COVID-19 Update: April 20, 2020

Dear ABLE BC Members and Industry Colleagues, 

We are back with our COVID-19 updates. Starting today, we’re reducing our daily updates to three times per week – unless anything urgent arises. 

As always, you can also reach us by email if you have any questions or concerns: jeff@ablebc.ca or danielle@ablebc.ca.

Included in today’s email you will find: 

  • Join ABLE BC’s team for a virtual happy hour this week

  • 5 minute ABLE BC survey: impact of COVID-19 on your liquor business

  • Reminder: liquor primaries offering takeaway and delivery cannot sell liquor without food

  • New campaign supporting local manufacturers: Time to Buy BC

  • ABLE BC Member Discount: outdoor signage

  • Complete Restaurants Canada National Survey for foodservice establishments

  • Fostering employee engagement during a crisis

Find all past updates from ABLE BC here.

Join ABLE BC’s team for a virtual happy hour this week

Join ABLE BC’s team for a virtual happy hour this week! On April 20, our Executive Director Jeff Guignard was scheduled to kick-off the first of many member meetings around the province this spring and summer. We may not be able to meet in person right now but we still want to connect with you.

Grab a drink and join Jeff and Danielle via Zoom on Wednesday, April 22 or Thursday, April 23 from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm. 

Please RSVP to Danielle and specify which date you’d like to attend: danielle@ablebc.ca. A Zoom meeting link will be provided to you when you RSVP.

ABLE BC’s Virtual Happy Hour is a chance for you to ask questions and share your concerns and thoughts about the current state of the industry – in an informal setting. There will not be a formal presentation by Jeff.

Everyone is welcome – ABLE BC members and non-members. We’ll be capping each happy hour at 20 people, but will add more dates and times if needed.

Hope to see you online next week!

5 minute ABLE BC survey: impact of COVID-19 on your liquor business

In response to the global COVID-19 crisis, the BC government and federal government have implemented new policy changes and announced economic programs to support businesses. ABLE BC wants to know how these policies and programs are impacting your liquor business.

Thank you to everyone who has already completed the survey. If you haven’t yet done so, please take 5 minutes to complete our COVID-19 survey. 

Your feedback plays an essential role in informing our government relations and advocacy efforts.

If you have any questions or concerns about this survey, please contact ABLE BC: info@ablebc.ca. 

Reminder: liquor primaries offering takeaway and delivery cannot sell liquor without food

As you know, under the current Provincial Health Officer Order, liquor primaries are only allowed to open for take out or delivery services and customers may be on your premises only for the time it takes them to purchase and collect their purchase.

If you have a Liquor Primary license with an off-sales endorsement, your retail premise may stay open and you must also comply with the Provincial Health Officer Order.

Liquor and Food Primaries operating in compliance with the PHO order are permitted to sell packaged liquor with the purchase of a take-away or delivery meal. But, unless you have an off-sales endorsement, liquor sales are only permitted with the purchase of a meal for take-away or delivery. You cannot sell alcohol for take-away or delivery without a meal. 

If you have any questions about the Provincial Health Officer Order or current regulations please contact ABLE BC: 
jeff@ablebc.ca or danielle@ablebc.ca. 

Read more about the PHO in our update from March 26, 2020.

New campaign supporting local manufacturers: Time to Buy BC

Last week, BC’s craft manufacturers launched a new campaign encouraging British Columbians to drink local: Time to Buy BC.

Time to Buy BC is made up of small and medium business operators who want to support BC business and protect long-term jobs in BC. Visit the campaign website for a complete list of local BC craft breweries, cideries, wineries, distilleries, and refreshment beverage companies involved and to learn more how you can get involved.

ABLE BC Member Discount: Outdoor Signage

Raise awareness for your business and let customers know you’re still open: First Impression Visuals is offering all ABLE BC members a discount on signage.

FiV offers outdoor poster signs, communication banner stands, and outdoor feature flags – designed to attract customers passing by on car or foot and increase your visibility.

FiV also offers signage for inside your establishment. For instance, use graphic control barriers to send the right message and create a safe environment and control barrier between people with informative partition signs. 

Learn more about what FiV offers here. 

For product information, prices and quotes, and to place an order please contact Paul Trudeau: 604-644-6750 or paul@fivisuals.com. 

Complete Restaurants Canada National Survey for Foodservice Establishments

All foodservice establishments are invited to participate in Restaurants Canada’s new national survey.

Restaurants Canada is seeking to measure the impacts that COVID-19 is having on your operations. The information you provide will support their ongoing engagement with all levels of government across the country to help ensure the needs of foodservice are addressed as part of evolving response plans. 

This survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete. Please complete the survey by Wednesday, April 22. 

The information you provide in the survey will be kept strictly private and confidential. Your responses will not be viewed on an individual basis but analyzed in aggregate form. 

Complete the survey here.

Fostering employee engagement during a crisis: tips from go2HR

As you well know, many hospitality employers have suddenly been faced with making tough business and financial decisions, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

For many, this has meant temporarily having to close their doors and/or scaling back their workforce through lay-offs and in many cases terminations.

Eventually this crisis will pass and when it does, businesses will want to be prepared to bring their employees back and return to operations as quickly as possible. 

As we look ahead, the world of recruitment will likely be very different post-crisis as impacted employers across the entire country will be challenged to recall and re-establish their workforces. 

New on their website, go2HR shares four tips for fostering employee engagement during a time of crisis. 

Read the post here and learn how you can stay in contact and maintain relationships with employees who are on a temporary layoff.

For more information:

Public Health Agency of Canada Website

Updates from the Government of British Columbia

Updates and Resources from ABLE BC

Human Resources & Occupational Health & Safety Info from go2HR

If you have any other questions or concerns, please contact ABLE BC:
604-688-5560 or info@ablebc.ca.

Ann Brydle