B.C. restaurants may struggle to stock imported booze due to BCGEU strike

If your drink of choice happens to be of the imported variety, you might have trouble ordering it at your local watering hole or restaurant soon.

Ian Tostenson, with the BC Restaurant and Food Services Association, says that if the B.C. General Employees’ Union strike is still underway a week from now with members picketing several B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch locations around the province, the availability of booze may be affected.

“The products that would go out of stock first would be import products,” Tostenson told CityNews in an interview. “All import wines, all import beers, and all spirits, your hard alcohol products. Those are the ones that if this is protracted, these would be the first to be out of stock in restaurants.”

Related article: BCGEU to begin strike action at BC Liquor Distribution Centres

Tostenson says restaurants generally have about a week’s worth of alcohol stocked, but there’s little risk of someone entering a restaurant and not having the option to order a drink at all in a week’s time.

He says if the imported supply is essentially unavailable due to BCGEU strike action at B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch warehouses, there will still be a way to source local beer and wine.

“If all the liquor stores close tomorrow, we could all access our products from B.C. wineries and B.C. craft breweries directly,” Tostenson said, adding that in terms of the hypothetical situation he is optimistic the situation can be resolved.

As of Monday, the BCGEU has picket lines planned for Delta, Kamloops, Richmond, and Victoria.

The union’s most recent contract expired April 1, and on June 22, members voted to strike. The BCGEU has rejected an 11 percent wage increase over three years, and specifically wants a cost of living adjustment so wages of its members keep up with inflation, which has soared in recent months.