On Friday, a warning from the U.S. surgeon general shook the alcoholic beverage industry. Alcohol is a “well-established, preventable cause of cancer,” and alcoholic beverages should therefore carry a cancer warning label, Dr. Vivek Murthy said.
Spirit companies immediately saw stock prices plummet. Meanwhile, Joshua James’ phone was blowing up.
“I had multiple people texting me out of nowhere, ‘Did you just see this?’” said James, who opened Ocean Beach Cafe, San Francisco’s first nonalcoholic bar, in 2021. “… It was actually really crazy. That was a huge day, and then we had an all-time record day on Saturday.”…