Small Ontario breweries say thin margins make it harder to provide their beloved beers and get higher fees and looming U.S. tariffs from LCBOs, your next cold may cost more.
LCBO is Will increase the cost On April 1, the “service cost” of alcohol agencies in all beer products increased by 4.4%.
Local breweries say it will damage their wallets and may drip into consumers.
“It’s already hard to compete with the big guys, and that will further affect the viability of small producers like me, and don’t even have to work with LCBOs,” said Carl Pratt of Beaches Brewing Company.
“We can only absorb a lot. I think a lot of breweries have to pass it on to consumers, and the price of consumers is only so much that can be paid with everything the economy and everyone’s life will improve, which is hard for us, which makes it hard for our guests.
Both Pratt and Lee said their business constituted a passion project, making beer for beer lovers. They have to stock up with LCBO to put their products in front of Ontario consumers, but add that it is not a big source of revenue.
“You’ve made a quarter of each beer you sell for, and the beer is about $3.50. So if that’s what you take home, the appeal of working with an LCBO is getting less and less.” Pratt explains.
Winemaker Citynews talked to him on Wednesday that it would make it more difficult to keep some big fish in the pond.
“We employ more people per liter than a large company, and they are more power and more efficient than they employ.”
Lee added: “It is well known that craft beer is inefficient, we hire a lot of people, and profit margins are getting tight, we try to provide incentives and special measures, but it makes it even harder.”
Citynews contacted LCBO for comment, but they have not responded to our request yet.
The next Ontario government can decide to intervene and scrap April’s price rise.
Among progressive conservatives The platform was released on Monday A proposal was made to get rid of the minimum retail price of alcohol.
Doug Ford has not issued any public statements about his alcohol commitment, which is different from the price in 2018, when he set the beer at $1 (or Buck-a-beer) as a central part of his campaign. After implementation, few breweries participated in the Buck-a-Beer.
The best way to support them is to come in and get beer from the tank directly to the bar faucet, said craft brewers.
