A Sobering Look At Just How Badly Coronavirus Shutdowns Hammered Booze Sales At Dallas’ Bars, Clubs, Restaurants, Venues And Hotels In April ’20.

Welcome to Bar Raised, our recurring column that proves that Texans like to spend copious amounts of their income participating in the Great American Pastime. We know this because, as Reddit user BadLemur once pointed out, the Texas Comptroller keeps tabs on that sort of thing and makes all that info public record. Any establishment in the state that holds a Mixed Beverage license must report all sales revenue generated from the sale of liquor, beer and wine at their establishments on a monthly basis. The comptroller, in turn, puts all that info into a conveniently navigable database. And then we break down Dallas’ numbers for you here.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

We knew Dallas’ bar sales figures for April were going to be trash, for sure. What with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s mandated closure of all bars in the state in mid-March eventually extending throughout the entirety of April, it didn’t take a genius to anticipate that.

Sales were roundly expected to drop — and significantly more so than March’s figures, which were cut down to at least half of what could normally be expected in a world not enduring a pandemic.

But not even $4 million in total sales? A mere $3,911,650 for the month, to be specific? Just five percent of what was reported in Dallas back in April 2019?

That’s all?

That’s all that restaurants — bars, event spaces, clubs and venues were all completely shut down — reported to the TABC in March? Even with those restaurants being able to serve cocktails to go?

Expected, yeah.

But still shocking, right?

After all, it’s not like people just up and quit drinking all of a sudden. In fact, some studies show that Texans are actually drinking more during the coronavirus pandemic than residents of any other state. (They’re also self-medicating in other ways, too.)

To that end, by all accounts, liquor store sales are reportedly way up.

(Hmm.)

But the hospitality, service and entertainment industries? Clearly ravaged.

In such clear, bottom-line terms, it maybe makes sense why some bars brazenly looked to violate the state mandate, why some (racist) douchebags threw underground parties in clear violation of the rules and why some spots weren’t too concerned with social distancing concerns once Abbott allowed things to start opening back up, albeit in supposedly diminished capacities.

The real question: Is getting bar sales back on track worth it? Dallas is by no means out of the coronavirus woods yet, and there’s reason to blame the re-opening efforts for the city’s recent spikes in positive cases. Will May’s expected-to-rebound-some figures be high enough to justify that risk? We’ll see in a few weeks when those numbers come out.

In the meantime, here are the restaurants that fared the best in the worst ever month of bar sales that Dallas has ever seen on record.

Huh. Margaritas, anyone?

Dallas Establishments With Top Gross Alcohol Sales For April 2020:

  1. III FORKS #420: $109,625
  2. MESERO MEXICAN MENU: $98,978
  3. FOOD COMPANY: $88,282
  4. MESERO – VICTORY PARK: $66,504
  5. GRANGE HALL: $63,224
  6. E-BAR TEX MEX RESTAURANT: $61,650
  7. CF BEAR CREEK ARCIS: $57,333
  8. MESERO – PRESTONHOLLOW VILLAGE: $45,916
  9. MARIANO’S HACIENDA: $45,574
  10. MR MESERO: $45,403
  11. MI COCINA – BENT TREE: $45,242
  12. THE CHARLES RESTAURANT: $41,325
  13. FERNANDO’S MEXICAN CUISINE: $41,074
  14. MI COCINA-WEST VILLAGE: $40,767
  15. CASA BEVCO LLC: $40,147
  16. WHITE ROCK ALEHOUSE & BREWERY: $37,552
  17. MI COCINA – PRESTON FOREST: $35,767
  18. MESERO: $34,935
  19. BLUE GOOSE CANTINA: $32,997
  20. MUCHACO TEX MEX: $32,837

Total alcohol sales in Dallas in April 2020: $3,911,650
March 2020 total: $35,804,152

Like so many small businesses, we at Central Track face an uncertain future due to the effects of COVID-19. In eight years of operations, we’ve never locked our content from you through subscriptions or paywalls — but, in order to make it out through the other side of all this, we need your help. If you can, please consider supporting our coverage of all things Dallas culture by supporting us on Patreon in exchange for exclusive perks or by donating directly through PayPal or Zelle to [email protected].

No more articles