RESTOS PLEAD FOR MORE HELP
Want to deliver spirits, cocktails
The only place to buy booze after 7:30 p.m. during Quebec's curfew is via delivery from restaurants, and that's a little bit of good news for the province's battered restaurant industry. But restaurant owners say it's a case of too little, too late and what they'd really like is to be able to sell spirits as well.
In mid-december, the Legault government passed Bill 72, which for the first time allows restaurants to sell beer and wine when using delivery services such as UBEREATS and Doordash. Before that, you could only sell beer and wine if you were doing the deliveries yourself. The restaurant still has to provide a prepared dish with the beer and wine, but now it doesn't have to be a full meal.
“The idea of adding beer and wine to the delivery is a small help,” said Paul Desbaillets, co-owner of the Burgundy Lion and Bishop & Bagg restaurants. “But what we need desperately is that all of the bars and restaurants in this province have the opportunity to sell their spirits.
“All this alcohol is sitting on our shelves and has been purchased from the SAQ. So the government has already made their money. We want to be able to move that inventory into the public's hands the same way we would if they were coming into the establishment to buy an ounce of that drink. That has to be fixed as fast as possible. It's a disaster. I'm not understanding why the government is resisting so hard on this.”
David Mcmillan, owner of Joe Beef and Liverpool House, used social-media platforms in the fall to push letting restaurants sell beer and wine without having to sell a main meal. But he says the curfew won't likely have much of an impact on restaurant alcohol sales.
“A restaurant like Joe Beef ... we do little delivery and food orders after 7 p.m.,” Mcmillan said. “We've already done the brunt of our work between 3 and 6:30. We've sent out all our food to the families. People start meandering to those websites at around 5 p.m.”
Martin Vézina, a spokesperson with the Quebec Restaurants Association, said delivery sales haven't been very strong after 7:30 p.m. during the curfew.
“Last week many members said they received less sales from the beginning of the curfew because Quebecers didn't understand how (restaurants) would work under the curfew,” Vézina said. “They were thinking that we would be closed at 7:30 p.m., which is not the case. That's why we've done a promotional campaign to say delivery is available even when the curfew is on, and takeout is available to 7:30 p.m.”
The association is pleased that restaurants can now deliver beer and wine when using delivery services, but they want to be able to sell other types of liquor as well.
“With all the debate about Bill 72, we asked the government for a change to the bill so that we can sell not bottles of hard liquor but cocktails that you could sell with some food,” said Vézina. “Like a gin and tonic. There are pre-made gin and tonics available. And this would help restaurants have a more diversified offer for their customers in delivery and takeout.
“We believe this is an opportunity that's wasted. People are liking these pre-made cocktails more and more. It's a real trend.”
A spokesperson for the SAQ said the curfew has had little impact on its sales. The main difference is that the SAQ Express outlets, which used to close at 10 p.m., now shut their doors at 7:30.
“What we're seeing is the same trends we've seen since last March,” SAQ spokesperson Yann Langlais-plante said. “There are more online sales, less people in the stores and the average purchase is bigger than before. In other words, people go to the stores less often but when they go, they buy more.
“The increase in sales right now is about four per cent, which is the same as the increase at this point last year.”
So it turns out that the common wisdom that people are drinking more booze during the pandemic is not true.
“Our surveys show that alcohol consumption has not increased during the pandemic,” Langlais-plante said.
That has to be fixed as fast as possible. It's a disaster. I'm not understanding why the government is resisting so hard on this.