A Look At How The Still-Ongoing Pandemic Affected Alcohol Sales At Dallas’ Top Bars, Clubs, Restaurants, Venues And Hotels In October 2020.

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 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.

As patio weather made its return this fall, it seems more and more Dallasites felt comfortable going out for drinks — yes, even amidst the still-ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

October marked the highest alcohol sales month for Dallas restaurants and bars since pre-COVID times back in February — an uptick we’d guess is equal-parts indebted to patio-ready fall weather, pandemic fatigue and the start of the holiday season, which very much includes the fact that Halloween fell on a weekend this year.

Also surely to credit? October was the testing ground for Greg Abbott’s clearance for bars to operate at 50 percent capacity.

Even so, October proved a particularly dicey month for bars and restaurants who have not been following the state’s strict COVID-19 guidelines. TABC issued 30-day liquor license suspensions to spots such as Alamo Club, Bungaloo, Bottled Blonde, Shuck N Jive, High Fives and Ampersand — all of which were found to be in violation of the imposed guidelines.

Still, crackdowns aren’t necessarily a bad thing for a month that has historically proven to be the big money maker for Q4 around here. Even if we have a long road back to normalcy — this year’s October haul is down $30 million down in comparison to October ’19 colossal earnings — perhaps, much like last year and the years before, this year’s end-of-year run once again will prove a fruitful sprint (relatively, anyway) for a service industry in need of relief.

Time will tell.

For now, here’s a look at the Dallas-area spots that crushed it the most in October.

Dallas Establishments With Top Gross Alcohol Sales For October 2020:

  1. DFB CAPITAL LLC (Katy Trail Ice House): $865,965
  2. BOTTLED BLONDE- THE BACK YARD: $702,914
  3. NICK & SAM’S STEAK & FISH HOUSE: $571,393
  4. VIRGIN HOTELS DALLAS: $556,063
  5. DD BEVCO, LLC (AT&T Discovery District): $518,724
  6. MOXIE’S GRILL & BAR: $486,855
  7. VIDORRA: $485,234
  8. JACK AND GINGER’S/77 DEGREES: $484,507
  9. SIDECAR SOCIAL: $437,656
  10. HOSPITALITY INTERNATIONAL INC (The Ritz-Carlton): $396,880
  11. CITIZEN: $395,157
  12. JAVIER’S RESTAURANT: $387,775
  13. STIRR: $382,680
  14. OJOS LOCOS SPORTS CANTINA: $380,343
  15. THE RUSTIC: $379,354
  16. BIERNAT’S RESTAURANT: $378,924
  17. BUCK’S CABARET: $378,018
  18. COWBOY’S RED RIVER: $367,302
  19. EPIC ABS LLC (The Statler) : $352,394
  20. STIRR ADDISON: $326,236

Total alcohol sales in Dallas in October 2020: $55,196,016
September 2020 total: $47,818,525

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