120. EyeView Digital (video production and testing vendor; sold the videos it tested), UMOO - a prime beef example of EyeView's success (2009-02-10). Accessed 2026-11-12.
121. Unbounce (landing-page software seller), The benefits of using video on landing pages (2010-08). Accessed 2026-11-13.
122. Unbounce (landing-page software seller; analysis of its own customers' pages), Video on landing pages means more conversions, right? Wrong. Here's why (2021-08-26). Accessed 2026-11-13.
123. Unbounce (landing-page software seller; repeater), 15 high-converting landing page examples (+ why they work) (2025-04-06). Accessed 2026-11-13.
124. BeverlyBoy Productions (video production company; repeater), Video Production for Bars & Nightclubs (2023-05-09). Accessed 2026-11-13.

Update policy and change log

We re-verify every figure quarterly and when a major source publishes a new edition. The next scheduled review is February 2027. Corrections go to contact@markstudios.com.

• Nov 13, 2026: First published with 502 figures from 43 publishers, each checked against its original source.