Page 35 - MENU Magazine - Nov/Dec 2017

BEHIND THE BAR
The restaurant business is not for the faint of heart, and if you’re a licensee, it comes with an extra shot of challenges. From outdated liquor laws to exorbitant tax rates, it often seems like Ottawa and the provinces want to slam the door on Canadian hospitality.
It’s a short-sighted view, when you consider that licensed restaurants and bars account for 48,000 businesses, directly employ 560,000 Canadians, and generate $8.2 billion a year in economic activity. They also revitalize neighbourhoods, attract tourists and visitors, and provide a safe, regulated environment for customers to enjoy a drink with friends.
It all adds up to a winning recipe, but in many cases, our laws and regulations aren’t keeping pace. And, undoing policies that are rooted in prohibition-era thinking takes time.
Restaurants Canada started shaking things up in 2015 with the rst-ever Raise the Bar report card on provincial liquor policies. The report graded each prov- ince in four categories: pricing and selection; licensing and regulation; customer sales; and political and regu- latory activity. It also factored in feedback from licensed members who completed an opinion survey.
Raise the Bar certainly raised some eyebrows among politicians and public servants. “A national report
card makes it crystal clear as to which provinces are forward-thinking when it comes to beverage alcohol
Raise the Bar
REPORT CARD IS STIRRING UP CHANGE
policy and which ones are behind the times,” says Joyce Reynolds, executive vice president of govern- ment a airs for Restaurants Canada. “After we issued the rst report card in 2015, provincial politicians and the liquor corporations started asking us what they could do to earn a better grade. It was a great conversa- tion-starter.”
The conversations led to positive action in many provinces. The 2017 Raise the Bar report card has just
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NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2017 MENU 35