BCGEU strike: Restaurant wishes they could purchase alcohol from private store next door

A Vancouver restaurant owner says he is getting increasingly frustrated about the red tape surrounding liquor sales in the province, especially as the B.C. General Employees Union strike is now in its seventh week.

Ignacio Arrieta has owned the popular Mexican restaurant La Mezcaleria on Commercial Drive for 14 years.

“My business has been consistently 60 per cent alcohol, forty food, for the fourteen years of operation,” he told Global News.

“Now my sales for alcohol went down thirty per cent and you know, alcohol sales are where the margins are right now for the restaurants in the restaurant industry, considering the high cost of food.”

Arrieta said he has made a number of changes to the way he runs his restaurant as the strike continues and the worry about access to alcohol products grows larger.

He said he has reduced the restaurant’s hours and switched up some of the cocktails on offer to coincide with the liquor he has more available.

“We don’t know how long, we’re just trying to figure things out as we go, like trying to get some of the local products and reaching out to suppliers,” Arrieta said.

“They are also struggling. They are also unemployed right now, the distributors, there’s a lot of people hurt and we’re just trying to work together and figure out how to navigate these challenging times.”

Next door to La Mezcaleria is Liberty Wine, which Arrieta says has a lot of the products his restaurant needs.

“They have all the alcohol we need,” he said.

“They have a great selection of Agave spirits as well. And we would like to have the opportunity to buy from different suppliers, private liquor stores or from whatever we want, not only the government stores.”

B.C. restaurants can only purchase alcohol from the government’s liquor distribution branch

“We need to keep the businesses going because we all have our commitments with our employees and other business commitments,” Arrieta said.

Robert Simpson owns Liberty Wine Merchants next door and told Global News they still have a lot of product in stock, except for wines under $30, which are slim pickings.

“We really started to notice the impact when the government store down the street closed,” he said.

“And there’s a lot of people that, you know, they have a price point. They have a budget, a $12.00 wine, or I can spend $15.00, or there’s no way I can spend more than twenty. And I understand that. I mean, everyone has a budget. And so those wines depleted really quickly. And we’re really struggling to fill gaps in that price point.”

Simpson said they are now starting to see the impact of the strike and while they have not laid anyone off, if the strike continues toward Christmas, they are going to be left with little affordable product.

“Every place has unique and unusual laws, and B.C.’s no exception,” Simpson added.

“Would it make it easier for retailers and restaurateurs if they could, you know, deregulate some of those? It would certainly speed up the process and make doing business here easier.”

The union says more than 25,000 front-line public service workers across 475 worksites are on strike, which brings the number of affected ministries and Crown corporations to 11.

On Friday, Oct. 10, all remaining staff at adult correctional facilities across B.C. joined the strike.

Essential service levels are still being maintained, where required by law, but the BCGEU says further escalation is still possible if a deal is not reached soon.

Wages remain the sticking point.

Paul Finch, BCGEU president and chair of the public service bargaining committee, said last week that the government had been offering them four per cent over two years, but B.C. Premier David Eby told reporters the government’s revised offer includes a raise of up to 5 per cent over two years.

The union says the five per cent is not an increase in general wages. It bundles in market adjustments and other unrelated items, which not all members would receive.

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