Historic New World in BC as Normal Wholesale Pricing Launches for Hospitality Industry

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Written by Mark Hicken Mark Hicken

Category: Latest News Latest News

Published: 20 July 2020 20 July 2020

Today is the first day that restaurants, bars and hotels in British Columbia will be able to purchase alcohol at normal wholesale prices. This is an historic change that has been sought by the hospitality industry for decades. It will finally place hospitality customers in the province on a level playing field with retail customers in terms of alcohol pricing (the 2015 changes to the wholesale pricing system left out hospitality customers). The new system will provide critical financial assistance to the restaurant/bar/hotel sector at a time when such assistance is urgently needed due to the devastating economic effects of the pandemic. 

More discussion on the economic implications of the change for manufacturers is here: Implications of BC’s New Hospitality Pricing System for Wineries. This change was part of the recommendations of the Business Technical Advisory Panel, and was implemented due to the hard work of Minister David Eby, the LDB, LCRB and the staff in the Minister's office. Thanks are due to all of them.

19%: Canada's Failing Grade on DTC

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Written by Mark Hicken Mark Hicken

Category: Latest News Latest News

Published: 07 July 2020 07 July 2020

Ontario's recent delay of DTC reform (Ontario Shuts Down DTC Reform) has illuminated how poorly Canada is doing in respect of removing the interprovincial trade barriers that prevent the shipment of wine to consumers across provincial borders. While the federal government removed its restrictions 8 years ago (in 2012), there are only 3 provinces that are currently open for direct to consumer (DTC) shipments of wine from another province. Those provinces are BC, Manitoba and Nova Scotia (kudos to all of them). Unfortunately, they collectively represent a paltry 19% of the Canadian population (see Wine Growers Canada summary of the situation). As a result, 81% of Canadians live in provinces that still do not allow them to order a bottle of wine (or other alcohol) from another region in the same country.

By global standards, this is astounding and ridiculous. It remains illegal for a consumer in one province to order a bottle of wine from a Canadian winery in a different province. This is analogous to telling a Parisian that it is illegal for them to order wine from Bordeaux ... or telling a Roman that it is illegal for them to order wine from Tuscany. In fact, in Europe, it is legal for a customer to order wine from anywhere within the Schengen zone so a Parisian can order wine from a winery in Spain, Italy or Germany without issue (if they want to). While these countries do not have the Post-Prohibition regulatory structures and monopoly liquor boards that Canadians face, the pace of reform on this issue in Canada is embarrassingly slow. The U.S. faced similar problems when its Supreme Court struck down such protectionist policies in 1986 (in the seminal case of Granholm v. Heald). Reform efforts in the U.S. progressed rapidly following the case and have now opened up all but 4 U.S. states ... so 96% of U.S. wine consumers now live in states where DTC is permitted (the hold-outs are Utah, Delaware, Alabama and Mississippi).

As a result, Canada now holds the unique and bizarre distinction of being one of the only places in the world where its wine consumers are actively discriminated against by many of the provincial governments that are supposedly representing them. This situation is long past its "best before" date. The governments of the other 7 provinces need to move into the modern world and fix this problem once and for all. One would think that in the midst of a pandemic, the politicians would do something to help Canadian business. Here's the sad comparative report card:

Country	Score (% of population open for DTC)	Grade
France	100	A
Italy	100	A
United States	96	A
Canada	19	F

I note that in the Canadian provinces that are open, there have been no significant negative effects from DTC. None of those provinces has experienced any significant drop in provincial liquor revenue. There is simply no valid policy reason why this situation should continue. Fingers crossed that the government of Ontario will come to its senses on this issue and act sooner than July 2021 (the date that they postponed the reforms until).

Ontario Shuts Down DTC Reform

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Written by Mark Hicken Mark Hicken

Category: Latest News Latest News

Published: 30 June 2020 30 June 2020

In a disappointing move for the Canadian wine industry, the Ontario government has delayed reform of its restrictive DTC policies for an entire year, to July 1st 2021. Previously, it had implemented regulatory changes which would have had the effect of removing the LCBO's prohibition over DTC wine shipments from other provinces on July 1st, 2020. There was considerable hope within the wine industry that the Ontario government would make this change in order to provide vital economic assistance to the wine industry during the pandemic and to finally give Ontario consumers access to wine from other provinces. Regrettably, this opportunity has been lost as the Ontario government passed a regulation yesterday which delays the removal of the restriction until July 1st of next year. This is a very unfortunate development as it misses a chance to remove an anachronistic interprovincial trade barrier on Canada's birthday. I note that the opening up of DTC opportunities in other provinces (BC, MB and NS all now allow it) has not produced any discernible negative effects and no loss of provincial revenue. I hope that Ontario will re-think this mistake, well before next year. 

Implications of BC’s New Hospitality Pricing System for Wineries

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Written by Mark Hicken Mark Hicken

Category: Latest News Latest News

Published: 18 June 2020 18 June 2020

This article is intended to explain the recent change to BC’s alcohol pricing system for hospitality customers and to outline the implications for BC wineries. Particularly, it covers the financial consequences for stakeholders. 

What Changed?

Prior to July 20, 2020 (and for decades prior to this), it was an LDB-mandated requirement that BC’s hospitality industry (restaurants/bars/hotels) purchase all alcohol for their businesses at either the full LDB retail price (for products listed in BCLS government stores) or at the hospitality price (for products not listed in BCLS government stores). The latter price was a price set by the LDB which approximated a retail price since it added a “hospitality margin” to the product’s registered wholesale price (i.e. the one offered to retailers). The hospitality margin varied from product to product but is thought by industry to average about 20%. The only exceptions to the above were: 1) land-based wineries were permitted to set their own hospitality price (i.e. they could sell to hospitality customers at their registered wholesale price if they chose to do so), and 2) hospitality licensees did not pay PST on their purchases since that tax is levied on the end-consumer during the final retail purchase.

The new system means that from July 20, 2020 through March 2021, hospitality licensees will be permitted to purchase alcohol at the same registered wholesale price that is offered to all retailers. In other words, restaurants/bars/hotels will now be treated as full-fledged wholesale customers of alcohol suppliers. This will create a normal wholesale pricing system, similar to those that exist nearly everywhere else in the world, including our neighboring jurisdictions of Alberta and Washington state.  

What Happens In Other Places?

The previous BC pricing system was very unusual by global standards. In nearly all other jurisdictions (including all West Coast wine producing jurisdictions), wholesale customers include both retailers and restaurants/bars/hotels, just as they do for other non-alcohol products such as food supplies. This makes sense because these types of businesses buy large quantities of wine from their suppliers and should not be treated the same as a retail customer who comes in and buys a single bottle or case. If a wholesale price is offered to a retailer, there is no fundamental business reason why that price should not also be offered to a restaurant which may well buy significantly more wine than the retailer.

Indeed, wineries often already provide discounts to their best retail customers through wine clubs or volume discounts. If it makes sense to provide 10% or 20% off to a retail customer who buys 1 or 2 cases of wine per year, surely it makes sense to offer equivalent or greater discounts to a restaurant that buys much more. These are normal business practices throughout the global wine industry.

Financial Implications   

The financial implications of this are:

• Restaurants/bars/hotels will pay less for their alcohol purchases since they will now be placed on an equal footing with retailers. It is estimated by industry that they will save about 20% overall on their alcohol purchases.
• For products sold through the LDB distribution system, the LDB will make less money since they will no longer collect the retail margin or hospitality margin on sales to hospitality licensees.
• For products sold through direct delivery, suppliers will make less money if they were selling those products to the hospitality licensees at the full retail price or at a hospitality price that was greater than the wholesale price. As noted above, there would be no change for land-based wineries that had previously chosen to sell to hospitality customers at their normal wholesale price.

In respect of the above, it should be noted that the new model was specifically introduced as a response to the current COVID emergency. Hospitality licensees were ordered to close (or to restrict their business to take-out) for the past few months by the Provincial Health Officer. Although they are now being permitted to re-open with restrictions, their financial situation is grim due to accumulated losses during the closures and significantly reduced business during the re-opening period. Restaurants Canada is predicting that 50% of independent restaurants may declare bankruptcy within 3 months if they do not receive help. The situation for bars is likely even worse.

The new alcohol pricing model is intended to provide the sector with some of the vital financial assistance that they need to survive. A choice to do nothing would be a choice to let large segments of the hospitality sector collapse. Unfortunately, it is a dire situation: if the sector does not receive help, much of it will simply not survive and vital distribution channels for wine will be significantly reduced or, in some cases, disappear entirely. The Government’s decision to forego some LDB revenue to help the hospitality sector should be commended. This is a policy change that is directly aimed at helping businesses survive and preserve jobs.  

It is correct that some suppliers will also forego revenue as a result of the change (although the impact will vary depending upon the previous pricing as noted above). Wineries that were previously selling to hospitality licensees at full retail price (or at a hospitality price that was greater than the registered wholesale price) will make less money under the new system. However, this change is necessary to save the hospitality distribution channel from grave short-term damage and to preserve it so that wineries can keep selling wine in this channel in the long term. In addition, and as discussed above, the new model actually creates a normal wholesale pricing system which is the global standard for the wine business. In the long term, this is where the province needs to go … and how the BC wine industry needs to operate in order to thrive.

Those wineries that had chosen to previously sell into the channel at their registered wholesale price will not be affected (i.e. they were already effectively operating under the new model). However, other wineries may need to re-calibrate their wholesale price strategy or distribution channel mix in order to adapt. If a winery can absorb a loss in revenue in order to support the hospitality distribution channel, then that would constitute a valuable investment in the continued viability of the channel for that winery. If they cannot, then an adjustment in wholesale price across the board or increased emphasis on the DTC channel could be considered and/or may be necessary.

In any such calculation, I would urge wineries to think long-term. The BC wine industry without the support of its vibrant restaurant, bar and hotel partners would be greatly diminished. Please reach out to your hospitality customers. They have historically been your partners and some of your best marketers and ambassadors … but right now, they need your help and support!   

Final Comment on Process (& Full Disclosure)

As the former Chair of the BTAP Panel (which recommended the implementation of a change to hospitality pricing in its report), I note that this change was part of a balanced set of recommendations that has had consensus support for the past 2 years from the liquor industry, including representatives from BC’s winery sector, craft distillers and breweries. The Panel continues to work on its original recommendations and upon new issues. While change is rarely free from turbulence, I am proud of my involvement in this work … and strongly believe that this is the right policy change at this time. Again, thanks to Minister David Eby, his ministerial staff, the LDB and the LCRB for making this happen.