Hospitality Business Association of Chicago

05/27/2026

This is a crucial week for Chicago bars, restaurants, and music venues to defend the Illinois law banning credit card processing fees on the taxes and tips that your business has to pay every day.

You and your small business are passing the money from sales taxes and tips on to the government and your employees...why is your small business solely bearing the credit card processing costs for them? CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS TODAY TO MAKE HUGE CREDIT CARD PROCESSORS CARRY THOSE COSTS!

The essential services low-income families rely on for long-term residential care in Illinois are being threatened by rising inflation and federal Medicaid cuts. Protect the most vulnerable in Illinois by reforming Medicaid reimbursement rates

03/16/2026

ACTION ALERT: On Wednesday, March 18th the City Council is expected to take up an ordinance to freeze the Chicago tip credit at the current level of $12.62 per hour and indefinitely pause the scheduled July 1st, 2026 increase to about $14.20 - $14.30 per hour for front of house tipped staff (final figure will depend on inflation adjusted full minimum wage rate that City Hall will release in early June).

As bars, restaurants, and music venues across Chicago face shrinking margins, higher property tax bills, and customers deeply concerned about affordability, here are two big things you can do to get engaged on the tip credit:

1) Contact the City Council member(s) for both where you operate and where you live and explain to them that phasing out the tip credit while suburban competitors don't is an enormous disadvantage for your Chicago small business!

2) Attend City Council on March 18th at 8:30am if you want to support a tip credit press conference hosted by the Illinois Restaurant Association or later in the morning before the expected vote on the tip credit freeze which will likely take place between 11:30am and 1:30pm. Contact us for more logistics information on either option!

Sun-Times coverage on the tip credit vote:

At next week’s City Council meeting, Far Northwest Side Ald. Samantha Nugent (39th) plans to use a parliamentary maneuver to freeze the subminimum wage at 24% of the minimum hourly wage paid to Chicago workers who do not receive tips.

01/28/2026

ALERT: The Illinois Liquor Control Commission has announced they will be switching to a new licensing platform on February 11th, 2026. Retailer will no longer be able to renew their State licenses on the MyTax Illinois portal but will instead need to re-register on the new ILCC platform.

The Hospitality Business Association of Chicago STRONGLY urges any bar, restaurant, or music venue with a February or March State license renewal go ahead and renew before the new platform launches unless you want to become an unpaid beta tester for it.

More from the ILCC on the upcoming change:
https://ilcc.illinois.gov/ilcc-portal/ilcc-portal-faqs.html

01/26/2026

Property Tax Appeal Window Open For Hundreds of Chicago Bars, Restaurants, and Music Venues!

The Cook County Board of Review just announced the opening of the property tax appeal filing window for North Chicago and South Chicago townships (approximately the area bounded by Fullerton Avenue to the North, By Pershing/39th Street to the South, and from Lake Michigan all the way west to the Chicago River). There are a very large number of bars, restaurants, and music venues located in just those two townships.

If you are unhappy about your property tax bill please consider filing an appeal with the Board of Review before their February 18th deadline.

If you wish to review your property tax assessment and see how it compares to other nearby properties the Cook County Property Tax Portal is an excellent starting point.

https://appeals.cookcountyboardofreview.com/

01/02/2026

This New Years Eve tragedy in Switzerland highlights the dangers of using pyrotechnics for bottle service in nightclubs and music venues. The City of Chicago has brought several major liquor license discipline cases against venues here for using pyrotechnics without proper precautions and this latest tragedy will surely make it an area of emphasis for CFD again in 2026.

If your venue does use any sort of pyrotechnics please protect yourself by verifying they comply with local and State fire codes and are allowed under your insurance coverage (they are often specifically excluded from coverage following several major US incidents).

Wishing our members a successful, but above all safe, 2026.

Swiss investigators are probing what caused a fire in a bar at an Alpine ski resort that left around 40 people dead and another 115 injured.

12/23/2025

With Mayor Johnson not exercising any veto on the 2026 City Budget we can finally declare victory, or at least a deep breath of relief, that the 2026 budget does not include any new taxes or major permit and license increases on Chicago's bars and restaurants!

A new 3% sales tax on off-premise alcohol sales (to go) was cut in half thanks to beer, wine, and spirits industry opposition led by the Hospitality Association and we will work with City Hall and our members who do sell to go alcohol to make the transition as smooth as possible this year.

Lastly, the passed budget DOES finally allow State licensed video gaming in bars and restaurants. The Hospitality Association will host a in-person and webinar update on that on the afternoon of Monday, December 29th. Invite via newsletter going out the evening of December 23rd. Or email [email protected] to RSVP.

By not vetoing the budget, Johnson solidifies the will of 30 alders who took control of this year’s budget process.

11/19/2025

The Illinois Liquor Control Commission has issued the following guidance letter for liquor licensees following yesterday's release by of new State of Illinois Digital IDs.

PLEASE CAREFULLY NOTE the ILCC requires you to digitally verify these digital IDs with an app only available to iPhones on the Apple App Store, not just eyeball them in customer's Apple Wallets.

The ILCC is expected to clarify shortly that customers are still required to have a physical ID on them as well as a Digital ID AND that retailers are NOT required to accept Digital IDs. The Hospitality Association will of course post an alert as soon as that update is released.https://www.ilsos.gov/content/dam/departments/drivers/mobile-id/ILCCletter.pdf

11/17/2025

It was Hospitality Association Director Pat Doerr's pleasure to appear on WTTW - Chicago PBS Chicago Tonight earlier this month and debate the hidden economic costs to Chicago and Chicago residents of Mayor Johnson's proposed $21 per job per month tax on many small and medium size homegrown businesses.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is calling for more taxes on big companies in his 2026 budget proposal. Under the mayor’s plan, businesses in Chicago with more than 100 employees would have to pay $21 for each employee every month.