NEW Policy: Liquor and Food Primaries can sell growlers with takeaway & delivery meals

Dear ABLE BC members and industry colleagues,

Today, government announced additional support for the hospitality industry: Liquor and Food Primary licensees can package draught beer in growlers for sale to patrons with the purchase of a meal for offsite consumption until June 6, 2021.

This temporary authorization was made available earlier in the pandemic, when the Provincial Health Officer’s orders prohibited on-site service. It was rescinded on July 13, 2020, after on-site serve was resumed.

With the new PHO restrictions prohibiting indoor service until at least April 19, 2021, with the possibility of extensions, we wanted to ensure you have the opportunity to sell perishable draft beer.

This policy change will provide licensees with an opportunity to sell draught beer that would otherwise be at risk of spoiling. It will also help mitigate financial loss by providing an additional short-term revenue stream to maintain operations and employment.

As soon as indoor dining was prohibited, ABLE BC advocated to government for this change. It’s encouraging to see the Province take such fast action to help thousands of small and medium businesses recover some of the revenue opportunities that would’ve otherwise been lost during this latest period of restrictions.

For more information:

Urgent financial support for BC’s hospitality industry 

ABLE BC knows the latest restrictions have had devastating financial impacts for BC’s hospitality industry. In our recent survey, 99% of businesses reported an immediate decrease in revenue, with 80% reporting a significant decrease.

We are actively pushing to get emergency financial support for our sector and have had several meetings with government about this.

We will let you know anything about that as soon as we can.
In the interim, if you have not already applied for the Small and Medium Sized Business Recovery Grant, we encourage you to look at the eligibility criteria and apply. We outline other financial support currently available in this update.

New mental health resources for tourism, hospitality, and community social services

Employers and employees throughout BC who work in the tourism, hospitality, and community social services sectors now have access to vital mental health resources with the creation of a digital resource hub: BC’s Workplace Mental Health Hub.

This online hub offers a range of tools to help address common workplace concerns, such as bullying, harassment, COVID-19 exposure, coping with stress, and more.

The new hub provides workshops, webinars, and information to help employees manage stress and build resiliency. It also provides tangible steps for workers at all levels to improve their overall mental health, as well as navigation support to connect to other mental health services, including counselling and peer support. Access the hub.

The new hub is being developed in partnership with the BC Division of the Canadian Mental Health Association and health and safety associations, including go2HR. ABLE BC was an active member of of the steering committee for the Workplace Mental Health Hub from the start.

Ann Brydle