Five breweries in six weeks: Chicago’s craft beer closures have brewers on guard
https://chicago.suntimes.com/food-drink/2026/03/11/chicago-brewery-closures-craft-beer-alarmist-illuminated-whiner-flapjack-casa-humildeOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
People just ain't drinking like they used to.
And tariffs don't help.
They sure don't, but this is a trend that's been more than a year in the making.
Yeah, things like tariffs were the straw. Hitting both breweries with things like aluminum and supplies and also their customers wallets at the same time. On top of the downward trend and the over saturation, it's done many in. I will note that most of the breweries I see closing are just breweries. The ones that offer food seem to be doing a bit better...for now.
They're doing better for now but food is the low end of the restaurant business and for the most part have almost no profit in it, beverages are where the margin is for restaurants. If brewers fallback is food service...
I think it has less to do with the food sales saving them, but more to do with food being a reason to go to the brewery and order beer. My wife and I go to standalone breweries less and less because when we go out its nice to stop at one place. And figuring out it where to get food from outside a brewery can be annoying.