Before being elected, Doug Ford announced that his government would reduce the cost of beer to $1 per bottle, plus the deposit of the beer bottle. It was part of his plan to "put the people first" and to allow Ontarians to stop paying the "inflated prices" that the Liberals had placed on beer ten years prior. Starting February 11, you can now say goodbye to the short run buck-a-beer promise as Cool Beer Brewing Co., the last brewing company that has been participating in buck-a-beer, pulls out.
Last year, Doug Ford confirmed that the government would approve the buck-a-beer plan by August 27, 2018. Ford made it a volunteer program that many breweries decided to opt out of in the beginning, yet the campaign still trekked on. Three main brewing companies quickly latched on the program and Ontarians were able to find participating beer at local LCBO and Beer Stores just in time for the long weekend.
Since then, everything about the buck-a-beer program has been going downhill. Both Barley Days Brewery and President's Choice Brews were quick to pull out of the deal, but Cool Beer Brewing Company stayed faithful to the promise.
@coolbeerbreweryNow, Etobicoke based Cool Beer Brewing Co. has announced that starting on Feb. 11th they will no longer be participating in the buck-a-beer program. The company announced that to keep their customers happy the will continue to do the buck-a-beer for every long weekend for the rest of 2019, and sell their beer at a normal price the rest of the year.
Corporate development officer, Kevin Meens, told the Star that, "We're going to do buck-a-beer for every long holiday weekend in 2019... I don't see how people could complain about that,".
When asked why the company decided to finally pull out the program, ending buck-a-beer across Ontario, the company replied that it's because it was impossible to make a financial earning at such a low price, "You break even at best when it's buck-a-beer,".
Of course, Cool Beer Brewing Co. wasn't the only company to think this. A lot of other brewing companies pulled out or never joined the program in the first place because of the lack of revenue that would result in it. While buck-a-beer may have seemed great to those who were purchasing it, the taxes and fees that are associated with a brewery are too high to turn a profit off of one dollar per beer.
Our brewery will not be joining this #buckabeer race to the bottom. We are committed to making a quality product that we are proud to serve and that means it will always cost more. We firmly believe that you really do get what you pay for. #qualitymatters #craftbeer
We will continue to offer fair prices that allow the living wage to our team and maintain fresh quality brews. We are not going to pursue this initiative.
Meens states that he wishes to brainstorm solutions for a more affordable beer that will also benefit the breweries as well.
Ontarians aren't surprised that buck-a-beer is coming to an end, in fact, some skeptics even called it from the beginning. With no incentives for companies to participate, many believed that it would not be a program that would last very long.
Who would have thought a voluntary program with no incentives for the beer companies would have flopped lol. Great job @fordnation
Another failure from the drop out Premier.
it's almost as if beer at that price doesn't net a profit, or tastes like garbage
And people actually believed him. How simple is his base.
It's time to finally say goodbye to buck-a-beer Ontarioians!
Source: The Star
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