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Last month, a truck with a crane navigated the cramped parking quarters around the blue aluminum-clad industrial building that Dominion City Brewing Co. calls home.
The massive trailer had come to the brewery in Ottawa’s east end to unload stainless steel fermenters, shining and new.
The equipment represented a major investment made by a fledgling business that — after only a year of operation — says it’s ready to quadruple production.
“We have a growing wait list of interested restaurants and bars, and we regularly sell out at our bottle shop on Canotek Road,” said Dominion City co-founder Josh McJannett, whose company got started by seeking community support through a social media fundraising campaign. Now, McJannett has left his previous job to focus full time on the growing business at Dominion.
“We want to respond to the community’s loyalty by keeping up with demand,” he said of the expansion. “We are so grateful to our customers.”
Dominion is part of a craft beer business that’s booming in Ottawa and across Ontario. As the small companies grow, they’re producing spinoff effects in the economy: New equipment means work for electricians, plumbers, labourers and logistics specialists.
But more and more brewers say they’re facing a glass ceiling for their business model. The culprit? The current provincial liquor regime. The main symbol of their frustration, at least from the viewpoint of microbrewers? The Beer Store.
There has been increasingly scrutiny of late on the province’s model for selling beer. Amid calls for major reform, the government is promising to look at changes. The Beer Store, meanwhile, maintains the system is working and that customers will suffer — with less selection and higher prices — if its hold on the market is loosened.
Brewing discontent
Ontario’s ubiquitous The Beer Store is owned and operated by the craft beer movement’s biggest competitors, Denver’s Molson Coors Brewing Co., Anheuser-Busch InBev Brewing Co. (which makes Labatt) of Belgium and Sapporo Breweries (which acquired Sleeman’s in 2006).
There are 440 Beer Store outlets in Ontario, and they account for more than 79 per cent of all beer sold to Ontarians. Liquor Control Board of Ontario outlets and the single stores breweries are allowed to operate account for the rest.
Microbreweries looking to gain shelf space at The Beer Store have faced listing fees that are higher than those charged for the commercial brands produced by the chain’s owners. The Beer Store doesn’t break down the difference in fees for owners versus non-owners. Some microwbrewers argue that the major breweries are essentially paying themselves for retail space.
Even if the microbreweries agree to the fees and gain access to the Beer Store, some complain their products are lost among piles of cardboard boxes or placed in less prominent areas of the organization’s self-serve stores.
The Beer Store also has the ability to change its listing fees without warning.
“It’s a very expensive system to buy into … when you’ve got no guarantee that the rules are going to be the same next year,” said Steve Beauchesne, co-founder of Beaus All Natural Brewing Co. and co-chair of the Ontario Craft Brewers Association, a lobby group for the province’s microbrewers.
“We are trying to make change in the system, so that we can compete.”
Josh McJannett from Dominion City Brewing co. says business is good.
Spinoff benefits
Dominion isn’t the only growing Ottawa brewer. Beyond the Pale and Big Rig breweries have also undertaken major expansions in recent months to keep up with demand.
While craft brewers’ share of provincial beer sales remains relatively small — less than five per cent of all beer bought by Ontarians annually — demand for their products is increasing exponentially. According to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, craft beer sales in Ontario soared to more than $50 million in 2014 from $11.8 million in 2009.
Meantime, sales of major brands have stagnated. The Beer Store won’t share figures, but at LCBO stores, sales of the five biggest beer brands peaked at $193.7 million between 2010 and 2011, the liquor board reports. Those sales slipped to $184.9 million in 2012-2013 before rebounding to $193.4 million in 2013-2104.
The craft growth is having ripples through local economies.
Recently, Square Timber Brewing Co., just outside Pembroke, opened after almost a year of construction. The owner, Marc Bru, wouldn’t spell out exactly how much it all cost. However, he said he needed to call on people in the trades to get his business up and going.
“There were the guys from the excavating company and the concrete company. There were the guys from the heating and cooling companies,” he said, adding that even though he did much of the construction himself, he still employed about a dozen area workers over 12 months and continues to call people back for repair work or servicing.
“This isn’t just about the person who wants to come in and buy a growler, it’s about everything around it, too.”
Microbreweries across Ontario now directly employ more than 1,000 people. According to the Ontario government, that represents as many as one out of every three people in the province’s brewing industry.
A support industry is emerging as well. Some farmers are turning their attention to growing hops, the ingredient that makes beer bitter.
A bitter taste
As brewers such as McJannett increase production, they’re looking to move beyond selling solely from the single retail location they are allowed to operate. Along with more retail channels, they need distribution and warehousing.
Steve Beauchesne founded Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co. with his father on Canada Day in 2006. He has taken the brewer from a small Vankleek Hill boutique operation to a large-scale brewery that employs 123 people and has distribution in New York State and now Quebec as well as throughout its home province of Ontario. To expand, Beauchesne had to work through Ontario’s existing alcohol sale laws, which included securing shelf space at the LCBO and, more recently, The Beer Store.
Steve Beauchesne, co-chair of the Ontario Craft Brewers Association, a lobby group for the province’s microbrewers, says they want reform to the provincial liquor regime so they can compete fairly.
Beauchesne has paid The Beer Store a $250,000 fee to sell one product, a 12 pack of his Lug Tread Lagered Ale, at 336 of its retail locations. It’s a cost he’s having a hard time justifying.
“We are selling into 336 Beer Store locations, and our single store at our brewery, which is located in a town of 1,800 people, is outselling all of those stores combined,” he explained.
“There is obviously something wrong,” Beauchesne said. “If you look at the growth and where it comes from, it comes from restaurants that we are able to direct deliver to and it comes from the LCBO. When we are given fair access to the customer, the customer wants our beer.”
Citing statistics compiled by the Ontario Craft Brewers, Beauchesne said craft sales from all Ontario microbreweries at the LCBO have been expanding by as much as 50 per cent a year. In stark comparison, sales of those craft brands at The Beer Store are rising by a far lower 10 per cent year over year, Beauchesne said.
Location, location
Product placement is one of the top complaints of microbrewers about The Beer Store.
Studies have shown that a vast majority of consumers will buy the product that is easiest to spot, which is what makes shelf space so important to any brand. A recent U.K. study found that beer placed in an obvious spot in a store, such as in an entryway or at the end of an aisle, will have 46 per cent higher sales than harder-to-find brands.
Jim Koch, founder of the Boston Brewing Co., knows the phenomenon well. Like their Canadian counterparts, U.S. craft brewers are competing with the multinationals for prominent display space. In an interview with U.S. News & World Report in February 2013, Koch said simply dropping his company’s Samuel Adams beers from a shelf at eye level to a lower shelf is enough to cut his sales by 50 per cent at a given store.
‘Keep a good thing going’
The Beer Store declined requests from the Citizen for a direct interview. A spokesman referred to news releases the organization has issued over the past few months to explain its stance on the issues at play.
The organization has long maintained that changes to the way The Beer Store operates will lead to increased sales to minors, less product selection, higher prices for consumers and lower tax revenues for government.
According to The Beer Store, the debate isn’t being fairly portrayed. The retailer claims that while its owners’ brands accounted for a vast majority of sales over the past year, those brands are also shouldering the bill for a vast majority of operating costs.
“Non-owner brewers represented 20 per cent of the sales in (The Beer Store) and paid 20 per cent of the fees. The balance of the cost of running the system fell to the owners,” said Jeff Newton, a spokesman for The Beer Store, in a emailed statement.
Newton also disputed claims that brands outside of those owned by Labatt, Molson and Sapporo are being underrepresented on shelves.
“The owner brands comprise about 30 per cent of the 490 brands listed. The remaining 70 per cent are non-owner brands,” he said.
The retailer has set up a website, ontariobeerfacts.ca, and recently launched a major marketing campaign to “keep a good thing going,” urging Ontarians to support the organization and oppose changes to way Ontario sells its beer.
Recently, The Beer Store extended an olive branch to craft brewers, offering to slash listing fees and charge smaller brewers the same amount it costs Molson, ABInbev and Sapporo to stock products on Beer Store shelves. It also offered brewers three seats on its 15-seat board of directors, allowing the little guys to listen in on the decision-making discussions taking place behind closed doors.
The offer has been largely panned by smaller breweries, however. It’s also seemingly fallen flat with government, which has announced plans to move forward with drastic changes to the way The Beer Store operates in coming months.
A government thirsty for cash
The Ontario government isn’t just looking at The Beer Store when it comes to altering the way alcohol is sold in the province. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission is in the midst of a massive review of Ontario’s liquor laws, which haven’t been updated since Prohibition was lifted in the early 1920s.
The reasoning behind many of the laws, including one that bars brewers from selling beer at more than one location, has been lost over the decades. Not being able to sell beer from multiple stores is a key factor behind a Beyond the Pale Brewery decision to close its Hintonburg location on Hamilton Avenue, where the business was founded, when it opens up shop in City Centre in the coming months.
From government’s standpoint, there have been longstanding questions about the profitability of The Beer Store.
The organization is supposed to be run on a not-for-profit basis; however, a recent study by the C.D. Howe Institute found that, thanks to a lack of competition, The Beer Store makes between $450 million and $650 million more than it would if beer was sold in corner stores in a system similar to Quebec’s.
The research suggested The Beer Store’s large footprint affords cost reductions, thanks to logistics as well as bulk buying practices, that smaller independent retailers can’t reproduce. However, without competition from multiple retailers, the price of beer has remained artificially high, according to C.D. Howe, allowing The Beer Store to collect more for the same volumes that Quebec sells.
The Beer Store, it should be noted, has released its own studies contradicting the C.D. Howe analysis.
The Ontario government is now weighing all arguments as part of its consideration of how the province could potentially improve the way it sells alcohol.
It’s a process that comes at a time when the province is cash-strapped and looking at new ways to raise money to help in its efforts to balance the budget.
It has brought former TD Bank chief executive Ed Clark in as chair of an advisory council on government assets. Clark has spoken to brewers all over the province. Among possibilities he has investigated is having The Beer Store pay the province a franchise fee to maintain its operations. Other options could include seeing the province take over control of The Beer Store.
The government hasn’t shed much light on its plans. This week, Premier Kathleen Wynne said Ontario is not going to allow the sale of alcohol in more corner stores, an admission that deflated any hope the Ontario Convenience Store Association had that beer and wine could soon be on shelves in its stores (outside of 216 convenience stores in rural and remote locations already licensed by the LCBO to sell alcohol).
A statement from a spokeswoman for Ontario Finance Charles Minister Sousa said more definite plans will be released in coming weeks when the province reveals its 2015 budget.
“?In the Fall Economic Statement, we expressed support for Ed Clark’s initial recommendations to improve transparency at The Beer Store, provide Ontarians with a fair share of profits and extend the sale of 12-packs of beer into LCBO stores. At this time, the Advisory Council is still completing their review and we will await their final report which will help inform the 2015 budget,” said Susie Heath, a spokeswoman for Sousa.
Looking ahead
Change can’t come soon enough for microbrewers such as Ottawa’s McJannett, who have made major investments in their businesses only to find that they are facing regulatory barriers because of legislation that is almost a century old.
“We’ve been so small to date that the issue of access (to retail channels) hasn’t been much of an issue,” he said. “But it’s actually quite relevant. These are very real issues that may not be affecting us today, but are going to affect us and very soon.”
vpilieci@ottawacitizen.com
What’s next for beer sales in Ontario?
Some possibilities that could emerge in the next provincial government budget:
• A franchise fee could be charged to the big brewers, forcing them to pay the government to maintain their position as the only dedicated seller of beer in the province. If this is the case, little will change from the consumer’s standpoint. The price of beer would likely remain unchanged despite the extra fee.
• Ownership of The Beer Store could change. Whether its sales duties are taken over by the LCBO, an ombudsman is appointed or The Beer Store’s board of directors is ushered out and a new board is appointed, taking the ownership from Molson-Coors, ABInbev and Sapporo could spell big change for what consumers find at The Beer Store and how brands compete within that retail environment;
• Dedicated craft beer stores could be created, much like the Wine Rack and VQA stores that have popped up across the province. By doing so, smaller craft brewers could avoid the shelves and listing fees of The Beer Store and give fans of craft beer a place to find favourite brands and seasonal offerings. Similar stores in Quebec, such as Brou Ha Ha and Le Marche Des Brasseurs D’Ici, have become go-to locations for craft beer fans.
Key numbers
79: Percentage of all beer in Ontario that’s sold at The Beer Store. In 2011, the latest year for which figures are available, it sold 89 million case of beer. The rest is sold at the LCBO and individual stores operated by breweries.
90: Percentage of beer sold by the LCBO that is from the big brands such as Molson-Coors, ABInbev and Sapporo (which owns Sleemans).
5: Percentage of Ontario beer sold by the LCBO that is from microbreweries.
2,000: Estimated number of people employed by big breweries to make beer, according to Ontario government.
1,000+: Number employed by microbreweries.
440: Beer Store locations across province.
2,024: Full-time The Beer Store employees. There are 4,539 part-time workers.
$2,650.14: Initial, one-time listing fee a brewer must pay, per product, to stock beer on shelves at The Beer Store. Products are defined as brands and package sizes, so a brewery wishing to sell six distinct brands in packages of six, 12 and 24 would be required to pay listing fees for 18 products.
$212.02: Additional fee per store the product is sold in.
$43.40-$49.40: Additional handling fee per hectolitre (or between $3.65 and $4.15 for every case of 24 beers) charged to non-owner breweries (Beer Store Operational Report, 2009, cited by the Fraser Institute).
$11.8 million: What craft brewers sold at the LCBO in 2009.
$50.2 million: What craft brewers sold at the LCBO last year.
Brewers Retail store on Bronson Avenue in 1970: From many owners, to three.
Beer Store backstory
The Beer Store, originally Brewers Retail, was founded in 1927 as a not-for-profit corporation, privately owned by dozens of Ontario brewers to offer provincewide distribution and allow brewers to save on costs associated with shipping, warehousing and storage. Over the years, the number of brewers shrank with consolidation and attrition in the industry. Today, three foreign-owned corporations control The Beer Store: Denver, Colorado-based Molson Coors Brewing Co.; Anheuser-Busch InBev Brewing Co. of Belgium and Japan’s Sapporo Breweries.
查看原文...
The massive trailer had come to the brewery in Ottawa’s east end to unload stainless steel fermenters, shining and new.
The equipment represented a major investment made by a fledgling business that — after only a year of operation — says it’s ready to quadruple production.
“We have a growing wait list of interested restaurants and bars, and we regularly sell out at our bottle shop on Canotek Road,” said Dominion City co-founder Josh McJannett, whose company got started by seeking community support through a social media fundraising campaign. Now, McJannett has left his previous job to focus full time on the growing business at Dominion.
“We want to respond to the community’s loyalty by keeping up with demand,” he said of the expansion. “We are so grateful to our customers.”
Dominion is part of a craft beer business that’s booming in Ottawa and across Ontario. As the small companies grow, they’re producing spinoff effects in the economy: New equipment means work for electricians, plumbers, labourers and logistics specialists.
But more and more brewers say they’re facing a glass ceiling for their business model. The culprit? The current provincial liquor regime. The main symbol of their frustration, at least from the viewpoint of microbrewers? The Beer Store.
There has been increasingly scrutiny of late on the province’s model for selling beer. Amid calls for major reform, the government is promising to look at changes. The Beer Store, meanwhile, maintains the system is working and that customers will suffer — with less selection and higher prices — if its hold on the market is loosened.
Brewing discontent
Ontario’s ubiquitous The Beer Store is owned and operated by the craft beer movement’s biggest competitors, Denver’s Molson Coors Brewing Co., Anheuser-Busch InBev Brewing Co. (which makes Labatt) of Belgium and Sapporo Breweries (which acquired Sleeman’s in 2006).
There are 440 Beer Store outlets in Ontario, and they account for more than 79 per cent of all beer sold to Ontarians. Liquor Control Board of Ontario outlets and the single stores breweries are allowed to operate account for the rest.
Microbreweries looking to gain shelf space at The Beer Store have faced listing fees that are higher than those charged for the commercial brands produced by the chain’s owners. The Beer Store doesn’t break down the difference in fees for owners versus non-owners. Some microwbrewers argue that the major breweries are essentially paying themselves for retail space.
Even if the microbreweries agree to the fees and gain access to the Beer Store, some complain their products are lost among piles of cardboard boxes or placed in less prominent areas of the organization’s self-serve stores.
The Beer Store also has the ability to change its listing fees without warning.
“It’s a very expensive system to buy into … when you’ve got no guarantee that the rules are going to be the same next year,” said Steve Beauchesne, co-founder of Beaus All Natural Brewing Co. and co-chair of the Ontario Craft Brewers Association, a lobby group for the province’s microbrewers.
“We are trying to make change in the system, so that we can compete.”
Josh McJannett from Dominion City Brewing co. says business is good.
Spinoff benefits
Dominion isn’t the only growing Ottawa brewer. Beyond the Pale and Big Rig breweries have also undertaken major expansions in recent months to keep up with demand.
While craft brewers’ share of provincial beer sales remains relatively small — less than five per cent of all beer bought by Ontarians annually — demand for their products is increasing exponentially. According to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, craft beer sales in Ontario soared to more than $50 million in 2014 from $11.8 million in 2009.
Meantime, sales of major brands have stagnated. The Beer Store won’t share figures, but at LCBO stores, sales of the five biggest beer brands peaked at $193.7 million between 2010 and 2011, the liquor board reports. Those sales slipped to $184.9 million in 2012-2013 before rebounding to $193.4 million in 2013-2104.
The craft growth is having ripples through local economies.
Recently, Square Timber Brewing Co., just outside Pembroke, opened after almost a year of construction. The owner, Marc Bru, wouldn’t spell out exactly how much it all cost. However, he said he needed to call on people in the trades to get his business up and going.
“There were the guys from the excavating company and the concrete company. There were the guys from the heating and cooling companies,” he said, adding that even though he did much of the construction himself, he still employed about a dozen area workers over 12 months and continues to call people back for repair work or servicing.
“This isn’t just about the person who wants to come in and buy a growler, it’s about everything around it, too.”
Microbreweries across Ontario now directly employ more than 1,000 people. According to the Ontario government, that represents as many as one out of every three people in the province’s brewing industry.
A support industry is emerging as well. Some farmers are turning their attention to growing hops, the ingredient that makes beer bitter.
A bitter taste
As brewers such as McJannett increase production, they’re looking to move beyond selling solely from the single retail location they are allowed to operate. Along with more retail channels, they need distribution and warehousing.
Steve Beauchesne founded Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co. with his father on Canada Day in 2006. He has taken the brewer from a small Vankleek Hill boutique operation to a large-scale brewery that employs 123 people and has distribution in New York State and now Quebec as well as throughout its home province of Ontario. To expand, Beauchesne had to work through Ontario’s existing alcohol sale laws, which included securing shelf space at the LCBO and, more recently, The Beer Store.
Steve Beauchesne, co-chair of the Ontario Craft Brewers Association, a lobby group for the province’s microbrewers, says they want reform to the provincial liquor regime so they can compete fairly.
Beauchesne has paid The Beer Store a $250,000 fee to sell one product, a 12 pack of his Lug Tread Lagered Ale, at 336 of its retail locations. It’s a cost he’s having a hard time justifying.
“We are selling into 336 Beer Store locations, and our single store at our brewery, which is located in a town of 1,800 people, is outselling all of those stores combined,” he explained.
“There is obviously something wrong,” Beauchesne said. “If you look at the growth and where it comes from, it comes from restaurants that we are able to direct deliver to and it comes from the LCBO. When we are given fair access to the customer, the customer wants our beer.”
Citing statistics compiled by the Ontario Craft Brewers, Beauchesne said craft sales from all Ontario microbreweries at the LCBO have been expanding by as much as 50 per cent a year. In stark comparison, sales of those craft brands at The Beer Store are rising by a far lower 10 per cent year over year, Beauchesne said.
Location, location
Product placement is one of the top complaints of microbrewers about The Beer Store.
Studies have shown that a vast majority of consumers will buy the product that is easiest to spot, which is what makes shelf space so important to any brand. A recent U.K. study found that beer placed in an obvious spot in a store, such as in an entryway or at the end of an aisle, will have 46 per cent higher sales than harder-to-find brands.
Jim Koch, founder of the Boston Brewing Co., knows the phenomenon well. Like their Canadian counterparts, U.S. craft brewers are competing with the multinationals for prominent display space. In an interview with U.S. News & World Report in February 2013, Koch said simply dropping his company’s Samuel Adams beers from a shelf at eye level to a lower shelf is enough to cut his sales by 50 per cent at a given store.
‘Keep a good thing going’
The Beer Store declined requests from the Citizen for a direct interview. A spokesman referred to news releases the organization has issued over the past few months to explain its stance on the issues at play.
The organization has long maintained that changes to the way The Beer Store operates will lead to increased sales to minors, less product selection, higher prices for consumers and lower tax revenues for government.
According to The Beer Store, the debate isn’t being fairly portrayed. The retailer claims that while its owners’ brands accounted for a vast majority of sales over the past year, those brands are also shouldering the bill for a vast majority of operating costs.
“Non-owner brewers represented 20 per cent of the sales in (The Beer Store) and paid 20 per cent of the fees. The balance of the cost of running the system fell to the owners,” said Jeff Newton, a spokesman for The Beer Store, in a emailed statement.
Newton also disputed claims that brands outside of those owned by Labatt, Molson and Sapporo are being underrepresented on shelves.
“The owner brands comprise about 30 per cent of the 490 brands listed. The remaining 70 per cent are non-owner brands,” he said.
The retailer has set up a website, ontariobeerfacts.ca, and recently launched a major marketing campaign to “keep a good thing going,” urging Ontarians to support the organization and oppose changes to way Ontario sells its beer.
Recently, The Beer Store extended an olive branch to craft brewers, offering to slash listing fees and charge smaller brewers the same amount it costs Molson, ABInbev and Sapporo to stock products on Beer Store shelves. It also offered brewers three seats on its 15-seat board of directors, allowing the little guys to listen in on the decision-making discussions taking place behind closed doors.
The offer has been largely panned by smaller breweries, however. It’s also seemingly fallen flat with government, which has announced plans to move forward with drastic changes to the way The Beer Store operates in coming months.
A government thirsty for cash
The Ontario government isn’t just looking at The Beer Store when it comes to altering the way alcohol is sold in the province. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission is in the midst of a massive review of Ontario’s liquor laws, which haven’t been updated since Prohibition was lifted in the early 1920s.
The reasoning behind many of the laws, including one that bars brewers from selling beer at more than one location, has been lost over the decades. Not being able to sell beer from multiple stores is a key factor behind a Beyond the Pale Brewery decision to close its Hintonburg location on Hamilton Avenue, where the business was founded, when it opens up shop in City Centre in the coming months.
From government’s standpoint, there have been longstanding questions about the profitability of The Beer Store.
The organization is supposed to be run on a not-for-profit basis; however, a recent study by the C.D. Howe Institute found that, thanks to a lack of competition, The Beer Store makes between $450 million and $650 million more than it would if beer was sold in corner stores in a system similar to Quebec’s.
The research suggested The Beer Store’s large footprint affords cost reductions, thanks to logistics as well as bulk buying practices, that smaller independent retailers can’t reproduce. However, without competition from multiple retailers, the price of beer has remained artificially high, according to C.D. Howe, allowing The Beer Store to collect more for the same volumes that Quebec sells.
The Beer Store, it should be noted, has released its own studies contradicting the C.D. Howe analysis.
The Ontario government is now weighing all arguments as part of its consideration of how the province could potentially improve the way it sells alcohol.
It’s a process that comes at a time when the province is cash-strapped and looking at new ways to raise money to help in its efforts to balance the budget.
It has brought former TD Bank chief executive Ed Clark in as chair of an advisory council on government assets. Clark has spoken to brewers all over the province. Among possibilities he has investigated is having The Beer Store pay the province a franchise fee to maintain its operations. Other options could include seeing the province take over control of The Beer Store.
The government hasn’t shed much light on its plans. This week, Premier Kathleen Wynne said Ontario is not going to allow the sale of alcohol in more corner stores, an admission that deflated any hope the Ontario Convenience Store Association had that beer and wine could soon be on shelves in its stores (outside of 216 convenience stores in rural and remote locations already licensed by the LCBO to sell alcohol).
A statement from a spokeswoman for Ontario Finance Charles Minister Sousa said more definite plans will be released in coming weeks when the province reveals its 2015 budget.
“?In the Fall Economic Statement, we expressed support for Ed Clark’s initial recommendations to improve transparency at The Beer Store, provide Ontarians with a fair share of profits and extend the sale of 12-packs of beer into LCBO stores. At this time, the Advisory Council is still completing their review and we will await their final report which will help inform the 2015 budget,” said Susie Heath, a spokeswoman for Sousa.
Looking ahead
Change can’t come soon enough for microbrewers such as Ottawa’s McJannett, who have made major investments in their businesses only to find that they are facing regulatory barriers because of legislation that is almost a century old.
“We’ve been so small to date that the issue of access (to retail channels) hasn’t been much of an issue,” he said. “But it’s actually quite relevant. These are very real issues that may not be affecting us today, but are going to affect us and very soon.”
vpilieci@ottawacitizen.com
What’s next for beer sales in Ontario?
Some possibilities that could emerge in the next provincial government budget:
• A franchise fee could be charged to the big brewers, forcing them to pay the government to maintain their position as the only dedicated seller of beer in the province. If this is the case, little will change from the consumer’s standpoint. The price of beer would likely remain unchanged despite the extra fee.
• Ownership of The Beer Store could change. Whether its sales duties are taken over by the LCBO, an ombudsman is appointed or The Beer Store’s board of directors is ushered out and a new board is appointed, taking the ownership from Molson-Coors, ABInbev and Sapporo could spell big change for what consumers find at The Beer Store and how brands compete within that retail environment;
• Dedicated craft beer stores could be created, much like the Wine Rack and VQA stores that have popped up across the province. By doing so, smaller craft brewers could avoid the shelves and listing fees of The Beer Store and give fans of craft beer a place to find favourite brands and seasonal offerings. Similar stores in Quebec, such as Brou Ha Ha and Le Marche Des Brasseurs D’Ici, have become go-to locations for craft beer fans.
Key numbers
79: Percentage of all beer in Ontario that’s sold at The Beer Store. In 2011, the latest year for which figures are available, it sold 89 million case of beer. The rest is sold at the LCBO and individual stores operated by breweries.
90: Percentage of beer sold by the LCBO that is from the big brands such as Molson-Coors, ABInbev and Sapporo (which owns Sleemans).
5: Percentage of Ontario beer sold by the LCBO that is from microbreweries.
2,000: Estimated number of people employed by big breweries to make beer, according to Ontario government.
1,000+: Number employed by microbreweries.
440: Beer Store locations across province.
2,024: Full-time The Beer Store employees. There are 4,539 part-time workers.
$2,650.14: Initial, one-time listing fee a brewer must pay, per product, to stock beer on shelves at The Beer Store. Products are defined as brands and package sizes, so a brewery wishing to sell six distinct brands in packages of six, 12 and 24 would be required to pay listing fees for 18 products.
$212.02: Additional fee per store the product is sold in.
$43.40-$49.40: Additional handling fee per hectolitre (or between $3.65 and $4.15 for every case of 24 beers) charged to non-owner breweries (Beer Store Operational Report, 2009, cited by the Fraser Institute).
$11.8 million: What craft brewers sold at the LCBO in 2009.
$50.2 million: What craft brewers sold at the LCBO last year.
Brewers Retail store on Bronson Avenue in 1970: From many owners, to three.
Beer Store backstory
The Beer Store, originally Brewers Retail, was founded in 1927 as a not-for-profit corporation, privately owned by dozens of Ontario brewers to offer provincewide distribution and allow brewers to save on costs associated with shipping, warehousing and storage. Over the years, the number of brewers shrank with consolidation and attrition in the industry. Today, three foreign-owned corporations control The Beer Store: Denver, Colorado-based Molson Coors Brewing Co.; Anheuser-Busch InBev Brewing Co. of Belgium and Japan’s Sapporo Breweries.
查看原文...
