Restaurant owners across Tampa Bay are reworking their menus. Smaller portions? Check. More drinks without alcohol? You bet. Why the switch? Customer preferences have shifted, driven by weight loss drugs and those choosing sobriety.
GLP-1 drugs slow digestion. They also suppress desires for sweets and fatty meals. Many diners now skip alcohol and order less food.
Nate Siegel co-founded Willa’s in Tampa. His team has watched these patterns unfold and made changes. “These days, the big news are GLP-1s and sober curious, which we see a lot of,” Siegel told FOX 13. “Those really provide different opportunities to find new menu items and portion sizes and proteins to serve, as well as a really great zero-proof cocktail menu that we launched at Willa’s when we first opened back in 2021. That has been huge for us.”
Jeff Gigante runs Next Level Brands Hospitality. His company operates Forbici Modern Italian, Boulon Brasserie and Bakery, and Union New American. Sales tell an interesting story: food, takeout, and catering numbers climbed while beer purchases dropped.
At Forbici, Gigante slashed the beer list by half. “So you’ll start to see our mocktail sections of our cocktail beverage and menus starting to boost up,” Gigante said. “We’re doing a lot of the non-alcoholic beers as well. Again, trying to add some good flavored teas to our beverage program — just to kind of stem the tide, if you will.”
Diners haven’t abandoned restaurants — they just order differently. Gigante predicts alcohol sales will rebound when peak season hits between October and May, bringing tourists and festive gatherings.
“As we get into the season here — October, November, December, all through May — I think we’re going to see a little bit of a lift in alcohol sales as people are out celebrating the good weather and the holidays and all the family coming into town,” he said. “Again, I always look back in time. I’ve been doing this for a lot of years in Tampa, and I’ve seen these variances happen from time to time. And ‘this too shall pass’ is one of my favorite sayings. So I don’t really worry about it too much.”
Siegel sees something bigger happening. People want connection. “Diners might not be chasing booze or big steaks these days, but they are chasing the experiences,” he said. “It’s never been more important, especially with the way things are now, to be out together in real life with people in a great room. And that’s what we do best.”