Vancouver restaurateurs have become inured to Vancouver city council unfurling red tape and making stipulations about how their businesses should be run.
So they are largely taking in stride the new rule that all establishments that sell alcohol reveal on menus or drink boards exactly how big the drinks are and how much alcohol is in each drink.
That means wine lists must note how many ounces are in each glass and what alcohol percentage each wine contains.
Determining the exact alcohol strength of a cocktail, such as a martini, could be more complicated because in addition to the ounces of spirits would be a splash of lower-strength vermouth.
Coun. Melissa De Genova, however, told Business in Vancouver that she expects that putting the number of ounces of spirits in a cocktail should be sufficient.
“The new policy leaves people with no excuses when they go through a road block,” she said. “It’s important that we make sure that people are informed about how much alcohol they are consuming.”
She was part of a unanimous vote on the matter on June 14, when council passed a raft of controversial liquor policies. Included in that policy package was a ban on grocers being able to apply to sell wine on shelves and approval for a pilot project on Granville Street where bar owners are unable to welcome new customers after 2 a.m. – one hour before closing time.
“Everything that the city does adds costs to my business,” said Glowbal Restaurant Group owner Emad Yacoub, who operates 10 restaurants including eight in the city of Vancouver.
Ask him to elaborate and he will launch into a spiel about what he deems to be unnecessary regulations – one example being that he must keep receipts for all alcohol purchases on the premises of the restaurant where the alcohol is served.
Many of Yacoub’s restaurants already stipulate drink sizes and alcohol strengths on menus and he supports the concept of providing that information because many customers want to be informed.
Requiring that all menus have that data for all drinks and all individual wines, however, will likely cost Yacoub about $500 to print new menus, he said.
Council did not stipulate exactly when restaurant owners must have the information on menus and De Genova said that she supports a slow roll-in of the requirement.
The timing, however, will be up to city staff with no more direction from council.
Printing companies will see new business but their executives are uncomfortable with the new regulations.
“If restaurants have menus in place that they’re using and they now have to reprint them, it’s great for our business,” said Metropolitan Fine Printers president Nikos Kallas.
“But what we really want is what is best for our customers. When these new regulations come along, it ends up costing our customers more money and ultimately, for the consumer, it’s not a healthy thing.”
Most of Metropolitan’s business is real estate marketing pamphlets and business-to-consumer marketing brochures but the company also prints on plastic and provides lamination, Kallas said.
Restaurant owners who are forced to redo their menus may decide to upgrade those menus at the same time and have new and nicer covers.
Still, owners of businesses that make menu covers are unsure whether the new rule will generate much new business.
“It is unlikely to impact us much,” said Van Bind managing director Eric Burke.
“We only manufacture the outside covers. We’re bringing on the service [of printing menu pages] but we’re not quite there yet.” •
