As corollary -- as soon as a recession hit in Ireland the bars and pubs that are most likely to survive were ones that served food -- gastropubs. Many bar owners who closed during Covid will tell you they should have served food.

The reason being is a bar/restaurant can have a symbiosis where the food encourages drinking and the drinking encourages food and this is great for business.

Selling drink is very profitable but you need a critical mass of people to to attract other drinkers -- pubs who serve food hit this critical mass easily.