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.