Long Island bars retooling happy hours as patronage drops

Happy hour is on the rocks. 

Bar and restaurant owners across Long Island are rethinking their take on the after-work promotion, now that the tradition isn't as reliable as a business strategy. 

Consumers have cut back on going out for afternoon and early evening drinks because of inflation and remote work, according to market research from Technomic, a Chicago-based consulting firm. Other cultural shifts — Americans eating dinner earlier, younger generations drinking less and a greater focus on health and wellness — may also be driving down happy hour business, according to bar owners and industry experts. Nearly three in 10 people in the Northeast say they go to happy hour less than they did before the pandemic, according to Technomic.

"From the operator perspective, we do hear that happy hour and late night traffic is down, and they need to put out more creative, inventive happy hour offers and 'themes' to get people to visit," Technomic principal Donna Hood Crecca said. "In other words, yes, restaurant and bar operators need to offer deals and discounts, but to make it compelling … there has to be something special, unique."

Faced with fewer bar tabs, many venues are exploring ways to revive happy hour. Some are running drink specials for extended hours in an attempt to appeal to inflation-weary customers. Other businesses are beefing up the culinary side of their sales and creating food items exclusively available during their evening promotional period. A few establishments have rethought their relationship to happy hour altogether and tabled the tradition.

Late last month, patron Fred Hoffman, 60, of Valley Stream, looked out across the bar at the Library Café in Farmingdale and said the setting reminded him of “tumbleweed.” 

Hoffman whistled a melody paired with barren landscapes in old-time Westerns.

During happy hour, the Library Café takes $3 off draft beers — the Local Hazy IPA  goes for $6.50 rather than $9.50 — and $2 off cocktails — a Tolstoy War & Peace martini costs $13 rather than $15.

“There’s five seats always open,” added Hoffman, a personal trainer, who enjoys catching up with clients and friends at regional happy hours, but says the scene is less spirited.

Packing less punch 

Happy hour’s appeal has been fizzling out for decades, according to Scott Wexler, executive director of the Empire State Restaurant and Tavern Association trade group. The tradition hit a heyday in the 1970s; bars and eateries competed with one another by discounting drinks in a bid to bring in workers leaving their jobs, but not yet ready for dinner, according to Wexler. Marketing a “happy hour” uses an allusion to drinking that was popular during Prohibition.  Earlier, during World War I, the phrase referred to entertainment programs for sailors at sea.

Laws against drunken driving made Americans more aware of the risks of heavy consumption and shifted attitudes about alcohol. Around 1990, New York passed legislation barring over-the-top happy hour promotions, such as those offering drinks for a nickel or unlimited libations for $10 or less, Wexler said. New York venues can’t reduce regular prices by more than 50%, he noted. Happy hour’s allure also got watered down in the 1990s and aughts as Americans started to focus more on health and wellness, Wexler said.

Yet the alcohol-centric promotions have endured because venues make larger profit margins on drinks than they do on food, Wexler said. Many restaurants have historically seen happy hour as a way to drive sales during their slower periods and entice new customers to try their offerings, according to Lilly Jan, a lecturer of food and beverage management at Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration.

But consumers seem to have grown fond of spending more time at home during the pandemic, Jan said.

Also, the cost of buying beer, wine or spirits at bars and restaurants has risen more than the prices paid for drinking at home, another reason  Americans are imbibing less at public venues, according to the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America. 

Excluding beer, the combined volume of spirits and wine sold to restaurants, bars and other venues is less now than it was before the pandemic, according to Dale Stratton, an analyst for the trade group. Consumption outside the home typically accounted for about 23% of all alcohol, including beer, wine, spirits, cider and hard seltzer, sold in the U.S. until 2020, when it dropped to 13% during the height of the pandemic, according to Statista Market Insights, a global data and business analytics platform. Statista expects these so-called off-premise sales to account for 18% of alcohol transactions in 2023.

Some bars and restaurants previously noted for their happy hours no longer reduce their standard drink prices at the end of the workday: Outback Steakhouse, Red Lobster and Olive Garden outposts on Long Island told Newsday they don't do happy hour specials. Representatives for those brands didn’t respond to Newsday’s request for comments. 

 At national chains that offer happy hour, weeknight foot traffic is lagging behind pre-pandemic levels. On Long Island, Buffalo Wild Wings had more than 18% fewer visitors from 3 to 6 p.m. during the workweek in August 2023 compared to August 2019; and Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza had a 16% dip, according to Placer.ai, a California-based firm that uses data — stripped of personal identifiers — from mobile devices and machine learning to analyze visits to locations. Foot traffic at Houlihan's in Farmingdale from 3 to 7 p.m. on weeknights fell nearly 14% from August 2019 to August 2023. Regional Applebee's locations, however, saw a nearly 16% bump during the 3 to 6 p.m. period over those four years, Placer.ai noted.

These chains didn't respond to requests for comment.

 Venues with limited space may be prioritizing diners over drinkers now that Americans seem to be eating supper out  earlier in the day, Jan said. A greater share of people  — 26% —  are using Yelp software to make dinner reservations or join waitlists between 4 and 6 p.m. during the workweek, compared to 17% in 2019, according to Yelp. Those buying meals are likely to rack up bigger bills, Jan said.

Post-happy hour 

The Refuge, a bar and restaurant along Route 110 in Melville, has more people sitting down for a full meal and cocktail at the bar, as opposed to sticking to drinks and snacks as was common before the pandemic, said Jessica Lantier, director of operations. The Refuge stopped happy hour in the early days of COVID-19. Late-afternoon specials haven't been brought back because the bar is busy without them, she said. 

Incorporating happy hour would likely increase foot traffic and require more staff at The Refuge, which Lantier said may not make sense.

“The cost of paying a tipped employee is consistently rising,” she said. “To be able to discount something and then have to bring in double the staff to be able to accomplish giving really good service — it’s become challenging.”

Lizard Lounge, a bar and karaoke spot in Bohemia, stopped offering happy hour about five years ago, according to owner Jason Magnifico. The classic promotion didn't seem to fit with people's changing lifestyles in the era of gig work and irregular  professional schedules, he said. That's become more true with the rise of remote work, Magnifico added.

“It’s not really a big thing anymore,” said Magnifico, an Islip resident. “People that generally go to happy hours are older, and they’re more set in their ways.”

Many Long Islanders seem to save their money for outings on weekends and special occasions, he added. He’s catered to them by consistently having drink specials — such as $4 Schaefer and Miller High Life beers or $6.50 for vodka mixed drinks — and setting up video games and other types of entertainment. 

How low can you go?

Other venues, meanwhile, are more committed to happy hour  discounts. It’s About Time Cocktail Lounge in Farmingdale started occasionally extending happy hour — usually offered from 3 to 7 p.m. — until 9 p.m. about a year ago, owner Chrissy Bucking said. Patrons keep their tabs open longer for the specials — $1 off drinks and $5 off buckets of domestic beers. But the venue’s finances remain tight, Bucking said.

“I have dart leagues, pool leagues, and that’s to keep me alive during the week. But those start after happy hour,” said Bucking, who has tended bar for more than 30 years. “Just to have a regular happy hour every day, it’s rough.”

Spiro’s Lounge in Rocky Point has long put on extended  happy hours — one beginning at 1 p.m. and a second running from 9 p.m. to midnight. The venue decided to offer the first round of specials until 6 p.m., rather than 5 p.m., during the workweek as the pandemic waned, owner Spiro Karachopan said.  Spiro's routinely changes which items have reduced prices during happy hour; for instance, a martini may cost $3 less, he said.

Business is 80% of what it was before COVID-19, and Karachopan believes inflation has deepened the need for discounts.

“That’s what they want to see,” he said of his customers.  "People watch their pocketbooks when everything is so expensive.”

Consumers are motivated by markdowns, according to Technomic. Among people in the Northeast who’ve cut back on happy hour, a significant share — nearly 40% — said deeper discounts on drinks or food could change their habits, the firm said. By comparison, 14% said returning to the workplace would turn them into more regular happy hour attendees, the firm said.

Those searching for specials have flocked to a Facebook group Thomas Natale started last year to share information on Long Island happy hours. Natale, of Medford, who works in sales at the marketing firm Pixel on Promotions, wanted to showcase offerings at regional bars and restaurants.

"People still want to go out, but they don't have the money for full prices," said Natale, who noted that 72% of the Facebook group's roughly 2,600 members are female and overwhelmingly in their 40s.

Stirring up the specials 

Restaurateurs trying to reel them in are freshening up their offerings. In addition to $5 draft beers and $8 cocktails during happy hour, American Beauty's new Massapequa Park eatery runs dinner specials long past happy hour nearly every day of the week, owner Maria Cassano said.

“It’s rough right now,” said Cassano, who estimates the recently revived happy hour at her Massapequa location is only drawing a quarter of its pre-pandemic crowd. “Everyone is trying to be creative.” 

The State Room, a cocktails and small plates place in Patchogue, revamped its post-work specials into an “aperitivo hour” now featuring food for $9 to $15 that is only available from 4 to 6 p.m., according to partner and beverage director Bert Wiegand. Aperitivos — beverages with relatively low alcohol content served after work in Italy — are offered for $8 to $10.

People have responded well since The State Room stepped away in September from a happy hour that discounted items on the main menu.

“If you can always get it, what’s the rush?” said Wiegand. “It’s got to have this pull … you have to do something fresh, something new.”

Cassandra Panzarino, 38, of Patchogue, hit The State Room during aperitivo hour last month with a friend. She said she goes out about once a week now — compared to two or three times a week before COVID.

“I'm just wanting to stay home and be cozy,” said Panzarino, an X-ray technician and manager.

But she said today’s relatively demure happy hours are more her style, noting, “I like more laid back, calm" environments. 

Lessing’s Hospitality Group, which has nine restaurants in the region, including the Library Café in Farmingdale, has been focusing more on happy hour food specials because the industry has gotten more competitive, according to director of marketing Jen Cantin. Happy hour  business usually picks up around this time of year when sports fans come in for games and teachers —  which she called “a huge driver of happy hour” — are back at school, Cantin said. 

Lessing's more low-key venues didn't previously prioritize food during happy hour, but had free buffets on Fridays. Now, food specials are on the menu every day, and the company stays away from communal spreads, Cantin said. Culinary components have become more important, in part, because younger adults drink less, Cantin said. The portion of adults under 35 who drink has fallen from 72% to 62% over the past two decades, and that age group is now less likely to indicate on surveys that they've had a drink in the past week, according to Gallup, an analytics firm.  

She noted that the industry has historically had an easier time making money on drinks than food, but “as a marketer, I know we have to constantly shift and change to deliver what people are looking for.”

“[Younger adults] don’t drink shots all the time. They still drink, but they selectively drink,” she said, adding that social media has made aesthetics and presentation paramount. “It’s the whole ‘grammable' social media world.”

By Sarina Trangle

sarina.trangle@newsday.comSarinaTrangle

Sarina Trangle covers affordability and cost of living issues and other business topics. She previously worked as an editor and reporter at amNewYork.