Local microbreweries find a safety net in new online purchasing platform
When the pandemic struck Quebec soil and the province entered into a lockdown, thousands of businesses suffered tremendous losses, including a budding microbrewery industry.
But rather than sit back and watch the money bleed, Sébastien Huot took it upon himself to create a platform for artisanal beer shops to sell their unique blends online. Huot, who runs several Festibière de Québec events, launched Je Bois Local this week.
“We had a lot of time to think about it,” he said. “We have three Festibière, a BBQ festival, a hot air balloon festival; we have a lot of festivals, so with everything down this summer we looked for a way to help out microbreweries.”
While some places already have an online presence, many microbreweries thrive on in-person sales, which has been difficult these last few months, he continued. It’s even more difficult for the artisanal shops; they don’t have the same reach as industrial microbreweries.
“For the industrial, you can go to grocery stores or depanneurs, you can sell to restaurants, but artisanal you can’t do that, you just have the right to sell at your place,” Huot explained.
According to the website’s creator, Je Bois Local already features about 70 microbreweries, and the list continues to grow. There are four locations in the Eastern Townships: Canton Brasse, Refuge des Brasseurs, Microbrasserie Coaticook, and Microbrasserie Moulin 7.
Quebecers can visit jeboislocal.ca, choose a location, select any canned or bottled beer on the menu and pick up their merchandise without ever stepping foot inside a building. Coaticook Microbrewery manager Etienne Leclerc is already making sales on the new platform.
“We’ve had multiple orders come in this way, people who really want to make less contact because this way they can pay in advance, even though we do have all of the necessary sanitary measures in place,” said Leclerc.
He added that Je Bois Local is a great initiative bringing microbreweries closer together in one online location. It’s also Quebec-based, which made the platform that much more enticing, Leclerc continued.
Steven Slab, the co-owner of
Orford’s Canton Brasse, said signing up to the online platform was a no-brainer, especially with several regions in the province turning into red zones. Ownership is covering its bases in case there’s another lockdown, he explained.
“We actually had a little pop-up tent to sell beers to-go,” Slab said. “We did it all summer with the pub and it was a really nice summer, but we just need to make sure we’re ready if there’s a second wave and we need to close it down again.”
While he believes the microbrewery will survive another provincial shut down, he wants to make sure they’re not completely in the hole. Je Bois Local is a strong plan B, Slab concluded, but the hope is to continue providing a more personal, in-house experience.
Moulin 7 co-owner Danick Pellerin echoed Slab’s sentiments. It’s too early to tell whether the platform will be fruitful or not, since they just joined this week, Pellerin said. The microbrewery located in Asbestos, Quebec quickly adjusted to Covid measures in order to stay alive.
“We were already doing a drivethru service this summer and a minimarket,” said Pellerin. “This is more of another way for us to bring in clients, especially people from outside of the region.”
With their pub section closed, Moulin 7 gave its patrons an opportunity to pre-order beer and drive by the location to scoop up their orders without leaving their cars. The good thing, according Pellerin, is that people will always want beer; the circumstances don’t matter.
“There isn’t much to do, when things are going well, people want beer, when things are going bad, people want beer, so for that it’s a win-win situation, but we still want to encourage people to buy local and we need to be proactive about it,” he said.
While Je Bois Local continues to grow its list of microbreweries, the one problem is that it doesn’t provide delivery due to Quebec law. But local brewers associations are trying to change the rule, Huot explained, and the website is prepared to add the function.
“I also own a microbrewery in Quebec City, and my place is artisanal, so I’m trying to find a way to sell my beer,” said Huot. “Delivery could be a next step and if they allow this to happen, the platform is good to add the delivery service.”