How Many NA Options a Bar Should Carry to Start

A bar can start with 3 non-alcoholic options and grow to 6, and the count comes from the jobs the list has to cover. The first 3 work in any bar: an NA beer guests ask for by name, a second NA beer in a different style, and something cold that isn't beer. Below are the jobs, starting sets for 3 kinds of bar, the ABV check, backups, and a 4 week review that tells you what to add or cut.

How many NA options should a bar start with?

Start with 3 and add up to 3 more, one for each thing in the building that supports an extra slot. The first 3 need nothing but a cooler. Each later slot needs a cocktail well, cooler room for a seasonal beer, or a cocktail program guests already order from.

A spare tap line moves one of the beers onto a handle, and the count stays the same.

Capping the starting set at 6 keeps cans from sitting. Every extra item splits the same NA guests across more cans, so a slow one sits longer and gets closer to its date. NA is still a small slice of beer: the Brewers Association's State of Non-Alc report puts it at 2.5% of beer sales by volume in 2025, up from 1.1% in 2021. It more than doubled in 4 years, so start small and grow from your own tally.

There's plenty to choose from. The same Brewers Association report counts 484 NA brands from 213 companies in 2025, up from 173 brands in 2021, so pick 1 for each job and leave the rest for the tally to suggest.

What jobs does a starting NA list have to cover?

A starting NA list covers 4 jobs, and each slot should do one that no other slot does.

1. The by-name beer. Carry one of the national NA beers guests ask for by brand. Ask your rep which ones they can keep in stock, since this slot hurts most when it's empty.
2. A second style. If the by-name beer is a lager, make the second one hoppy or dark. 2 NA IPAs serve the same guest twice and leave the lager drinker with nothing.
3. Something that isn't beer. Hop water or a craft soda covers the guest who wants something cold and fizzy without beer flavor.
4. A zero-proof cocktail, if you have a well and bartenders who can build one during a rush.

Restaurants are adding NA beer and zero-proof cocktails too. The National Restaurant Association's August 25, 2026 release on its beverage trends report says fullservice operators are expanding alcohol-free cocktails (49%) and alcohol-free beer (39%). Those figures cover fullservice restaurants, not bars.

Why put a craft NA in the second slot?

Craft NA earns more per unit than the NA average, which makes the second slot a good home for one. In 2025, craft made up 31% of NA beer sales volume and 36% of NA dollar sales, according to the Brewers Association. Divide the dollar share by the volume share for a rough price index:

36% divided by 31% = about 1.16

So craft NA brings in about 16% more per unit of volume than NA beer as a whole. That's an average across all sales, so check what your distributor charges before you set a price. The post on pricing NA beer and zero-proof drinks covers the math.

What does a starting NA set look like for your kind of bar?

A small beer bar can start with 3 items, a sports bar with 4, and a brewpub or taproom with a well and a spare line with 6. The sets below name styles and packages. The by-name slot is whichever national NA beer your guests ask for and your distributor carries, and the prices are yours to set.

A small beer bar with no well

That's 3 cans and no new equipment. If cooler space is tight, this is the whole set until the tally says otherwise.

A sports bar

Stock deepest on the by-name beer, since it's the one guests order without reading the board. Keep the zero-proof build short enough to make on a packed game day. The post on NA drinks for a sports bar in football season covers par levels for those days.

A brewpub or taproom with a well and a spare line

An NA beer on a handle lets the NA guest order a pint like everyone else. Put NA on draft only if it gets a line of its own and someone cleans that line on a schedule, and ask the brewery or distributor for their handling guidance before the first keg.

The posts on NA beer on draft or in cans and NA draft line cleaning cover both decisions. A taproom without a well drops the 2 builds and leans on the hop water. For writing the builds onto the menu, see the guide to a zero-proof drink menu.

Which styles and ABVs should the set cover?

The beers should spread across flavor, and at least 1 item should be 0.0%. Something light, something hoppy and, in the colder months, something dark covers most NA beer guests. Write each ABV exactly as the maker states it, and make sure staff know which items are 0.0 and which aren't.

Under the federal rule for malt beverage labels, 27 CFR 7.65 as published by Cornell's Legal Information Institute, "non-alcoholic" may appear only with the statement "contains less than 0.5 percent (or .5%) alcohol by volume" right next to it. "Alcohol free" is allowed only on malt beverages that contain no alcohol, with no tolerance.

So an NA IPA at 0.4% is non-alcoholic on its can and still isn't alcohol free. Some guests ask for 0.0 specifically, and they need a straight answer from the first bartender they ask. The same rule lets a label under 0.5% state alcohol to the nearest tenth or hundredth of a point, so copy the figure from the can rather than rounding it. The guide to 0.0% versus 0.5% on a menu covers the wording.

Hop water needs the same care. If its maker states no ABV, nobody should call it 0.0. The post on hop water and how to list it covers the line.

Check the 3 sets above for a 0.0 item. Depending on what your distributor carries, the by-name lager may be the only one, or there may be none. If your by-name beer isn't 0.0%, make the backup a 0.0% beer and put it on the list too.

What do you pour when an NA item is out of stock?

You pour the backup you picked before you needed it. Distributors run out of NA beers like anything else, and the by-name beer hurts most when it's gone. Write down a backup for each slot:

• From a different brewery, and through a different distributor if you can, so a single shortage doesn't take out both.
• In the same style where possible. A 0.0% NA lager in cans covers the by-name lager.
• In the building or an order away. A case in the back covers a short gap. For a long one, the backup goes on the list in place of the missing item.

When an item runs out, change its line that shift: take it off or put the backup in its place. Give staff a sentence they can say without thinking: "We're out of that one this week. We have an NA lager in a can, 0.0%." The post on stopping wrong NA pours covers keeping the swap straight behind the bar.

When should you add or cut an NA item?

Add or cut at a review every 4 weeks, or every order cycle, using 2 numbers: what each item sold, and what guests asked for that you don't carry. Keep a tally sheet behind the bar for the asks, by brand or style. For sales, count what's left against what came in.

Say that 4 weeks ago the bar took in a 24 can case of an NA stout and a 24 can case of hop water:

The hop water's last 4 cans run out within the week, so it needs a case on this order. At 5 a week, a 4 week cycle uses 20 cans, and 1 case per cycle covers it with 4 to spare. The stout's 18 cans last 12 more weeks at 1.5 a week, so it will still be on its first case at the next review.

Set your rules before the first count:

• Add when the same brand or style crosses a threshold you pick, say 3 or more times on the tally in 1 review window, and you have cooler space.
• Rotate out an item still on its first case after 2 reviews. Check the dates on the cans when you count, and ask your distributor how long their NA stays good.
• If the cooler is full, an add means something else in the set rotates out.

How long should a slow NA item get?

A slow NA item should get at least 2 seasons before you cut it for good, because NA sales swing through the year. IWSR's January 21, 2026 report on no-alcohol seasonality found that as early as 2019, the third quarter held about 27% of annual US no-alcohol volume, against 22% for the first quarter, which includes Dry January.

For NA beer, IWSR's June 2025 report on US no-alcohol beer says volumes peak in August, with June and July strong too, and February and April the lowest months. A stout that sits in July may still move in December, so judge a dark beer in its own season.

Order deeper on the by-name beer before summer and again before January. IWSR's January report says January still lifts no-alcohol sales over December. Run the same review at the end of January and keep the NA section up after the month ends. The Dry January bar prep list and the guide to NA drinks in summer cover both runs.

How does an NA set show on a TapDisplay board?

On the TapDisplay board, the NA set goes in its own section, and each line fills the same fields as a beer. That means name, maker, style, the stats your menu uses (ABV on a beer menu) and a price per pour, with 2 pours by default and up to 4.

To add a line, start typing a drink name and pick a match from the catalog. It fills in the brewery, style and ABV you haven't entered yet, and you can always type everything yourself. Check the ABV against the can before the line goes up.

When something runs out, mark it sold out and the line stays on the board, struck through. The word comes from the business type: KICKED on keg menus such as a bar or brewery, SOLD OUT on menus such as coffee or wine. On a beer bar's board, an NA can that runs out reads KICKED too, and you can't type a different word. If you'd rather not show it, swap the backup into the line.

You change the board from a phone, a tablet or a computer, and owners, managers and staff can all edit the menu. Every connected screen checks for changes every 30 seconds, so a swap shows within about 30 seconds.

As the set grows, a long list adjusts its type to fit, then turns pages. One list can be split across several screens, or each screen can show its own sections. If NA lands on a page that turns, the guide to where cider, seltzer, wine and NA go on a beer list covers moving it up, and the step by step guide to a non-alcoholic section walks through the build.

Screens are unlimited. A location costs $49 a month or $499 a year, or $39 a month or $399 a year each at 3 to 9 locations, as listed on the pricing page.

The bottom line

Start with 3 NA options that each do a different job: the beer guests ask for by name, a second style, and something that isn't beer. Add a zero-proof build, a dark beer or a second build only where the bar has the well, the cooler room or the cocktail guests to support it, for 6 at most. Pick a 0.0% item and a backup for each slot, then let a 4 week tally decide what to add or cut.