Restaurant sector pushes for liquor discount

WINNIPEG — Ravi Ramberran thinks he spends too much money on booze.

The Winnipeg entrepreneur estimates he spends about $250,000 annually on beer and spirits across the two restaurants he owns. He said if it was a bit cheaper to buy from the province’s supplier, the Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corp., he could pass on the savings to customers or use it for business improvements.

“(The hospitality sector is) the province’s biggest customer,” Ramberran said. “In any other industry, the biggest customer gets treated differently, period.”

The Manitoba Restaurant & Foodservices Association is lobbying the government to introduce a wholesale discount on spirits to provide some much-needed relief to a sector struggling to rebound since shutdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Everybody assumes that the restaurant industry gets these massive discounts,” said Shaun Jeffrey, the association’s executive director. “We pay the same amount of money that an average consumer does.”

Restaurateurs get a discount on packaged beer and ready-to-drink products like coolers, but owners pay the same amount for a bottle of vodka as someone checking out at their local Manitoba Liquor Mart.

The majority of alcohol sales in bars and restaurants come from spirit-based drinks, Jeffrey said.

The association asked for the wholesale discount, among other relief measures, in its pre-budget submission to the province.

Manitoba is one of the few provinces that doesn’t offer wholesale prices on spirits for restaurant owners. Publicly owned liquor commissions like the Liquor Control Board of Ontario and the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission offer wholesale pricing.

With sales associated with the local beer vendor Ramberran also owns, he estimates his annual alcohol bill is about $4.5 million.

“The fact that we don’t get a discount on that is quite obnoxious,” he said.

Jeffrey said if some sort of relief doesn’t come to restaurants — and soon — the province could see more and more of them closing their doors.

Last year, some 7,000 Canadian restaurants shut their doors, with another 4,000 expected to do so in 2026, according to data from the Restaurants Canada advocacy group.

One of its recent surveys found 60 per cent of bars and restaurants have been forced to cut staff or hours, while 32 per cent are reducing hours of operation due to decreased sales.

South Osborne neighbourhood staple Oakwood Cafe announced in February it would be closing its doors after more than 30 years. Owner Wendy May told the Winnipeg Free Press that financial struggles that began after the COVID-19 pandemic and worsened over the past year forced her hand.

Liquor discounts can’t make up for unstable food pricing that many restaurants deal with, but it can give them some much-needed wiggle room, Jeffrey said.

Ramberran added he could spend the extra money marketing his businesses to bring back guests who stopped going out during the pandemic. “We would all love to do promotions and advertising and stuff like that, but we’re all kind of penny-pinching right now because our Monday into Thursday traffic is just dead,” he said.

Restaurant association representatives recently met with Manitoba Finance Minister Adrien Sala to discuss the budget asks, which Jeffrey said were declined.

“Every year, we’re told this is never going to happen — but we’re never going to let it go because it’s unfair,” Jeffery said.

Sala would not commit to a wholesale discount for restaurateurs Thursday, when asked by the Free Press if it was something the province was considering.

Sala said offering a wholesale discount could come at a “significant” cost to the province. The minister insisted the NDP government would continue to listen to the requests by the association.

Jeffrey argued the discount would be paid back, and then some, to the province through provincial sales taxes on increased alcohol sales.

“Never mind the fact that you’re helping business, never mind that you’re helping them to employ more people. It’s a win-win situation,” he said.

Data from the restaurant association shows the industry generated more than $3.3 billion in revenue in 2024, which represented 3.5 per cent of Manitoba’s gross domestic product.

In October, MLL reported its liquor operations rang in $887 million in sales in 2024-25.

Sala would not disclose what, if any, support the budget will include for the restaurant industry. The provincial budget will be released March 24.

» Winnipeg Free Press