Restaurants and bars frustrated by LCBO strike as negotiations resume

For weeks now, Adriano Ciotoli has been busy planning one of the most popular festivals he hosts each year at his venue in Windsor, Ontario. The posters for the event, titled “Margaritas and Mojitos,” promise a big crowd, live music – and, yes, 12 different variations of margaritas and mojitos.

The only problem? With the Ontario Liquor Control Board’s strike still unresolved, Mr. Ciotoli is worried he might be missing the key ingredient for these cocktails: tequila.

The province and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents nearly 10,000 liquor store workers, returned to the bargaining table Wednesday – about two weeks after the start of the strike that has led to the closure of about 669 LCBO stores. The OPSEU said there was no news and it expected talks to continue “late into the evening.”

However, there is no end in sight and frustration is growing in the province’s hospitality industry due to the uncertainty that the strike has brought to many already crisis-hit businesses.

“It’s more fear than anything else,” Ciotoli said. “If our stocks fall and the strike continues, of course you have to worry.”

The Margaritas and Mojitos event at his WindsorEats eatery will take place later this month, and like many other business owners, he stocked up on supplies when the strike was first announced.

But since then, Ciotoli has found himself busier than he expected and has quickly depleted his supplies. And the LCBO’s website, which continued to sell alcohol online during the strike, has sold out of the tequila he normally buys.

In addition, he can rely on local producers in Ontario for other spirits – which he generally prefers anyway – but some imported products, such as tequila, are only available through the LCBO, he said.

“It’s not business as usual,” Ciotoli said. “There are certain products that you can’t get.”

Negotiations between the two sides of the LCBO strike had been stalled since they began on July 5 until this week. The subject of the talks was Premier Doug Ford’s plan to expand alcohol sales at private retailers in the province – including ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages in convenience stores. OPSEU argues that this move would threaten the LCBO, a state-owned company, and the jobs of its workers.

Both sides have been holed up since the strike began. This week, the LCBO launched an advertising campaign blaming the union.

“The strike didn’t have to happen,” says George Soleas, president of the LCBO, in an ad. “Let’s end this strike. We’re all waiting for it.”

In response, OPSEU accused the province of being “unwilling to engage in meaningful discussions.”

According to the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, around 35 percent of businesses in the province are affected by the strike. According to TIAO, the main concerns are limited product availability, long delivery times and the capacity to replenish inventory.

Adam Mintz, owner of an esports cafe and bar in downtown Toronto, said he spent nearly two days this week trying to understand the LCBO’s online ordering system, which he described as confusing and counterintuitive.

“There is no guidance. No communication. No troubleshooting and there is no one at LCBO to talk to to help you,” he said.

And because he now has to place bulk orders instead of buying smaller quantities at retail, his cash flow is disrupted.

“As a small business owner, you have to deal with so many moving parts. When something that is normally so simple gets disrupted, it just disrupts the smooth running of my business.”

That’s a sentiment shared by Kelly Chuang, owner of Fat Cat’s Pizza in St. Catharines. She said since the strike, alcohol sales at her restaurant have increased – a positive effect for her business. But she’s also had difficulty ordering through the LCBO website and isn’t sure her delivery will arrive on time when she needs it.

“If I get the stock before the end of this weekend, I won’t run out. But I don’t know how quickly the deliveries will be made,” she said.

These problems are compounding an already difficult time for restaurants. Earlier this year, Restaurants Canada reported that 62 percent of restaurants in the country were either making a loss or barely breaking even. Meanwhile, the number of bankruptcies rose by 44 percent.

The biggest challenges cited were lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting changes in consumer behavior, as well as rising food and labor costs – something Mr Ciotoli knows well.

“The industry has still not recovered from the past few years – and is not even close to getting better,” he said.

Many of the entrepreneurs in his circle, says Ciotoli, are still struggling with rising debts: “The industry is currently experiencing a death by a thousand paper cuts.”