Restaurants & Bars
Darien Restaurant, Bar Business Stays Level Over 8 Years
The city's food and beverage tax gives a window into how restaurants and bars are doing.
DARIEN, IL – The amount of Darien's restaurant and bar business has remained about the same over the last eight years, the city's tax numbers indicate.
In 2016, Darien imposed a 1.25 percent food and beverage tax on bars and restaurants.
In the first year, the city collected $583,000, while it pulled in $743,000 in the budget year that ended last May.
Find out what's happening in Darienfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
While that appears to be a big increase, the latest total is about the same as 2016 when inflation is taken into account, according to the federal government's consumer price index calculator. The United States experienced historic inflation from 2021 to 2023.
The worst years for the local restaurant and bar business were during the pandemic, with tax income dropping to $530,000 in 2020.
Find out what's happening in Darienfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The food and beverage tax made up about 2 percent of the city's income in the 2023-24 budget year.
Darien's food and beverage tax income:
| Budget year | Tax income |
| 2016-17 | $583,256 |
| 2017-18 | $602,994 |
| 2018-19 | $606,770 |
| 2019-20 | $576,634 |
| 2020-21 | $530,104 |
| 2021-22 | $701,752 |
| 2022-23 | $731,470 |
| 2023-24 | $743,111 |
Source: City of Darien
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