Bars, restaurants push to buy booze at better prices

B.C.’s restaurant and bar owners — like their counterparts in most parts of the country — want a break on the price they pay for liquor.

In a national “report card,” Restaurants Canada gave B.C. a C+ despite the province’s efforts to modernize liquor policies.

The industry association said its members remain frustrated in eight of 10 provinces, including B.C., at having to pay the same retail price for wine, beer or spirits as everyone else.

In B.C., bars and restaurants also want the option of purchasing liquor from retail outlets instead of through the Liquor Distribution Branch.

“Until B.C. allows its liquor licensees to access wholesale pricing and until they are allowed to purchase liquor from private retailers, there is little motivation to improve that grade,” the report states.

Mark von Schellwitz, vice-president for Western Canada, said customers are constantly complaining about the high cost of booze in B.C. bars and restaurants.

“But most of those people don’t understand that we have to buy that same bottle of wine or spirits at the same price they do when they go into the liquor store,” he said. “We get no wholesale price whatsoever.”

Von Schellwitz said B.C.’s bars and restaurants also have a limited selection from which to choose, because they’re forced to go through the Liquor Distrib- ution Branch, instead of being able to purchase liquor from retail outlets.

“Take the case of small little restaurateur,” he said. “He runs out of inventory of a certain wine on a busy Friday night, he can’t just go to his private liquor store or private winery and pick up a couple of bottles, because he’s forced to through LDB, yet his local LDB store doesn’t carry the product that he needs.”

Coralee Oakes, the minister responsible for the Liquor Distribution Branch, promised only that the government will continue to review its liquor policies.

“At this point, we are again looking at ways we can support the industry,” she said. “They’re fantastic small businesses in our province. We want them to be successful.”

NDP critic David Eby said it’s no surprise that pub and restaurant owners are unhappy with the pricing system. The Opposition has been urging changes to support the hospitality industry for months, he said.

“It’s a huge employer of people across British Columbia. It’s a driver of tourism. We should be welcoming people here with our wonderful restaurants and our wonderful tourism opportunities, and instead we’re crippling these restaurants with ridiculously high prices for alcohol.”

Eby said the government should try to improve on its grade by giving the industry a break on retail prices.

“I don’t think B.C. should take any comfort in a C+ grade,” he said.