TORONTO — Thanks to today’s announcement by the Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Advisory Council on Government Assets, half of Ontario’s licensed restaurants will soon be able to buy beer at retail price, rather than at the inflated “licensee price” currently charged by The Beer Store.
“This is going to be a long journey, but it is an important first step,” said James Rilett, Restaurants Canada’s, VP, Ontario. “The Wynne government has shown the fortitude to begin to address a decades-long problem. Rather than continue the status quo of a broken system, they chose to act.”
Currently, bars and licensed restaurants in Ontario must pay 30 to 50 per cent more than the public price. According to Restaurants Canada, this costs the province’s foodservice industry more than $75 million annually.
The Advisory Council recommends that restaurants buying fewer than 250 cases of beer per year can buy at retail prices. This will affect approximately 9,000 licensed restaurants.
This announcement comes with news that beer in the province will soon be available in up to 450 more locations, including grocery stores. The industry’s largest brewers have committed to “capping price increases to inflation” for their popular beer products until May 2017.
