Restaurant group lobbies province on liquor profits

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This article was published 07/12/2021 (1426 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A liquor rebate could help Manitoba restaurants rebound from pandemic losses, industry leaders say.

The Manitoba Restaurant and Food Services Association is lobbying the provincial government to allow profits reaped by its publicly controlled liquor stores to be passed on to licensed eateries that spend millions of dollars each year buying beer, wine and spirits for their establishments.

Shaun Jeffrey, the association’s CEO and executive director, floated the idea during a pre-budget public consultation meeting with Manitoba Finance Minister Scott Fielding last week. He urged the government to consider commercial liquor rebates as part of any forthcoming efforts to support the restaurant industry.

Jeffrey drew comparisons to the rebates Manitoba Public Insurance offered to motorists early in the pandemic. Another Crown corporation, Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries, could do something similar, he told the Free Press.

“We saw that MPI, because they were making profits, they returned that money to Manitobans when they needed it. So we’re looking for the same thing. We’re purchasing a lot of alcohol from the government. We want to be able to see the same rebates.”

The province hasn’t made any commitment to follow through with the idea, and no proposal has been officially launched.

Jeffrey said the association is seeking input from restaurateurs, chefs, wine-sellers, brewers and other stakeholders, with plans to start a provincewide hospitality coalition in the new year. The association wants to follow in the footsteps of a similar program in British Columbia.

The pandemic prompted B.C.’s government to bring in permanent wholesale pricing for restaurants’ liquor purchases earlier this year. Licensed restaurants pay the same prices for alcohol as individuals, and they can’t collect Air Miles on those commercial purchases, Jeffrey said. For years, industry leaders have asked Manitoba to consider a wholesale pricing system, but have been told legislation doesn’t allow for it under Manitoba’s publicly run liquor stores. The rebate would be a way around that, Jeffrey said.

“Instead of beating a dead horse, so to speak, we’re trying to take a different route. We want to work with them, we want to give them other options.”

The average restaurant operator is carrying $89,000 in pandemic-related debt right now, and it’s expected to take years for the industry to recover, he said. The idea is that restaurateurs could use rebate money to reinvest in their businesses.

“This is not about just putting more money in the pockets of operators. It’s freeing up revenue so that we can do things like change our business — remodel, change menus, buy and update websites, stuff like that. Things that, unfortunately, we’re not going to be able to do because COVID has taken such a massive toll that these things are not going to be possible even in the mid- to long-term.”

Forecasts are starting to improve — some Manitoba restaurants’ books are returning to pre-pandemic levels, but others are still struggling.

“These operators are now trying to dig out of that mountain of debt with the smallest shovel possible. It’s not about how we’re doing now; it’s how we’re going to do in the future,” Jeffrey said.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca