Restaurant industry scrambles as BC worker strike impacts liquor stock

When you walk into your local liquor store, bar, or restaurant, you may soon notice some empty shelves.

That’s the warning from Ian Tostenson, president and CEO of the BC Restaurant and Food Services Association, due to the BC government workers’ strike.

While picket lines aren’t up at retail outlets, bars, or eateries, they are up at four BC Liquor Distribution Centres and that means stores will likely be impacted.

“Everyone out here should remember something, you’re not just striking for yourselves, you’re striking for every worker in the province that deserves a cost-of-living adjustment.” – BCGEU Treasurer Paul Finch @paulgfinch.

🧵 (1/2) pic.twitter.com/Zvblq2kiWZ

— BCGEU (@bcgeu) August 17, 2022

Since these government-owned warehouses in British Columbia are shut down, product in the system is the only product available. So no new product is able to be shipped out to businesses. 

Tostenson tells Daily Hive that typically restaurants order their stock for liquor one to two times a week. But when the strike came down, restaurants and bars missed an ordering cycle.

This means that while restaurants might have enough inventory for the rest of the weekend, “certainly by next week, we’ll start to run out of items.”

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How one local restaurant is staying stocked

This week, the Glowbal Restaurant Group spent about $100,000 at a local liquor store — which it would usually receive from its weekly deliveries. 

Emad Yacoub, who is the CEO, president, and proprietor, said he made this decision in fear that his restaurants would run out of liquor. 

“We bought ourselves about two [to] three weeks’ worth of extra products because we still have our inventories in our restaurant,” he said.

However, if the strike continues for several weeks, Yacoub says his restaurants could be in trouble. 

He estimates that liquor sales add up to between $250,000 to $300,000 every week. 

“If we didn’t have a product to sell, it definitely could affect our business,” he said. “The rent is not going to stop, the staffing is not going to stop, the cost of running the restaurant [will not stop]. What is going to stop is a product to sell, and if I’m not selling it then … I lose money.”

Tostenson said there will be many restaurant owners that have to find desperate solutions to stock up. But if the strike goes on much longer, layoffs may be in the future for the industry. 

In the most extreme circumstances, “you can see closures, layoffs, reduction hours, a contraction of the industry could happen if this goes on much longer than next week.”

Since the industry is emerging from the pandemic and is attempting to recover financially, Tostenson said, “We’re totally labour-starved right now.”

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Yacoub said he is working on a plan to “cut out the middleman” and find ways to deliver products like wine from local wineries if the strike lasts longer than the business can handle. 

Tostenson is warning people not to panic buy because anytime a business owner or consumer buys liquor off the shelf, “we’re just dwindling down that inventory.”

“So very quickly, the system will start to deplete itself,” he said. 

The BCRFA is working with the BCGEU to find a solution. But for now, Tostenson said he is disappointed in the union that’s “dragged us into a dispute that we have nothing to do with.”

“I find it just astounding. I understand the truth to put leverage on the government but to subject this industry that’s in such a fragile state… my ask is that the BCGEU consider their tactics.”

The strike notice covers 33,000 members of the public service bargaining unit, all of who work for the government. This particular job action covers around 1,000 workers, according to the BCGEU.

“Your bargaining committee’s goal has always been to get a deal which provides the appropriate cost of living protection for your wages. That is still our goal and we are ready to return to the table when your employer demonstrates that they are able to meet your demands,” the BCGEU strike notice reads. 

With files from Amir Ali