Sam Howzit / CC
Alcool NB Liquor (ANBL) announced Friday that it has launched a rebate program for restaurant and bars that buy alcoholic beverages.
It will offer a rebate of between 5 per cent and 10 per cent to licensees’ wine and spirit purchases, and a 1 per cent rebate on some categories of beer products and ready-to-drink products like coolers and canned cocktails.
Saint John Ale House owner Peter Stoddart said in an e-mail that he’s optimistic about the program.
“I am very excited for this program, I don’t believe all of the finer details have been released, but this is a huge step in the right direction for licensees and small business in the province,” he said.
The program is part of the crown corporation’s new three-year business plan, which takes effect April 1, to become more competitive. Prior to this, New Brunswick was among the very few Canadian jurisdictions that don’t offer a discount program for licensed establishments.
The program came through a collaboration between ANBL, Restaurants Canada and the New Brunswick Restaurant Association (NBRA), an organization with 50 members that was formed just over a year ago.
NBRA president Ken Judson says it’s about time that New Brunswick gets a discount on liquor pricing, something the industry have been advocating for years. He says the rebate can make a big difference for the low-margin industry.
“It’s going to lower [restaurants’] food and liquor cost a bit, and generally, that profit will be used to expand and grow and create more business. And in some cases it might even be the thing that puts a restaurant into a profit and keep them in business,” he said. “Liquor is not a large percentage of the total business but it’s a big one. This can make a big difference in trying to keep some of our smaller restaurants in business.”
The rebate offered will vary depending on the amount of products purchased, ANBL spokesperson Thomas Tremblay said in an email.
The rebate offered for beer “is lower due to the high volume of product sold in this category,” he said.
For Saint John Ale House, which sells a large volume of beer, any rebate is “awesome,” Stoddart said. Besides, the restaurant sells a significant amount of volume with spirits and wines, so the rebate will help them develop better programming, as well as shop and operate better.
“The ANBL is our only supplier of beverage alcohol and accounts for one of our largest spends with a single supplier in our business,” Stoddart said. “With a volume incentive attached as well, we will be looking at ways to maximize this incentive and help grow our business and continue to invest in high quality innovative products to our valued guests.”
Judson says this is an exciting development for the industry that employs around 25,000 people and makes up a large part of the province’s tourism sector
“It shows willingness on the part of this government to work cooperatively with the private sector, and there’s no question it will help our industry,” he said. “It creates opportunity to grow and be profitable.”
Stoddart says ANBL’s move is “monumental.”
“It is a recognition of the importance this has to our industry and how important our industry is to the province of New Brunswick for employment, culture and tourism.”
Judson also expects the savings restaurant operators can get from the rebate to trickle down to customers.
“You’re probably not going to see an instant drop in prices in restaurants, but it’s going to create a competitive atmosphere and prices will come down, but quality will go up,” he said. “We look towards the day that there really is no minimum wage. Everybody will be making over the minimum wage.”
“It’s going take a while to get it really rolling and to see the benefits from it. But we just have to prove that we were worth the discount,” he added.
ANBL says the program will be funded through expense reductions and thus won’t affect the net income the crown corporation returns to the province.
A version of this story was published in Huddle, an online business news publication based in Saint John. Huddle is an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
