WHITEHORSE—Effective today, Yukon’s food and beverage industry will benefit from additional savings on the price of draft beer and cider. This is in addition to the 10 per cent wholesale discount introduced by Yukon Liquor Corporation in 2015.
“We recognize the importance of Yukon’s food and beverage sector in supporting a healthy economy, and we are responding to concerns that we have heard from local businesses about how difficult it can be to find success in the sector,” Minister responsible for the Yukon Liquor Corporation Stacey Hassard said. “These changes to the price structure will reduce the overall wholesale price of draft beer and cider kegs, helping to put more money back into the pockets of small business owners.”
Licensees who operate restaurants and bars, as well as local breweries, will realize savings from this initiative. The simpler pricing structure means that product markup will be determined on a per-litre basis, rather than the current tiered percentage-based system.
By the end of this year, Yukon Liquor Corporation aims to introduce similar pricing structures for all other categories of liquor products – spirits, wine, coolers and packaged beer – to ensure that the corporation’s pricing for liquor is clear, consistent and more in-line with comparable pricing in neighbouring provinces.
The changes will be presented at licensee information sessions this summer.
“These planned changes will also benefit the local suppliers in that Yukon Liquor Corporation markups will not increase as the value of the product increases,” Yukon Brewing owner Bob Baxter said. “This is a positive step and we look forward to full implementation later this year.”
These changes provide the hospitality industry with support that is similar to other sector-specific initiatives offered by the Government of Yukon to help business owners succeed. The next full update of the 2016 Yukon Liquor Corporation Price List for all regularly listed products will be available on July 11.
Learn more:
More information with updated keg prices
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Contact:
Michael Edwards
Cabinet Communications
867-633-7910
michael.edwards@gov.yk.ca
Tim Sellars
Communications, Yukon Liquor Corporation
867-456-6802
tim.sellars@gov.yk.ca
