Business operators want changes to new privatized liquor regulations
The transition into a SASKATOON privatized liquor system in Saskatchewan has brought headaches for private retailers and rural business owners, who have complaints about a lack of online catalogues and slim profit margins.
Forty-six new private retailers were granted liquor licences in 2016. Most outlets opened in 2017 or earlier this year.
The Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) still operates 36 retail locations, in addition to providing wholesale products to private retailers through its distribution centre.
Garrett Thienes and his wife Kristy own Harvest Eatery in Shaunavon; part of the restaurant’s success lies in its wine list.
“It becomes part of the experience, like our cuisine,” Thienes said. “We don’t want to serve food in our style of restaurant that you could just go buy at the grocery store and make for yourself. (The wine list) is all part of the experience we’re trying to create.”
That wine list changes to offer suitable wines for seasonal menu items. The establishment has won multiple tourism and food awards.
Thienes has been trying to make a new wine list for months. It’s been a daunting process since Shaunavon’s SLGA store closed and the local Co-op was awarded a private liquor licence, he said, noting the Shaunavon Co-op hasn’t been able to provide him with a list of its stock.
“The amount of time and energy I’ll have to put into it is more than it’s taken me to make a new food menu, which is unbelievable,” Thienes said. “It’s affecting us as a ( business) for sure right now.”
The Shaunavon Co-op recently amalgamated with other Co-op locations in the southwest under Pioneer.
Thienes’ frustration lies in the fact he can’t search online for Co-op’s products. Pioneer Co-op has not yet made an online liquor catalogue.
Lennart Folk, Pioneer’s liquor supervisor, said Co-op issues flyers and hopes a website will come in the future. “We’re new to this and we’re only six months old.”
In the meantime, building a wine list is an onerous task.
Darrel Goulet, the liquor retail manager at the Shaunavon Co-op, outlined the steps a restaurateur must take.
“They’d have to put together some of their brands and bring it to me and I can tell them if it’s something (SLGA) carries,” he said.
Putting together those brands is an extensive process that requires research, tastings and pairings.
If SLGA’s distribution centre doesn’t carry a product, Goulet can request a special order, which can take as long as six weeks.
“And then you have to take it by the case or you have to order minimum five cases. Being the size of store we are … you’re limited to what you can carry,” Folk added.
Goulet can also purchase liquor from any of the province’s 700 liquor retailers and bring it to Shaunavon, but that’s only something he’ll do if he’s sure the product will sell in his small town.
To add to the headache, “there’s no way of telling customers if a product is delisted,” Goulet said.
The SLGA’s saskliquor.com site (which has a searchable catalogue) doesn’t differentiate between product in SLGA retail stores and in the distribution centre, he noted.
Folk said the privatization model is causing problems at Pioneer’s liquor retail outlets.
“There’s a lot of products that are out and you can’t get it. That’s pretty frustrating. The customer comes in and starts giving you heck because you don’t have it. You tell them it’s not available from the liquor warehouse … it puts you in a hard spot.”
Goulet would like a system that’s fully privatized so he would have the final say over what he can bring in to sell.
“(Then) I could go to different warehouses. It would definitely be easier,” he said, noting that since the Shaunavon Co-op got its private liquor licence in November, the profit margins haven’t been great. “It’d be nice to make a little bit more money at it.”
Folk would also like to see a change in the government’s privatization model.
“If they’re going to go privatized, they should get out of the retail and just strictly do the wholesale,” he said.
“You still have to follow their rules and regulations. It’s pretty tough sometimes.”
Thienes said his restaurant has helped the local economy, but he sees trouble ahead if nothing changes.
“These small towns are going to die if we continue to do business as usual.”