Restaurants are thirsty for to-go and delivery alcohol

To counter sagging sales, restaurants would like to offer their customers alcohol for take-out and delivery, indicates recent Restaurants Canada report.

Sep 24, 2019 - EightSix Staff

Liquor legislation across Canada is always a contentious issue, and much is to be done before restaurants' dreams of offering alcohol to-go and for delivery can become a reality. However, as indicated by Restaurants Canada's latest Raise the Bar report, there is significant interest in getting it done: seven in ten licensed foodservice businesses said that being able to sell alcohol in this fashion would benefit their business.

To allow restaurants to remain competitive, Restaurants Canada recommends that all jurisdictions: 1) allow all liquor licensees to access wholesale pricing for all types of beverage alcohol products; 2) reduce the restrictions imposed by current liquor legislation; 3) allow alcohol off-sales by all liquor licensees; 4) create/preserve a liquor server wage differential so as to allocate higher wages to no-tipped workers, and; 5) reduce the excessive tax mark-ups on beer, liquor, and wine to reduce prices.

We'll drink to that!