Selling “more moderation” is as tricky as it sounds according to the founders of Bar Nuda, a Mexican-inspired drinks pop-up and Los Angeles’s first completely adult non-alc (ANA) experience.
Long-time hospitality professionals Morris Ellis and Pablo Murillo launched Bar Nuda in 2023, a few years after Murillo lost his father to alcohol use disorder. While working in restaurants across Los Angeles, the friends saw a need for an adult non-alc space that offered the same hospitality and craft as any other bar. To infuse their Mexican heritage into the project, the founders recruited Bryant Orozco, a writer and bar consultant, to design a cocktail menu grounded in Mexican ingredients and herbalism. The drinks and the experiences around them – from poetry night to speed dating to zero-proof salsa nights – are focused on culture and community.
On the menu that approach can look like a root beer with Mexican herbs and ingredients, or cocktails featuring rose hips, bougainvillea or marigold flowers mingling with NA spirits.
“The real reason people are drinking drinks is because there’s craft, art, creativity and hospitality behind them, and that culture was really lacking in a lot of the marketing and branding in the non-alc space,” Ellis said.
Fresh off a summer residency in Venice, Los Angeles, the founders are now building from more than two years of experience hosting pop-up events and their latest three-month stint transforming a cafe into a NA cocktail oasis in the evenings. Early evidence suggests its core thesis – that there’s a demand for ANA concepts driven by culture – is correct.
‘People Aren’t Racking Up Bar Tabs’
But the economics of ANA only spaces are tricky.
“When you’re selling wellness-based or wellness-inspired drinks and a brand that promotes rejuvenation, not intoxication, you’re limited. Because with alcohol, you’re encouraging over-indulging and you’re encouraging over-consumption, and with NA drinks that just doesn’t happen – people aren’t racking up bar tabs,” Ellis said.
To make Bar Nuda happen in the form of an actual bar during the summer residency, they needed something different. In came a full food menu, plus NA beer and wine, as well as ongoing entertainment, mocktail classes, and community events. Their last event at the residency was a benefit concert for a local immigrants rights group.
“We’ve realized that to maintain a solid non-alcoholic business, it has to be more than a drink. There has to be an entire experience,” Murillo said.
Non-alcoholic social spaces are nothing new – cafes, tea houses, ice cream parlors, and some restaurants can succeed without alcohol sales – so to make a permanent Bar Nuda brick and mortar work in the future, it will have to reflect that inclusivity, the partners added.
As adult non-alc mainstreams, curated ANA spaces have also learned that lesson the hard way. Zero Proof, a non-alcoholic bar in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, closed its doors in September 2024 after a year of operation. Retail operations, such as The New Bar and Boisson, have shifted away from retail and towards business models that integrate ANA into other channels.
A Pivot To Products
For the founders of Bar Nuda, their lessons have crystallized into a new plan for ANA products. Having already dipped their toes into CPG during a Pandemic-era stab at canned aguas frescas called Aguas Locas, Murillo and Ellis are now planning a relaunch.
But the first beverage under the Bar Nuda umbrella will be a NA craft Mexican lager made in Los Angeles. They won’t be the only ones exploring that space – alongside zero-proof Corona and Dos Equis, independents such as Rationale and Athletic introduced their own Mexican lagers and lime-spiked cheladas.
The founders see their take as culturally-driven, and expect it to resonate with industry and consumers in Los Angeles, where they’ve already built a following. NA Beer sales dominate the category: of the nearly $1 billion ANA pie, NA beer makes up the largest slice at 83.1% of dollar share. That’s up 19.4% YA versus beer at -1.9%.
As the founders shift towards product, the idea is to maintain the community they’ve built – eventually hiring an event manager to lead that team, while Murillo and Ellis can focus on building a CPG-focused business.
“Maintaining the community, the experiences and our products, I think those will be our three legs,” Murillo said.