Ontario will make takeout booze sales permanent to help pandemic-ravaged restaurants and bars

Thestar.com
October 7, 2020
Robert Benzie

Takeout booze is here to stay, the Star has learned.

Queen’s Park is making permanent a key temporary pandemic measure and allowing restaurants and bars to sell beer, wine and spirits to go.

The sweeping liberalization, designed to help struggling businesses, means nearly every licensed facility in Ontario could be able to sell booze for consumption at home.

Associate Minister of Small Business Prabmeet Sarkaria will introduce the Main Street Recovery Act on Wednesday to legislate changes to reduce red tape and ensure the coronavirus-ravaged restaurants, bars and shops can stay afloat.

“Our government is standing with Main Street businesses and we remain committed to their recovery and renewed success,” said Sarkaria.

“We are determined to support them through this pandemic and beyond.”

Sarkaria is also unveiling a 12-page plan entitled “Rebuilding Main Street,” which was shared with the Star.

It promises one-time grants of up to $1,000 for small businesses with fewer than 10 employees to help pay for personal protective equipment to keep workers and customers safe.

The money will be available to shopkeepers, restaurateurs, publicans and others in the service sector.

There will also be new digital portals to help small business owners access government services as well as offer advice and counselling on everything from mental health to boosting their sales online.

“Through more than 100 virtual round tables and discussions with small business owners, their employees, local leaders and economists from all over Ontario, I’ve heard directly about the extraordinary sacrifices small businesses have made to keep their employees safe, their customers confident, and their communities strong,” said Sarkaria.

But perhaps the most significant change in the associate minister’s bill has to do with alcohol sales.

“The plan’s regulatory and legislative changes, if passed, will commit to exploring options to permanently allow licensed restaurants and bars to include alcohol with food as part of a takeout or delivery order before the existing regulation expires.”

In March, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario said the liberalized measures would expire on Dec. 31.

However, Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives believe Ontarians want fewer restrictions.

“We know this is what people want and we’re going to give it to them,” said a senior official close to Ford, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal deliberations.

The insider noted the Tories campaigned in 2018 on easing restrictions on booze sales, though this change does not fulfil the election promise of bringing beer and wine to corner stores.

A Campaign Research survey for the Star in June found nearly three-quarters of Ontarians -- 73 per cent -- support allowing restaurants and bars to offer takeout alcohol.

Only 16 per cent opposed the off-licence sales, which took effect March 26, while 12 per cent had no opinion.

Thousands of restaurants and bars across Ontario have embraced the change, adopting a more European way of selling directly to the public.

In downtown Toronto, scores of the city’s surviving eateries have transformed themselves in boutique bottle shops.

Typically, a bottle of wine that might sell for $20 at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario -- and retail for $60 on an dine-in restaurant menu -- is being sold for $30 a bottle, suggesting people will pay a premium for convenience.

Because the LCBO, the province’s booze monopoly, will continue to control all wine and spirits distribution, the treasury’s bottom line may not be adversely affected.

The privately owned Beer Store, meanwhile, supplies most bars with their ales, lagers and stouts.

Ford, who likes to note that he does not drink alcohol, hinted in May that off-licence sales could be permanent.

“There’s going to be a lot of things, as we say, the new way of business -- and not only in government, but in the private sector, too,” he said at the time.

Licensed restaurants and bars in Ontario are allowed to sell alcohol with food takeout and delivery orders between the hours of 9 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Anyone involved in the delivery of alcohol must have successfully completed Ontario’s Smart Serve training, which can be done online.