BCRFA Request - Wholesale Hospitality Pricing
BCRFA REQUEST.
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT AND ACTION OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS.
Good Afternoon Restauranteurs!
The BCRFA has been diligently working and advocating along with the team at ABLE BC to secure hospitality pricing for on-premise licensees based on wholesale price. We have been working to move to this model instead of the current full government store retail price you currently pay. We have expressed concern and importance of making this change now, as industry prepares to reopen doors for dine in.
We are pleased to announce that our efforts are getting noticed and that we are now closer than ever to the government making their decision on this much needed immediate relief for you, our industry. If this move is successful, this could mean up to 20 per cent savings on the cost of your liquor purchases.
We have been advised that this week our proposal is being presented to the Province of British Columbia’s Treasury Board to adopt the wholesale hospitality pricing model. This group is comprised of Ministers and MLA’s who make decisions on financial matters. We need your help now to get this passed by our Treasury Board, help us by contacting these members and let them know how important it is to have liquor prices lowered in order to help your business survive, especially as we are now moving into COVID-19 recovery and you looking to reopen doors to in restaurant dining.
We’ve listed the contact information below for the members of the Treasury Board as well as have given a template letter and some suggested messages to help guide you as you write your letters. As they are meeting this week it is crucial that you please send in your messages to these Ministers over the next 24 hours.
When sending in your email, please cc me (itostenson@bcrfa.com) so that we can track the number of requests submitted.
Thank you for your help in getting us through to the end.
- Ian.
SUGGESTED KEY MESSAGES
BC’s hospitality industry is a valuable component to re-starting BC’s overall economy. Restaurants and pubs are BC’s third largest private sector employers providing nearly 200,000 people with jobs and contributes over $14 billion to the BC economy, as well as contributes hundreds of millions of direct revenues to government each year.
Our industry, our business, our restaurant colleagues have suffered for the last eight weeks, barely covering costs due to forced takeway only options. Many are still not able to pay their rent, their staff, vendors and much of their operating costs. With an estimated 25% of restaurants indicating that they won’t be able to reopen because of the costs associated this could help prevent those closures by supporting with immediate relief to reduce some of the reopening costs.
Hospitality Pricing based on wholesale prices is key for BC’s hospitality businesses. We already suffer from low-margin’s in so many elements of our business, this change could mean the difference between my business surviving after the pandemic and me having to close my doors.
TEMPLATE EMAIL (please update to reflect your own business)
Dear Honourable NAME,
Dear MLA NAME,
My name is NAME and I am the owner of RESTAURANT in COMMUNITY. I have been in business for NUMBER years and employ NUMBER people. I am writing to ask for your support to implement the hospitality pricing model to help restaurants such as mine; we are BC’s small hospitality businesses. We need your support to recover from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
British Columbia’s restaurant and hospitality industry is in the middle of a crisis as a result of this pandemic. Our industry was hit the hardest and was hit immediately and we will be the last to recover as we look to reopen with a number of restrictions in place limiting revenue with increased costs. We need your support as a key part of our plan to recover, as part of a way for my restaurant to be able to survive for us to be able to bring back our staff, to pay our vendors, our rent and to resume business in “the new normal.”
In particular, this crisis has hurt my business… [DESCRIBE THE IMPACT COVID-19 HAS HAD ON YOUR BUSINESS… i.e. closed, laid off staff, lost revenue, etc.]
We applaud and support the decisions that have been made by our government during this crisis and for the ongoing efforts to keep British Columbians safe as we all work together to restart our economy. As our industry is getting ready to reopen safely, to ensure that consumers feel safe, that our staff feel safe; there are additional costs we are undertaking to ensure that this takes place, this on top of the current costs associated with running my business. We also anticipate that we will be operating at drastically reduced capacity for the foreseeable future, never has controlling our operating expenses been more crucial in order to ensure our survival.
One of highest expenses are liquor products, the majority of which we purchase from government stores at full retail shelf price. Being able to purchase liquor products at discounted wholesale prices will provide essential breathing space so we can re-employ workers and get back on our feet.
We understand BC’s liquor industry associations and the BCRFA have submitted a proposal to create hospitality pricing for BC’s restaurants and on-premise liquor licensees. We strongly support this proposal and believe it is essential to implement hospitality pricing immediately and for at least the next two years.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
CC: Ian Tostenson, CEO/President BCRFA (itostenson@bcrfa.com)
HOW TO CONTACT TREASURY BOARD
Honourable Carole James (Chair)
FIN.Minister@gov.bc.ca
250 387-3751
Honourable Bruce Ralston (Vice Chair)
EMPR.Minister@gov.bc.ca
250 953-0900
Honourable Adrian Dix
HLTH.Minister@gov.bc.ca
250 953-3547
Honourable Rob Fleming
educ.minister@gov.bc.ca
250 356-8247
Honourable George Heyman
ENV.minister@gov.bc.ca
250 387-1187
Honourable Lana Popham
AGR.Minister@gov.bc.ca
250 387-1023
Honourable Selina Robinson
MAH.minister@gov.bc.ca
250 387-2283
Jagrup Brar, MLA for Surrey-Fleetwood
Jagrup.Brar.MLA@leg.bc.ca
250 387-3655
Mitzi Dean, MLA for Esquimalt-Metchosin
Mitzi.Dean.MLA@leg.bc.ca
250 387-3655
Mable Elmore, MLA for Vancouver-Kensington
mable.elmore.mla@leg.bc.ca
250 387-3655
Bowinn Ma, MLA for North Vancouver
Bowinn.Ma.MLA@leg.bc.ca
250 387-3655
Visit our website for more information www.bcrfa.com. Please remember to tag our Facebook and our Instagram as you post updates about your business.
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