Province continues to improve convenience and choice while supporting hospitality sector

TORONTO — The Ontario government is supporting businesses impacted by the pandemic and continuing to provide choice and convenience for consumers by cutting LCBO wholesale prices for bars and restaurants, enabling curbside pickup of beer, wine and cider from licensed grocery stores, and freezing the basic beer tax rate.

The government is supporting bars, restaurants and other businesses with a licence to operate a liquor consumption premises by cutting wholesale prices for the alcohol they purchase from the LCBO, saving these businesses an effective 20 per cent when compared to retail prices. This change will provide approximately $60 million in annual support to restaurants, bars and other businesses.

“Our government knows that local restaurants and bars across Ontario have done their part to keep people safe by following public health measures. We’ve committed to helping these businesses, and that’s exactly what we’re doing today,” said Peter Bethlenfalvy, Minister of Finance. “A permanent wholesale discount will put about $60 million a year back into these important businesses, so they can invest in themselves and their workers.”

This action builds on other recent changes to improve alcohol choice and convenience for consumers, create more opportunities for businesses, and strengthen social responsibility standards, including enabling curbside pickup of beer, wine and cider at licensed grocery stores as part of the new modernized legal framework that simplifies rules for the alcohol sector.

The government has also frozen the basic beer tax rates that were set to be indexed to inflation on March 1, 2022 to support beer and craft beer brewers to recover and grow, and to save consumers money. The beer basic tax rates are prescribed amounts of tax added to beer sold in Ontario. The rates adjust annually based on the Consumer Price Index. The government is freezing the beer tax rates until March 1, 2023.

“The speed and efficiency of our support for Ontario’s vibrant hospitality sector was recognized this year by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business’ Golden Scissors Award, and we are just getting started,” said Doug Downey, Attorney General of Ontario. “Making it easier for businesses to create and extend patios, permitting the sale of alcohol with food takeout and allowing local beer sales at farmers’ markets are examples of the ground-breaking actions we are taking to support local alcohol producers and the province’s more than 18,000 bars and restaurants.”

Highlights of the new legal framework for the sale, service and delivery of beverage alcohol include:

• Allowing licensed grocery stores to offer curbside pickup of beer, wine and cider
• Streamlining licensing and renewals for businesses through a single primary licence with endorsements for additional activities, such as on-site retail stores or brew pubs
• Reducing red tape by streamlining reporting requirements for manufacturers
• Increasing flexibility for grocers to cross-promote beer, cider and wine with non-alcohol products
• Enhancing social responsibility in the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario’s Registrar’s Standards by requiring individuals who sell, serve or handle alcohol to recertify their Smart Serve training
• Making permanent the extension of retail sale hours to 7am to 11pm for alcohol that were put in place in March 2020 in response to COVID-19.

These initiatives build on the government’s actions to date to offer greater choice and convenience for consumers, and more opportunities for businesses, including:

• Expanding sales of beverage alcohol to more than 270 new retail outlets across Ontario since 2018, including 191 LCBO Convenience Outlets and 87 grocery stores
• Permanently allowing licensed restaurants and bars to include alcohol with food as part of a takeout or delivery order
• Making it easier for businesses to create and extend patios
• Allowing manufacturers with an on-site store to sell eligible beer, cider, wine and spirits products at farmers’ markets
• Supporting alcohol producers by creating more flexible delivery rules, including allowing eligible alcohol manufacturers to deliver their own products and charge a delivery fee
• Reducing the minimum price of spirits consumed at licensed establishments
• Permitting alcohol service on docked boats with a liquor sales licence
• Giving licensed restaurants and bars and retailers more flexibility in using liquor delivery services
• Delivering a Winery Agri-Tourism COVID-19 Relief Initiative that provided a one-time $10 million grant in 2021 to support wineries and cideries impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.