Yeah up until a couple years ago my state had a requirement that any business that made more than 70% of its income from sales of alcohol were required to be private clubs with memberships. Which is why so many bars and pool halls had a dusty clipboard with "guest sign-in sheets" near the door that everyone ignored. Like many things, this didn't survive the pandemic.

We have (had?) separate registrations for bars vs restaurants, and there are (were?) limits on how much revenue from each source a bar vs restaurant could have (bars must primarily derive income from alcohol, restaurants from food). I haven't seen the little signs they used to have to place out front that signified whether the establishment was a bar or a restaurant, so I'm not sure if they changed the rules generally or just that one.

Same here, but that can be covered by chips and peanuts so it doesn’t mean all bars have a full kitchen.

Also I know a place that’s 3 bars in one. All three are music venues. The two big rooms don’t serve food, but the third is always free and has an awesome kitchen. They get around it that way.

Sometimes there’s two different shows going on so you’d have to pay for each of the big rooms upstairs, but downstairs is accessible to attendees of either show.