Dry January Bar Prep: A Week-by-Week List From November

Start Dry January prep in the first week of November, about 8 weeks before your guests start on January 1. Holiday delivery cutoffs push the January NA order to the end of November, so the list, formats and prices get settled first, staff train in early December, and the Non-Alcoholic section goes up on December 26. Below are the weekly plan with this season's dates, a pricing example, the board changes for December 26 to January 1, and the January review.

When should a bar start prepping for Dry January?

Start the week of November 2, because the January order has to go in before the holiday delivery schedule closes in. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management's federal holiday list puts Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 26, Christmas Day on Friday, December 25, and New Year's Day on Friday, January 1, 2027. Ask your distributor for its holiday schedule that first week and look for skipped trucks and early order cutoffs around all three.

Count back from those cutoffs and the January NA order goes in around November 30:

The dates are for the 2026 to 2027 season. In another year, keep the rows in order and line them up against that year's cutoffs.

In the first week, also ask your rep which NA products come in kegs, in which sizes, and whether anything is a special order with its own lead time. Then write down every NA item you sell today, with format and price. For many bars that's a can or two in the cooler, and it's the base for January.

What should go on the January NA list?

The January list needs NA beer and at least one zero-proof drink, because Dry January guests split between them. NIQ's US on-premise report (January 13, 2026) found that 4 in 10 US on-premise consumers were very or somewhat likely to take part in Dry January 2026. Among those taking part, 15% planned to switch to mocktails and 13% to alcohol-free beer, with alcohol-free wine at 12% and spirits at 11%. Soft drinks led at 57%.

NIQ surveyed 1,600 legal drinking age consumers in Texas, New York, Florida and California in early December 2025. Other operators are adding NA too: SpotOn's menu data from more than 1,000 independent restaurants showed 47% more NA items added in January 2026 than in January 2025, with zero and low proof drinks up 33% and functional drinks up 41%.

Mark every candidate year-round or January add, and size the list so each item sells through. Two NA beers in different styles, something that isn't beer, and a zero-proof drink or two is a reasonable start; how many NA options a bar should carry works out the count for your room. An example for a 20 tap beer bar:

Should NA beer go on draft or in cans, and how do you price it?

Put NA on draft only when it can have a line of its own, someone cleans that line on a schedule, and it sells fast enough to move the keg. Short of that, go with cans. Before you order any NA keg, ask the brewery or distributor for its handling guidance. The full decision is in NA beer on draft or in cans, and the cleaning routine is in NA draft line cleaning.

Price NA from your own costs with the same rules you use for the rest of the list. Here's the math for the example list, with example inputs:

• Draft NA pale ale, 16 oz: the glass holds 14 liquid ounces at $0.12 an ounce, so 14 x $0.12 = $1.68. Beer taps run at 4 times cost: $1.68 x 4 = $6.72, posted as $7. The 10 oz pour holds 9 ounces: 9 x $0.12 x 4 = $4.32, posted as $5.
• Canned NA lager: a $1.40 landed cost at 3 times cost is $4.20, posted as $5.
• Zero-proof drinks: each sits at least $3 under the $12 house cocktail, so $8 and $9.

Swap in your own multipliers. Pricing zero-proof drinks and NA beer covers the method in full.

Where should the NA section sit on the board in January?

The NA section sits where a guest finds it on the first read, under the name it keeps all year. Settle these in the week of November 23:

• Call the section Non-Alcoholic and use that name on the header, on each line and when the bartender says it out loud. A "Dry January" header tells guests the section ends with the month, so put any January callout on a sign by the door.
• If a guest has to wait for a page to turn to find NA, move the section up for January. For the rest of the year, use the placement in where cider, seltzer, wine and NA go on a beer list.
• Write each maker's ABV exactly as the can or keg collar prints it. What counts as non-alcoholic explains 0.0% and 0.5%.
• If you have a second screen over the backbar, decide whether it shows only NA in January. That helps most when the main board turns pages or hangs where guests at the bar can't read it. Find a new home for what that screen shows now, and keep NA on the main board as well.

Setting up a non-alcoholic section on a digital tap list walks through the build itself.

When does the order go in, and what rides on it?

The order goes in the week of November 30, timed to land the week of December 14. That leaves a truck or two before the Christmas cutoffs to fix anything short or out of stock.

• If your rep can split the order, send kegs on the earliest truck. They need time in the walk-in to reach serving temperature, and the chill times are in game night keg prep.
• If an NA beer goes on tap 17, set that line's cleaning schedule now with whoever cleans your lines.
• For quantities, start from last January if you poured NA then. If you didn't, lean high on the year-round items, since leftovers keep selling in February.

How do you train staff before the holiday rush?

Train in the week of December 7, before holiday parties take over every preshift.

• Pour or open every NA item and make each zero-proof build so staff can taste them.
• Give each item one line staff can say from memory: "NA pale ale, 0.5%, tap 17."
• Show where everything lives, and put the zero-proof specs on a card at the well.
• When a guest asks "Is it zero?", staff read the number off the board, 0.0% or 0.5%.
• Call the drink by name when it lands, so the guest knows it's the NA one. Stopping wrong NA pours has more on the handoff.

What do you check when the delivery lands?

Check the delivery against the order on the day it arrives, in the week of December 14. Anything short gets reordered for the next truck or comes off the January list. Then build the full list with a price and an ABV on every line, have someone who didn't write it read it back against the cooler and the tap, and name who puts it up on December 26.

What changes on the board between December 26 and January 1?

The NA list goes up before doors on Saturday, December 26, and the board gets reset on the morning of January 1. Provi's Dry January playbook (December 15, 2025) calls the week between Christmas and New Year's the best moment to promote Dry January offerings, while guests are already thinking about resolutions. Make the changes in this order.

Take the holiday lines down first

Clear the old lines first so you know how much room the NA section has. Any line with a holiday name or price comes off. A holiday keg with beer left either stays on as an ordinary line, with a plain style name and the regular price, until it kicks, or comes off the board and the tap together.

Check every NA line against the product

Take the list to the cooler and the tap tower and hold each line up against the real can or keg:

• The name matches the can, or the keg collar and the handle, and the line says the format: 12 oz can, 16 oz can, or the tap number.
• The ABV is what the maker prints.
• The price matches your price sheet.
• The drink is cold and on the shelf. A case still in the walk-in can't be sold yet, and neither can a keg whose first pour hasn't been tasted.

A line that fails any check stays off until it's fixed. Adding a line a day late beats telling a guest their drink isn't cold yet.

Mark the January adds for staff

Staff need to know which items are on trial. Mark the adds on the staff copy of the list and the card at the well, with the review date and reviewer at the top: "January adds, reviewed the week of Jan 25 by the GM. None come off before then." Leave the mark off the guest board, where "January only" reads as "gone soon."

Test whether a guest can find it

Once the list is up, ask a server who wasn't part of the changes to stand where guests order, read the board once from top to bottom without waiting for a page to turn, and point to the NA section. If that takes longer than 5 seconds (a starting number; set your own) or the section is on a second page, move it up.

Keep NA up on New Year's Eve

The full NA section stays up on New Year's Eve, when the room has designated drivers and guests pacing themselves; designated driver drinks for the holidays covers that crowd. A New Year's special, such as a sparkling toast, goes on as its own priced line, with a named person to take it off at close. After doors open, the only board changes are sold out lines.

Reset on the morning of January 1

1. Take every New Year's Eve line off.
2. Count the NA cans. Anything at zero comes off the board, or its backup goes up in its place.
3. Switch the backbar screen to NA only, if that's what you decided.
4. Pour and taste the first pull off the NA tap.
5. Read the whole board once more from where guests order.

What should you track in the first week of January?

Track what guests ask about, because the first week's questions show where the board is unclear. Keep a sheet behind the bar with three columns: what guests asked for, what they couldn't find, and what they misread. Many entries point to a board fix:

• A guest asks whether the hazy IPA is on draft. Spell out "16 oz can" on its line.
• A guest asks which one is zero. Check that the lager shows 0.0%.
• A guest couldn't find NA at all. Move the section higher, or switch the backbar screen sooner.

As a starting rule, if the same question comes up twice in one shift, change the board before the next shift; the next guest with that question may not ask. Put any open fix on the shift handoff card.

What happens to the NA list after January?

The Non-Alcoholic section stays up after January, and only the January adds that didn't sell come off. In a Bar & Restaurant article (February 9, 2026), an operator warned that if a bar's NA program disappears on February 1, the revenue from those guests will probably disappear too.

NA sales run all year. IWSR reports that as early as 2019, the third quarter, which has no sobriety campaign, carried about 27% of annual US no-alcohol volume, against 22% for the first quarter, which includes Dry January.

Hold the review in the week of January 25. Adds that sold through join the year-round list. Adds that sat get no reorder and come off when the last one is poured. Keep the planning sheet: the same steps, run in spring, set up the summer NA list.

How does this plan run on a TapDisplay board?

On a TapDisplay board, each change in this plan is made once, from a phone, tablet or computer. Each connected screen checks for changes every 30 seconds, so an edit shows within about 30 seconds.

• To add a January item, start typing its name and pick a catalog match. It fills in the brewery, style and ABV you haven't entered yet; check that ABV against the can on December 26 anyway.
• Each screen can show its own sections, so the backbar screen can show only Non-Alcoholic for January. Owners and managers run the screens.
• Each item shows 2 pours by default and up to 4, so the NA tap line carries both the 16 oz and 10 oz prices.
• A long list adjusts its type to fit, then turns pages, which is why the find-it test matters.
• A sold out drink stays on the board, struck through. The label comes from the business type: KICKED on keg menus such as a bar or brewery, SOLD OUT on coffee, wine and cocktail menus. On a bar menu, a sold out NA can reads KICKED too.

The bottom line

Dry January prep starts the first week of November, because holiday cutoffs push the NA order to about November 30. Settle the list, formats and prices before that, train staff the week of December 7, and put the Non-Alcoholic section up before doors on December 26. Review the January adds the week of January 25 and keep the section up all year.