LGBTQ bars and restaurants notched a 15.2% decline between 2019 and Spring 2021 on top of an earlier 14.4% decline between 2017-2019. In an effort to support these venues, Absolut is launching “Out & Open,” tapping voices such as actor and comedian Bowen Yang to highlight the irreplaceable impact of LGBTQ bars and restaurants, and bring awareness to their plight as they face a steady decline in the industry.
Absolut is also partnering with the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) with a significant contribution towards succession planning education for these establishments and other LGBTQ owned businesses.
“Absolut is a brand born to mix and that extends to our ethos of being open to all genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, backgrounds and more. The Absolut Out & Open platform conveys our more than forty years of allyship and ongoing support of LGBTQ bars and restaurants, as we understand the poignant role these spaces play within the community,” said Pam Forbus, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer, Pernod Ricard North America. “Our goal with Out & Open is to bring attention to these critical LGBTQ spaces, leveraging powerful voices within the community like Bowen Yang to illustrate how important it is that they remain open for the future generation to safely gather and celebrate.”
To highlight the importance of protecting the future of LGBTQ bars and restaurants, Absolut is partnering with the NGLCC to make the organization’s training programs around succession planning more accessible to more LGBTQ business owners. Only 34% of small business owners have succession plans,
and of that less than 24% are in the bar and restaurant industry, according to research conducted in 2016 by the NGLCC. The succession trainings, hosted by NGLCC subject matter experts, will take place in cities such as Minneapolis, New Orleans and Denver among other cities as well as virtually.