Booze: March Was a Happy Hour, Then Mom Showed Up, Plus Top 10 Texas Bars

The receipts are in: March was a giant happy hour, and moms really needed some mimosas. After a year of capacity restrictions, the gates were finally fully opened for all restaurants and bars on March 10. So, we did a little digging into what the past few months have looked like in terms of liquor sales and restaurant recovery. In general, Texans have made quick work of making up for all those missed meals and drinks.

Using the Texas Comptroller of Public Account online query system, we started by looking at February 2021, the last full month of capacity restrictions. Total liquor sales at bars and restaurants in Dallas was $45.8 million in February. In March, that number jumped to $73.7 million, and the restrictions didn't lift until 10 days into March.

As you can see in the chart above, we compared the month of March over the past three years. We also looked at how many days restaurants and bars were fully opened each of those months (sans any capacity restrictions). We then divided the total monthly sales by days open for a sales per day figure. Pound for pound, we showed up this March, outpacing both previous years.

There’s a wee bit of nuance here, as there was alcohol-to-go in March 2021 and restaurants were opened in assorted capacities, but it still holds significant veracity considering how many people were staying home in early March, as indicated by this mobility report published by UTSouthwestern.

Then Mom Showed Up

If we pulled the rubber band back in March, we launched the booze business like the Saturn V rocket on Mother’s Day. The four-day period that included Cinco de Mayo and Mother’s Day, May 5 to 9, saw a sharp increase in sales at restaurants and bars.

Jon Alexis, the owner of TJ's Seafood Market, said that outside of Christmas Day, Mother’s Day this year was the busiest day in their 30-year history.

CGA is an agency that compiles data across the food and beverage industries. Their most recent On Permise Report looks at velocity data, which is the turnover of money in a given period of time.

For the week ending May 15, restaurants and bars across the nation saw a 155% increase in velocity compared to the same week last year, which shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise since we were in a pandemic. However, velocity was comparable to, if not ahead of, velocities in 2019.

We can also see in the chart above the sharp upward trend of velocity in the first two weeks of May, which included both Cinco de Mayo and Mother's Day, exceeding pre-pandemic numbers. The week of May 9 to May 15 (which included Mother's Day) saw a 114% increase in velocity over the previous week.

Top 10 Bars in Texas Right Now

Once in a rabbit hole, you just keep moving along. So, we pulled the Top 10 bars in Texas by mixed beverage gross receipts so far in 2021.

(Three restaurants in Houston are in the 10 and work under the same mixed beverage permit; The Post Oak, Mastro's and Willie G's.)

1. The Post Oak, Mastro's, Willie G's, Houston
2. Kalahari Resort, Round Rock
3. Social Spot, San Antonio
4. Bottled Blonde, Dallas
5. Billy Bob's, Fort Worth
6. The Post Oak, Mastro's, Willie G's, Houston
7. The Post Oak, Mastro's, Willie G's, Houston
8. Happiest Hour, Dallas
9. AT&T Stadium, Arlington
10. Katy Trail Ice House, Dallas

Kalahari is a family-centric convention center and resort in Round Rock with an indoor water park that includes a lazy river with a swim-up bar. The fact that this spot is second in liquor sales in the state says everything about parents who have been stuck at home with young kids for the past year.

In case you're interested, here's a TABS Report of the top 25 bars by total liquor sales in Dallas.