The open bar is no longer the centrepiece of the corporate reception, because attendees are drinking less. At a planners’ roundtable during Skift Meetings Forum 2026, one of them said the bar tab at her annual conference now runs 25% to 30% below earlier levels, and at a themed event about 40% of guests did not drink, according to Skift Meetings’ coverage of 23 October. But drinking less does not mean spending less: a good mocktail costs almost as much as a cocktail. The answer planners are landing on is to redesign the whole reception: change how the bar is billed, add alcohol-free options that are actually designed, and give people another reason to stay and talk. For an agency bringing an event to Argentina or Latin America, that redesign has to be solved in the destination, with someone who knows the local market.
What planners said in New York
Skift Meetings Forum took place on 22 September 2026 at the Javits Center in New York. One of its roundtables, hosted by the venue brand Convene and later written up as sponsored content on Skift Meetings, tackled a direct question: is it time to call last orders on the open bar? What the planners in the room reported:
- Bars are billing less. The planner of an annual conference said that, after a spike in the first year after the pandemic, her bar tab is now 25% to 30% lower. Every bar at her events now offers at least one mocktail.
- A large share of the audience does not drink. At an Oktoberfest-themed event, about 40% of attendees did not drink alcohol, and the production had to design the evening for both groups.
- Clients ask earlier. More companies want to see the alcohol-free menu, with prices, before signing with a venue. Some planners now ask about drink preferences on the registration form, next to dietary requirements.
This is not a one-off. It is how the social side of corporate meetings, the part people remember on the way home, is being adjusted.
The numbers behind it, and not only in the United States
The shift at events mirrors a bigger one in consumption. Gallup’s annual poll, published on 20 August 2026 and based on interviews with 1,200 adults from 1 to 19 July, found that only 54% of US adults say they drink alcohol, the same as in 2025 and the lowest level since Gallup began asking in 1939. In 2023 it was 62%. For the first time, the poll asked about alternatives: 17% had swapped an alcoholic drink for an alcohol-free beer, wine or spirit in the past year, and among those who already drink them, 38% say they now drink more than before.
Globally, the research firm IWSR forecasts that volumes of alcohol-free drinks (beer, wine, spirits and ready-to-drink) will grow 36% between 2024 and 2029, as reported by The Spirits Business on 22 January 2026. Of those choosing alcohol-free spirits, 40% do so for a healthy lifestyle.
Latin America is moving in the same direction from a smaller base. Eugenio Raffo, vice president of marketing at the Argentine brewer Quilmes, told Ámbito that alcohol-free beer is growing about 60% a year in Argentina and that the segment is five times larger than three years ago; the brewer CCU puts it at around 2% of volume. CCU also sees “high growth potential” for the category in Chile and Argentina, according to Diario Financiero. For an agency producing an event there, it means there is local product to build a varied alcohol-free bar, not just water and soda.
Alcohol-free is not cheaper: how the bar budget changes
The most common mistake is assuming that if people drink less, the drinks budget falls on its own. The Skift piece is clear: craft mocktails take nearly as much work as cocktails and venues price them accordingly. What does drop is alcohol consumption, and you only capture that if the bar is quoted differently. The three options the planners mentioned:
- Consumption billing instead of a per-person, per-hour open bar. If a large part of the audience does not drink, like the 40% at the Oktoberfest event, a flat per-head package means paying for drinks nobody pours.
- Fewer bar points, well placed, instead of a bar in every corner. Fewer bars mean fewer staff and less equipment.
- Drink tickets for alcohol, with water, juice and soft drinks free throughout the event.
Before choosing, ask the venue or caterer for both quotes, package and consumption, with the alcohol-free menu included and priced. It is the same logic that applies to catering in Latin America: the format follows the objective and the price has to be broken down.
How to redesign the reception without the evening falling flat
The open bar did a job: it gave people a reason to stay and talk. If it shrinks, that job needs replacing, not just the drink. What the planners gathered by Skift described, set out as steps:
- Ask at registration. Add drink preference to the form, next to dietary requirements. With that data the bar is sized with numbers, not guesswork.
- Design the alcohol-free menu as a product. A craft mocktail at every bar, with a name and a presentation, not a jug of juice on the side. Guests who do not drink should feel the bar is for them too.
- Give the reception something to do. The examples from the roundtable: succulent planting, candle making, embroidery, semi-permanent tattoos (which had a waitlist), a silent lounge, a poetry-writing room and a silent disco before the bars open. According to the planners, some of these activations cost from 2,000 dollars for an hour.
- Move the timing. Earlier happy hours and, on multi-day programmes in Europe, alcohol limited to certain points of the agenda, as described at the roundtable.
The result is not a dry event: it is an event where the bar stops being the only social activity and where those who do not drink are not left out.
Taking this reception to Argentina and Latin America with a local partner
For an agency or brand from Europe, North America or Mexico bringing a convention, a launch or an incentive trip to Argentina, the trend travels with the audience: if 40% of your guests do not drink in New York, they will not drink in Buenos Aires either. What changes is who solves the menu in the destination. You need someone who knows the alcohol-free products available in the country, who can ask each venue for a consumption-based quote, and who can adapt the proposal to the event format.
Food and drink at an event are part of the production, not a separate service. At FIT 2026, for the Dominican Republic stand, we produced a standing tasting menu over four days, with four cocktails named after Dominican provinces, adapting each recipe to the ingredients available in Argentina. At Feel Gin Festival 2026 we supplied the bar staff, the bartenders and the glass service, coordinated with the rest of the event. The same approach works for a corporate reception where half the drinks menu is alcohol-free.
When the event is in another country in the region, we work with a network of local partners, so the agency from abroad has a single point of contact for production and food and beverage in the destination. That is how our strategic partnerships work. If you are planning the reception for your next event in Argentina or Latin America, see how we handle food and beverage for events.