2.4.1.5Vertical

Wine Bars & Craft Beer Bars

Specialty beverage bars focused on curated wine or craft beer offerings.

Market snapshot

These figures describe Bars, Pubs & Nightlife (2.4.1), the segment that Wine Bars & Craft Beer Bars sits within. They are not figures for Wine Bars & Craft Beer Bars on its own.

Market size
~$33.7B
Growth
~7.1%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
Companies
~39,100 firms
Firms by employee count

86.7% of firms have fewer than 20 employees: 33,886 micro-businesses, below most mandates.

The investable universe5,214 firms with 20+ employees
20–99
4,92794%
100–499
2344%
500+
531%

Alcohol margins and atmosphere, not food, drive the economics, and demand rebounded hard after pandemic closures. It stays stubbornly owner-operated, with 87% of firms running under 20 employees and only 53 clearing 500, so large-scale consolidation is confined to entertainment-venue and 'eatertainment' concepts (Topgolf, Dave & Buster's) rather than neighborhood bars.

NAICS 722410. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Business model & economics

Revenue model

Alcoholic-beverage sales, with food and entertainment

Key economics

Revenue per firm
$860,702
Revenue per employee
$76,171
Employees per firm
10.3
Recurring revenue
Low

transactional local demand

EBITDA margin
High beverage margins; offset by occupancy and labor
Capex intensity
Moderate

Characteristics

  • Balanced cost base: payroll is 29% of revenue, leaving room to scale margin without cutting staff
  • Moderate strategic-buyer pool: 53 firms exceed 500 employees, so a scaled asset has buyers, but not many
  • Alcohol margins and atmosphere drive the economics.
  • Experiential and craft-beverage trends support demand.
  • Owner-operated and fragmented, with limited large-scale roll-ups.

NAICS 722410. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Geographic concentration

AlabamaAlaskaArizonaColoradoFloridaGeorgiaIndianaKansasMaineMassachusettsMinnesotaNew JerseyNorth CarolinaOklahomaPennsylvaniaTexasWyomingConnecticutMissouriWest VirginiaIllinoisNew MexicoArkansasCaliforniaDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaHawaiiIowaKentuckyMarylandMichiganMississippiNew HampshireNew YorkOhioOregonTennesseeUtahVirginiaWashingtonNebraskaSouth CarolinaIdahoNevadaVermontLouisianaRhode IslandNorth DakotaSouth DakotaMontanaWisconsin

Bars and taverns cluster dramatically in the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains. Wisconsin runs more than four times its expected share of firms, the densest tavern market in the country, with North Dakota, Montana, and South Dakota close behind. This is a genuine cultural concentration, not a population effect: the per-capita spread is among the widest of any consumer format.

WisconsinNorth DakotaMontanaSouth Dakota

U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses (firms by state), NAICS 722410. Concentration shown by location quotient.

M&A deal context

Deal activityEmerging

Who’s acquiring

  • Entertainment-venue operators
  • Multi-concept hospitality groups
  • Local & regional operators

What’s driving deals

  • Consolidation concentrated in entertainment-venue concepts.
  • Experiential and craft-beverage demand.
  • Largely owner-operated and fragmented.

Find Wine Bars & Craft Beer Bars acquisition targets

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