Agreement #40026059 Publican the T he Alliance ofBeverage Licensees Hagar's Sailor Fighting Fraud Cooking! Now You're Your LRS Behaviour in Purchasing Driving Media Social Utilizing Winter 2010 The only part of Winter that’s back by popular demand.

Thanks for pouring BC’s favourite Winter beer.

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On the Cover Sailor Hagar's Ruth, Brian & Al Riedlinger

Quarterly Publication for the Alliance of Beverage Licensees 24 200-948 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1N9 T 604-688-5560 F 604-688-8560 Toll free 1-800-663-4883 [email protected] www.ablebc.ca

2009-2010 Board of Directors President Al McCreary Past President Al Arbuthnot Vice President Jonathan Cross 6 14 20 26 Vice President Poma Dhaliwal Vice President LRS Salim Karim Vice President LP Matthew MacNeil the Vice President Ronnie Paterson Treasurer Roger Gibson Executive Director Kim Haakstad Directors Brady Beruschi, Al Deacon, Mariana Fiddler, Mike Jahnke, John Lepinski, Don Lutzak, Kurt Pyrch, Danny Rickaby, Grant Smith PublicanWinter2010 Director at Large Dave Crown

Designed, Produced & Published by: EMC Publications Features Departments 19073 63 Avenue, Surrey BC V3S 8G7 Ph: 604-574-4577 1-800-667-0955 Fax: 604-574-2196 8 Utilizing Social Media 4 President's Message [email protected] 14 Driving Purchasing Behaviour in Your LRS www.emcmarketing.com 6 Executive Director's Report Publisher Joyce Hayne 20 Now You're Cooking! 11 Spotlight on Cognac Designer Krysta Furioso Copy Editor Debbie Minke 24 Cover Story - Sailor Hagar's 12 Product Showcase ABLE BC Editor Kim Haakstad 26 Don't Let Fake Cash Drag You Down 19 Wine Report

Copyright EMC Publications 30 Avoiding Credit Card Fraud and Skimming 23 What's New?

PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40026059 33 Saving Pennies to Grow Dollars 29 LCLB Report RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT EMC PUBLICATIONS 34 New Partnership to Prevent FASD 36 Human Resources 19073 63 AVENUE SURREY BC V3S 8G7 37 1st Annual CPBA Cocktail Challenge 38 LDB Report email: [email protected] 42 The Thoughtful Drink Menu 40 Liquor Sales & Trends 41 BC Hospitality Foundation The statements, opinions & points of view expressed in published articles are not necessarily those of ABLE BC. 46 Names in the News Advertisers are not necessarily endorsed by ABLE BC. President's Message Al McCreary, President, ABLE BC

What Does It Mean For An LRS To Be Standalone? In short, the policy directive allows LRSs to be associated with LPs, other LRSs, and hotels owned by the same legal entity, and it prohibits the association of an In December 2009, our industry changed forever with the removal of the LRS with any other business (e.g. large food chains). In determining association, requirement to have a Liquor Primary (LP) in order to have a Licensee Retail the following areas are taken into account: location and physical requirements, Store (LRS). While the industry was divided between those who cheered for the naming and appearance requirements, separation of business requirements, change and those who were gravely concerned, it was clear that our common and advertising and promotional requirements. More detail on how each of goal to keep grocery and convenience stores out of the retail liquor business these requirements is defined is included in the operational bulletin published was now harder to achieve. by the LCLB. If you haven’t already read them, they are available on the LCLB Strengthening of the Standalone criteria for LRSs was a necessary disincentive website www.hsd.gov.bc.ca/lclb or from ABLE BC. for new businesses wishing to enter into the liquor retail game. The first step was The ABLE Board of Directors was impressed that the government was willing accomplished in December 2009 when government moved the requirement to consider the impact the policy change would have on our existing business for LRSs to be Standalone, from policy to regulation. This was something ABLE arrangements. It doesn’t just simply grandfather old arrangements that had requested, since changes to regulations require approval from cabinet. could make businesses hard to sell, move, or alter. Government looked at ABLE was pleased to see this first step accomplished. the associations between businesses that were once required by law, and With the Standalone provision in regulation and the separation of the two determined that those would remain acceptable, but associations with licences, the next step was to push for a more detailed policy, one that defines companies other than LRSs, LPs, or hotels would still not be considered what it means to be a Standalone business in our industry, and the type of appropriate in BC. relationships LRSs can and cannot have with other businesses. This new policy As you may recall, there were many more legislative changes that were made direction and operational bulletin was issued by the LCLB in late September, in the Spring of 2010 that are not yet in force, such as changes to the trade providing our industry with some peace of mind by eliminating incentives for practices and tied house provisions. We hope that these new requirements other businesses to get into the liquor retail business by limiting their ability to will help provide some clarity and certainty for your businesses, and as always, cross promote, share loyalty programs, and advertise loss leaders. ABLE will continue to work on your behalf.

4 The Publican The Publican 5 Executive Director's Report by Kim Haakstad

Welcome to the 2010 BCHICE I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all BC Hospitality Industry Conference and Exposition attendees. We have worked very hard again this year to build an exciting and educational agenda for the conference, and to ensure there is a wide variety of suppliers at the Expo available to help build your business. We gave special focus to improving the quality of the break-out sessions, and hope that you will find them even more beneficial than previous years. Couldn’t make it this year? Save the dates for 2011 - November 6, 7, & 8.

Medical and Dental Benefits Some businesses are starting to feel the labour crunch again. With fewer British Columbians turning 19 every year, our labour pool is shrinking - so what should you do to attract and retain staff? One of the best ways is to offer medical and dental benefits. Request a quote on a plan from Johnstone’s Benefits before December 31, 2010, and be entered to win an iPAD. Contact Eddie Epstein for your free, no- obligation quote today at 604-980-6227.

Sore Back? Did you know that over 1,500 work days were lost due to injury claims in beer, wine, and liquor stores in BC during 2009, and back strain was one of the most common injuries? When was the last time you talked to your staff about proper bending and lifting techniques? To help prevent injuries in your business, check out the great new resources that go2 has developed specifically for the hospitality and tourism industry at www.go2hr.ca.

New Website Launched ABLE BC is excited that our new website is finally complete. Watch for new log- in information for our new and improved Members Only section, including the ability to renew and pay your membership online. You can also update your profile or add members of your staff to our email distribution lists. Miss the old paper guidebook? All that information and more is now available online in an easy-to-search format in the Member and Associate Member Directories. Members - check it out if you haven’t already!

Drinking and Driving Thank you to all the members who have contacted their MLAs and replied to ABLE with information about the impacts of the new drinking and driving penalties on our industry. I know you have all been struggling since September 20th. At press time ABLE was working on information to present to the government, outlining how these laws have harmed your businesses and asking for immediate changes before it is too late for our industry.

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8 The Publican Got a website? Good. But it’s not good enough. We’re in the digital age. People are on the go, using mobile devices more than ever. Your website just isn’t top of mind for that exhausted, hungry worker bee who’s checking Facebook before she leaves her desk. She scrolls through her Twitter feed on her smartphone in the elevator. Want to get her into your pub? Send her a message on her preferred app. “Company websites are becoming less important,” observes Pearl Lam, social media and communications manager for Granville Entertainment Group. “People like the social media sites because they’re more up-to-date. It’s instant information.”

Creating Community with Customer Service Besides the instant info hit that social media feeds bring, customers also report that they feel more of a personal connection through tools like Twitter and Facebook. “It’s almost like Show Your Customers What They Want a customer service tool, a direct hotline to the business,” Lam explains. “If they post and I reply within minutes, it’s very personal.” Your job in the social media wilderness is to draw people in to check out what’s happening in your establishment. For Damian Kettlewell, general manager Old-school thinking, says Ontario publican and social media expert Tom and operator of the Great Bear Pub and Liquor Store in Burnaby, Facebook is Lucier, means thinking about what you can give away instead of how to stay the place to post nightly promotions, football pool info, menus, karaoke, and in people’s minds throughout the day. “People are still stuck on the information more. “Our main goal is to create awareness and to drive traffic to the business,” that would be in a print ad instead of what customers will get right now if they explains Kettlewell. come into your building,” he says. It’s not about how great the deal is, or how much you’re giving away; it’s about maintaining that connection with your Post a bio of the band you’re hosting on Thursday night, and add a link so potential customers. “Make [your tweets or status updates] more interesting.” customers can check them out. Adding those links is essential for upping (Lucier will be speaking about using social media at this year’s BC Hospitality your customers’ engagement level. If you’ve got a great lunch special, take a Industry conference.) quick photo of it, and link to it (upload it to Facebook, or use TwitPic) so your

The Publican 9 customers can click on it and actually see the food they’ll be eating. “If you post a link [say, to that mouthwatering steak sandwich], you can see how many give someone an excuse not to check, they won’t,” notes Lucier. Make it easy people clicked on it.” Lucier advises tracking your accounts over a two-week for them. Put the link in there. period. Do it at 1 pm on Monday, 2 pm on Tuesday, 3 pm on Wednesday, and Remember the demographic you’re appealing to, advises Lucier, and tell so on. That gives you a chance to see how a typical day shakes out, and when them about what’s happening right now at your place. “They’re not interested your posts are reaching people best. With this information, you’ll be able to in your posting about what’s coming up in three days. They want to know time your tweets and status updates for when your target market is checking what’s special right now, so if I leave work and come to your place, what am I their Facebook and Twitter accounts. You can also set up your profiles so your getting?” A relatively new social media application that started in New York and tweets automatically feed into Facebook too. is gaining followers, especially in urban centres, is FourSquare. Using GPS-style mapping, FourSquare can tell your customers what’s going on in participating Each App Has Its Own Strength establishments in a given area. Once your customer checks into your location (because you’ve got the best specials, of course), his friends can then find him Know what each social media tool is best for. Although we’re talking mainly - and join him. “There are game components,” explains Lam. “If you check in the about Twitter, Facebook, and FourSquare, there are a myriad of other tools at most times, you can become the “mayor” of that location. Businesses can reward your disposal. “Locally, Facebook is strongest for building community,” muses their customers, say with a free appie plate for the mayor. In hockey season we Lucier. That’s where you create your presence - through posts, photos, links, and say the next person who checks in on FourSquare and orders a round of Molson videos. Twitter is your short, punchy, hey-come-down-after-work-and-get-two- wins a free pair of hockey tickets. It’s very interactive.” While largely adopted by for-one-spring-rolls lure. “We use Facebook to give updates on our new food or Gen X and Gen Y in major centres, FourSquare is sure to grow. drink items, or for giveaways, to promote our special events and share photos,” reports Lam. “I’ll put up a photo gallery from an event and invite people to check them out and tag themselves,” she explains. “It’s very interactive.” As for Timing Is Everything Twitter, Lam sees it as a two-way street that’s all about building community. “Be engaging, but you also have to listen,” she advises. “Social media isn’t just “Determine who your audience is and when they’re online,” advises Kim a selling tool.” For example, Lam will scratch other businesses’ backs with her Haakstad, executive director of ABLE BC. “You want to think about who are tweets from time to time. “It’s more about using it to support your community,” the ones who are most likely to respond to your information.” Posts disappear she says. “Let’s say the people I follow are having fundraisers or events. They quickly on Twitter, so you must tweet at the right time. Lam sends messages appreciate it when I help them spread their message,” she continues. “It’s like: before lunch and just before quitting time. “Send something out around 4 or ‘You give me a hand - I’ll give you a hand,’ even if they’re a competitor.” After 5 pm,” suggests Haakstad. “Catch people on their way home.” all, it is called social media. How do you figure out when your market is online, you ask? Once you’ve set up Online marketing through social media can prove to be a powerful and your social media accounts, sign on for Google Alerts to track the results of your profitable way to grow your business and clientele. Don’t let your competitors efforts. Tracking tools expedite your market research, reveals Lucier. “HootSuite allows you to do link shortening,” he adds. “Those are trackable, so when you beat you to it.

10 The Publican Spotlight on Cognac by Shawn Soole

Renaissance. The streets aren’t paved with gold; these can also make some lovely, complex the residents don’t all drive around in Bentleys cocktails - albeit expensive. Recently Clive’s Classic and Rolls Royces; instead the city has an air of Lounge in the Chateau Victoria put a $65 Sazerac being almost understated by what is created in the on the menu using Hennessy XO, Bitter Truth hills that surround it. In fact, there are only a few Creole Bitters (a pre-prohibition style Peychaud’s) Cognac houses in the downtown core, Martell and and Pernod Absinthe. Meukov being the most prominent. The majority While Cognac may have a hoity toity history, it of houses are about a half to three quarters of an can be an enjoyable, complex, and a very mixable hour out of the city. addition to your cocktail repertoire. From a tasty But what is Cognac? Cognac is a blend of different and refreshing Horse’s Neck using Remy Martin VS crus or appellations within the Cognac region - of to a deep sipper of the Camus 100% Borderies XO, course Grand & Petit Champagne (named after Cognac offers a wonderful journey of discovery the soil type) are the most famous - while crus that anyone can embark on. Like Scotch or Rum, such as Borderless and Fin du Bois are gaining you’ve got to love Cognac. popularity within certain Cognac circles. All Cognac, in the modern world, is sometimes cognacs start their life as aged Eau de Vies; once associated with stuffy, elderly gentlemen sitting they are aged for a time, then they are blended to in a darkened, candlelit room with the fireplace Vintage French Sazerac become a Cognac. The ages are broken up into a blazing and the musty stench of cigars permeating 2 oz. Hennessy XO Cognac few, now simplified categories. VS or Very Special the air. Cognac evokes thoughts of snifters, those 2 dashes of Bitter Truth Creole Bitters is the designation for the entry level Cognac, and after dinner sippers only held by aristocrats and is usually aged for a minimum of two and a half 1/3 oz. sugar syrup upper society highbrows, but this is not how years. It’s perfect for cocktails such as the Horse Spritz of Pernod Absinthe cognac producers want to be viewed. Cognac Neck, one of the first buck style cocktails, or maybe Spritz Absinthe in a chilled snifter. Stir makers the world over are trying to break out of a classic mint julep. VS Cognacs can be compared Hennessy XO with sugar syrup, bitters, and the stuffiness that surrounds this spirit, and are to your gold rums, and are the perfect gateway for ice; strain into snifter. showing the new world how mixable and fun the burgeoning Cognac drinker. Cognac can really be. VSOP or Very Special Old Pale is aged for a Champagne Julep – Bariana 1896 The small, picturesque French city of Cognac is a minimum of four and a half years, and is the next 1 oz. Courvoisier VS Cognac sight to behold. From the statue of King Francois progression in moving towards more complex 1 oz. Yellow Chartreuse I in the town centre square, a round concourse cocktails or as a sipping Cognac. Imagine this as 6 mint leaves takes you down to each point of the city, while having the same style of flavour profiles as good 1 oz. sparkling white wine the square itself is dotted with beautiful Parisian- quality Reposado tequila - hints of chocolate, Drizzle of Appleton Estate V/X rum style outdoor cafés. The city is not what you toffee, and wood, but still having complex, fresh Stir Cognac, Chartreuse and mint in an old would expect from one of the most expensive and flavours like green apple and herbs. The final style fashioned glass with crushed ice. Top with highbrow spirits in the world. Relatively untouched of Cognac aging is XO or Extra Old, and we all sparkling wine and drizzle rum on top. for hundreds of years, the architecture and design know the Louis XIII and the Hennessy XO. While Garnish with a mint sprig. of the buildings are outstanding and it almost these are usually the epitome of sipping Cognacs, feels like you have been transported back to the

The Publican 11 Product Showcase

1884 RESERVADO MALBEC VEUVE DE VERNAY BRUT LULU B. CUPCAKE CHINESE HAPPY WINE - 2009 Sparkling Wine Shiraz & Chardonnay Cabernet Sauvignon KUEI HUA CHING CHIEW Red Wine France France USA White Wine China Argentina The best selling French “The Shiraz has aromas of Rich and enticing, our “Crazy Value” - Vancouver Sun, bubble in BC. smoke, blackberries and Cabernet Sauvignon This sweet, full-bodied wine, Anthony Gismondi Best Buy - Wine Spectator chocolate with hints of displays soft tannins, flavors sometimes referred to as 4 Stars - Decanter Magazine vanilla, cedar and liquorice. of blackberry, dark cherry, China's ice wine, is a delicate A wine list stalwart in This year Veuve Du Vernay It has a smooth texture plums, mocha and a touch blend of white wine and the Vancouver, the 1884 Reservado will be donating $1.00 per and earthy flavours layered of oak. Osmanthus flower. Aged Malbec 2009 is classic malbec bottle to Breast Cancer with chocolate and spice three years, this wine is light with its intense colour, Research BC & Yukon. followed by fine lingering Our wines are handcrafted and refreshing. peppery savoury fruit and tannins”. to be rich and decadent, plush character. I’m happy In addition Veuve Du with a smooth creamy Serve slightly chilled. It was to report this version is drier Vernay Brut and Veuve 88 points – winescores.ca palate that creates a originally for the royal family than previous efforts making Du Vernay Rose will be on moment of luxury and pure in China, but now most it easier to get through the $1.00 LTO on December 1st The Chardonnay has aromas pleasure. people can buy it. bottle. Crazy value works well with a new price $13.99. of spiced butter, melon with almost anything on the Cases of 12. and pear, loads of mineral 86 points – Wine Spectator It was called Happy Wine, barbecue. Still young and and citrus rounded out Live Deliciously! because when women drink fresh with some gritty tannins Please call us for posters with toasty notes. “85% it they feel happy. but they will dissipate going and gift boxes. of this white is stainless forward. Cases of 12. steel fermented resulting in a nutty, peachy scented chardonnay that tastes like it 750ml $16.99 smells”. – Anthony Gismondi. SKU 770925 Simply Charming! 750ml $14.99 New Cabernet Sauvignon Brut SKU 209023 2007 750ml $11.99 750ml $16.99 750ml $14.99 750ml $12.99 750ml $15.99 Cases of 12 SKU 750547 Rose SKU 610048 SKU 389155 & 389049 SKU 744375 SKU 897397

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12 The Publican VERAMONTE OLSEN FAMILY VINEYARDS VOODOO TIKI TEQUILA BARON CORTES NASTY HABIT Reserva Sauvignon 2007 VIRIDIAN PINOT NOIR PLATINUM SILVER Red & White Wine IPA Blanc 2009 Red Wine Tequila Spain Canada Chile USA Mexico This wine is from the Mt. Begbie Brewing Co.’s Aromas of fresh stone fruit, Finally Great Taste with A super-premium 100% Mediterranean area of sinister seasonal ale won lime zest, grapefruit and Exceptional Value from Blue Agave White Tequila Spain. The red has flavours Gold at the 2010 Canadian herbs mingle with spicy Oregon! enjoyed by traditionalists of cherry and raspberry with Brewing Awards. notes and a suave floral and connoisseurs of the a well balanced and very overtone. As a homesteader five historic taste of natural smooth finish. Nasty Habit is a dry hopped generations ago, the Olsen tequila flavours. Uninhibited IPA balanced by a diabolical Juicy, sharply focused Family planted grass, berries, by wood or aging. This is a The white has flavours of blend of rich specialty citrus and mineral flavours hazelnut trees and now favourite of the purists. melons and apricots with malts and pure mountain expand and gain depth in grapes on their 12.000 acre a well balanced and very water. Mt. Begbie Brewing the middle palate, picking Willamette Valley estate. Tasting Notes: Herbal semi- smooth finish. This is the Co. is located in beautiful up a juicy pear quality. sweet agave taste with a same wine as the well downtown Revelstoke and This value-priced pinot is light pear finish. known Bodega Cortes. has made a habit out of Medium bodied with a their second vintage and brewing wicked beer. refreshingly nervy and dry has earthy aromas of dark The wines will be ready for finish. berries, herbs, pepper, and ordering the last week of Nasty Habit… an IPA that spice. Flavours of dried November. will leave you lusting for 88 points cherries and cranberries more. Stephen Tanzer with hints of vanilla oak spice pair extremely well with salmon and chicken.

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The Publican 13 DRIVING PURCHASING BEHAVIOUR IN YOUR LRS by Tim Vandergrift

14 The Publican One aspect of retailing in the LRS setting that often gets little attention is product diversity and organization. Think back to the first day you set up your store or perhaps to the day you took over from previous management. What was the plan for allotting shelf space to SKUs? What was the overall guiding vision for the layout and product mix? How would your liquor, beer, wine, and accessories be organized? If you can’t answer these questions immediately, increase average single ticket sales per store visit. Retailing and marketing giants like Procter & you’re in good company. With the myriad tasks Gamble and Walmart invest hundreds of millions necessary to satisfy licensing, manage build-outs, It can be slightly scary to make significant changes of dollars per year on shopper marketing, on the train staff, and shepherd your business through in store layout and merchandising. After all, don’t belief that it is crucial to influencing consumer its early days, most LRSs take the simplest, most the producers and distributors of our products purchasing behaviour. Fortunately, you can direct route of organizing their stores by copying have the greatest influence over consumer influence purchase behaviour and execute great the LDB layouts of wine by country/region/ behaviour, with their large national advertising shopper marketing for considerably less money varietal, beers by domestic/import/specialty, and budgets and branding efforts? than that! liquor by type and pricing, and then by allowing The truth is, in today’s media saturated age, product reps to come in and build end aisle and consumer marketing is meeting with more and promotional displays to help with sales programs. more resistance: as groups we are getting better Before You Begin and better at ignoring the best efforts of even While this approach has certain benefits The steps that follow all hinge upon a retail the largest brand promoters. Marketing efforts (consumers are used to this kind of configuration, environment that covers the most important need to be refocused on shopper marketing. and it makes stocking and integrating new basics of store management before they are Shopper marketing is brand marketing in a retail products very simple), it may not be the most implemented. The most important steps are environment and includes category management, successful approach to driving purchasing proper shelf utilization and cleanliness. decisions, as it is focused more on the needs of the displays, sales, promotion, and marketing. While there are very few LRSs out there that are store than those of potential purchasers. Current statistics show: unclean, there’s more to it than keeping bottles Choosing an innovative way to organize your 70% of brand selections are made at stores dusted and floors mopped. If you have any boxes wines, using creative signage to direct people to 68% of buying decisions are unplanned or fixed displays directly on the floor, you have the right area to find their products, and balancing Only 5% are loyal to the brand of one product a potential problem with cleanliness. Not only diversity, product mix, and the right number of group. do stacks of boxes look unprofessional, saying SKUs can strongly influence sales numbers and “warehouse store” rather than “retail lifestyle

The Publican 15 experience”, it’s also impossible to keep the area Product Mix down, and you’ll see that the bottom 80% are around them completely clean. aging inventory that might be better discounted Product selection is key to the image your store and shuffled off the shelves to make room for Boxes resting directly on the floor will accumulate projects. If you’re in an affluent area that has a more productive SKUs. dust and dirt where the edge of the box meets the good demographic for purchasing high-end flooring. It’s subtle, but customers still notice it. wines or spirits, make sure you stock premium Second, inventory is not an asset. This is contrary The only way to get rid of this dirt is to eliminate products with a positive quality image. If you’re to the standard view of a balance sheet, but the floor/box intersection. Manufacturing giant in a less elevated area, you’ll want to carry value balance sheets reflect a static picture of a business. Toyota puts every single item in its factories up products that convey freshness and an up-to-date For your assets (stock) to work for you, they have on legs for this reason - even stamping presses image - even value-conscious consumers don’t to move. The more speed they move with, the weighing hundreds of tones. If it’s on the floor want to think they’re sacrificing quality. more money flows through your LRS and the more you can’t clean under it. Move boxes off the floor, marginal contribution flows to you. It can help to Be careful of the temptation to be “all things to all onto a shelf, with a proper shelf talker and pricing visualize the bottles on your shelves as their cash people”. Sometimes an overwhelming collection information. value. If you have stacks of 20 dollar bills sitting is less of a motivator to purchase than a smaller, on a shelf for months on end, that’s cash you can’t Shelf utilization applies not only to the sales floor, more thoughtful assortment might be, and too use somewhere else. but to your coolers as well. Nobody can spend wide a product diversity has two disadvantages: hours each day in the cooler, keeping it organized, First, even a very quick sales analysis will show There is no single, perfect formula for deciding and facing product. An excellent investment is that a small number of products actually generate how diverse an inventory to carry. Pareto analysis roller shelving, both for cartons and for individual the bulk of all sales. There is even a name for alone is somewhat simplistic: to make it work bottles. Like a gravity-fed conveyor belt, every time this, the Pareto Principle. Named after an Italian correctly you’ll need to include three concepts. an item is removed, another slides down to take economist, it’s also known as the 80-20 rule, and First, seasonality: rum sales go up in eggnog its place, keeping your reach-in cooler tidy and it’s surprisingly consistent in retailing. season, coolers and ciders spike in beach weather, organized while keeping product within reach etc. To account for this you’ll need to look at your The simplest way to demonstrate this is to do of customers. analysis over three different periods, monthly, your own Pareto analysis of sales by product in quarterly, and yearly, and then tailor inventory to Even if your cooler is large enough to store your store. Rank sales from highest to lowest meet those periods. individual pallets of product, it’s important that over a monthly period and go down the column if customers can enter or see the area, pallets until combined unit sales hit 80% of the total, Next, consider marginal contribution. Some get broken down and product placed on sturdy and you’ll rapidly see the 20% of products that higher-priced items (vintage wine, single-malt shelving as soon as possible. are driving your cash flow. Flip the chart upside Scotch) move slowly, but with similar margins

16 The Publican each sale can equal the marginal contribution of a On the other hand, don’t let this limit your score of lower-priced unit sales. It’s helpful (though special displays, end-aisle setups or organizing a bit more involved) to do a Pareto analysis not within categories. If you’re comfortable with just of unit sales, but of dollar contribution. There your product knowledge, try setting up your are some slow sellers that can actually pay off in scotches by character, with signage to show what the long run. to expect. “Smoky”, “Peaty”, “Honey and Heather”, and “Smooth and Silky” are all great designators Finally, you can’t do a single Pareto analysis and that may get purchasers to try a new product or assume that you’re done. You must do them make an additional purchase based on similarities consistently and repeatedly. The market changes to a favourite choice. around you constantly, with shifting trends coming from consumer taste, national advertising You can set up a small display educating programs, and sometimes for no discernible consumers on whiskey selections, displaying reason. Good data will leave you ready to react and “Whiskies of the World”, with American, Canadian, change your product mix quickly, for better profit. Irish, Scotch, or even Japanese examples. You “The market changes around you constantly... sometimes for no discernible reason.”

Allocation and Organization could organize your tequila by character as well: “Blends - Make Your Margaritas Great!”, “Blanco - In the article “Merchandising Your Licensee Smooth and Mellow”, “Anejo - Older and Wiser”, Retail Store” in the Fall 2007 issue of The Publican (read it online at www.ablebc.ca), the traditional “Reposado - Sipping Tequila”. While the signs merchandizing approach of “location, location, don’t tell the whole story of the product, they location” was discussed. In that scheme, the basics bring the consumer to the idea that they have of a transition zone (the first ten feet inside your multiple solutions to their beverage needs, and door where customers acclimate from the street the consideration that multiple purchases may ambiance to your store), the right hand turn (the be necessary to meet them. majority of consumers turn right as soon as they Fortunately, any scheme you try is likely to intrigue enter) and classifying your sales area by zones consumers and motivate trial, providing it follows (power, superior, ordinary, and problem) were a consistent theme and has some kind of narrative reviewed. to draw them in, as long as you change it on a While this works very well, it treats the store frequent basis. Nothing dulls sales faster than a landscape as the driver for your marketing and display that outstays its welcome, so be sure to merchandising efforts. If you want to be driven by schedule regular changes for these. purchaser needs, you can choose other methods of organizing products and allocating space to Wine them. Wine can be more problematic, partly because An excellent example of offbeat, yet effective, there are so many more SKUs available to you product grouping comes from a bookstore in the and choices available to your consumer. Trying to USA. For one display, rather than group books by simply group wines of the same type, like liquors, genre or author, they put together a very simple will confuse consumers who are goal-oriented end aisle with two groups of books, displaying (i.e., they are seeking a specific product). It also the front covers, with two signs, “These books misses the opportunity to cross-sell blended have spaceships on the covers”, and “These books products - do you group Chardonnay-Semillon have swords on the covers”. While ironic (not to with the Chardonnay, or do you give it a separate mention slightly corny), this kind of innovative area, along with Chardonnay-Torrontes? display automatically makes the customers look at Our guide here is shopper behaviour. A majority the product in a new way and increases cross-sales of consumers narrow down their wine purchase and impulse purchases. decision first by colour, partly by individual preference, and partly due to food-matching Liquor needs. After that they generally move to country For almost all liquor SKUs, organizing by type of origin and then products similar to those they is most effective. Grouping all the vodka, gin, are already familiar with. Splitting your wine sales rum, scotch, bourbon, etc. together as categories area into colours may be the key to driving a new follows shopper behaviour: few dedicated vodka kind of shopping experience. drinkers are going to spontaneously buy single- An example of this is marketing guru Seth Godin’s malt scotch, so allowing them to choose between suggestion for a fascinating but counter-intuitive different brands of their preferred product is a way of organizing product. Rather than grouping good bet.

The Publican 17 by style or by brand, he notes that grouping similar products together can Incidentals increase consumer spending by up to 30%. In one of his examples he suggests Along with your groupings and categories, don’t forget to work in incidentals that a woman’s clothing store should be organized by sizes and then by item, and add-on items. A great display for summer season is a “Margarita Station”, and last by styles - all the size eight pants on one rack, all the size 10 blouses with a basket of limes, kosher salt, glass rimmers, and cocktail shakers arrayed on another. This meets shopper needs precisely: shoppers don’t want a style in the middle of a selection of tequilas. Don’t forget to include both Cointreau of clothing, they want a style of clothing in their size. and Grand Marnier, with a sign for the Grand Marnier that says “For Pure Once you make the decision to divide the store by red and white (don’t forget Margarita Indulgence”. You can even go a step further and add sparkling wine to put rosé between them!), the next step is to divide by country - returning to to the display with the recipe for Miracle Margaritas (see recipe below). This the familiar - and then varietal/blend. This layout addresses shopper motivation can take a simple tequila purchase to one with an add-on bottle of liqueur and while retaining ease of use and logical layout. a bottle of sparkling wine! Again, don’t let this stop you from arranging end displays and specials based Before Valentine’s Day, another great display is “Red Wine and Chocolate”. Bring on unique character inherent in the wines. Remember, people don’t buy wine in several different grades of chocolate, including truffles, milk chocolate, and based on the product, they buy wine based on a compelling narrative about a variety of dark chocolate bars with varying percentages of cacao. The higher the product. You could arrange a display of “Hot ‘n Spicy” whites intended for the percentage, the better the chocolate pairs with tannic wines, so you can spicy foods, including off-dry Gewurztraminers, low-alcohol Rieslings, sparkling match 50% with lighter reds and proceed to heavier red wines through 70%, wines, Beaujolais, and fruity rosés, to appeal to adventurous cooks. You could 85%, 90% and even 99%, which pairs better with deeply tannic reds than any feature blends, “Cabernet and...“ with everything from Bordeaux and California cheese, and has the additional advantage of appealing to consumers who may Meritage to Cabernet-Shiraz blends from Australia, Cab-Merlot from Chile, Cab- never have thought of wine and chocolate before. Malbec from Argentina, etc. which could increase cross-sales to customers who There is a world of possibilities once you branch out from regular product are already fans of Cabernet wines. diversity and organization. However you choose to organize your store, clean, well-signed displays and shelving, along with a regular program for creating Signage new displays and promotional end-aisles, will help tap into purchaser behaviour and continually increase your sales. When you merchandise this way, signage becomes crucial. When consumers don’t know where to go or what to expect when they’re browsing, they can become confused or resistant. Make it as easy as possible for them to follow your logic and layout, not just with section signs, but also with shelf talkers to discuss flavours and styles as well as any awards or point ratings for the wines. Miracle Margaritas Take the extra time to have the signs designed and produced at a professional 2 oz. tequila level. The most innovative layout and best-planned displays can be brought 2 oz. orange juice low by hand-lettered or amateurish-looking signs. 1 oz. Grand Marnier Of extra importance when you have a large demographic of aging consumers 2 oz. sparkling wine Lime wedge is the need to ensure your font is legible and large enough to be read under Lemon wedge the lighting in your store. 20-somethings may be fine with a gentle font in ten- Orange wheel for garnish point type, but the generation before them needs crisp typefaces and larger Sugar for rimming printing to see what you’re trying to tell them.

Squeeze lemon and lime into a cocktail shaker full of ice. Add tequila, orange juice, and Grand Marnier, shake, strain into a rimmed Margarita glass, and float the sparkling wine on top. Garnish with orange and serve.

18 The Publican Wine Report by Lauren Mote

Bubble vs. Bubble These days, it seems that my perception of the - Bouchard recommends gently decanting and sparkling wine industry is a bit of a child’s teeter- enjoying the fruits of his labour in wide-mouth totter; do I go up on the left, and embrace the wine glasses to accentuate the wine’s fresh and single vineyard, single variety champagne, or do unique character; Bouchard feels the character is I go down on the right, and follow my instincts otherwise dimmed in the tall tapered traditional to do something completely different? As one glass flute. of several “avant-garde” mixologists, can I create Although you must be speedy and strike while something similar to “bubble” using contemporary the iron’s hot, Bouchard’s wines are available methods? I choose to have my cake and eat it too. worldwide, especially through Cédric Bouchard’s website www.champagne-rosesdejeanne.com (I hope you can read French), or through several Up on the Left international wine sales sites - my favourite is I did some research on Cédric Bouchard, a www.wine-searcher.com - the largest customer- talented innovator in the Champagne region - a driven site, with auctions, wine store comparisons region that seldom embraces altercations to its and prices. Keep in mind, most well made winemaking traditions. As an award-winning Champagnes are pricy, and Bouchard’s are no grower and winemaker, Bouchard’s objective different - but sipping on his bubble is like sipping in the winemaking world is to create boutique on a part of contemporary wine “pop” culture. style sparkling wines using the ”méthode champenoise”, but relying on grapes grown on his own estate, rather than buying from local Down on the Right “négociants”. For over a decade now, Bouchard Being the mixologist that loves to deconstruct has been producing noteworthy wines of extreme or waiting for the perfect crop year after year. This tasting notes and reinvent the wheel in calibre. Upon the inception of Bouchard’s “Roses short history lesson shows why Bouchard’s wines contemporary mixology, here’s what I propose: de Jeanne” Champagne label in 2000, his estate- are accelerating in popularity. Recreating Non-Vintage Champagne. grown grapes were part of a viticultural area of So, what makes Bouchard’s wines boutique? Required Equipment: Soda siphon, a bottle of a little more than one hectare/10,000 square Simply this: he moves against the grain of his good quality Chardonnay (French Oak rather than meters - about the size of a standard rugby field, regional predecessors. Bouchard uses little to American Oak) or Ugni Blanc, Carbon Dioxide just to put things into perspective. Starting with no dosage during second fermentation - this (C02) chargers, lemon peel, super yeasty beer miniscule space and production, the philosophy promotes terroir character; the grape juice (not hoppy), angostura bitters, cinnamon, white behind his wines garnered instant attention used is solely from the first pressing of high pepper, and nutmeg. throughout the wine world. Today his vines cover quality estate grown grapes, especially that of a larger area, and each of Bouchard’s new vintage Here’s the method: Using a large container, Pinot Noir, where a careful pressing with slight releases are as highly anticipated as the last. measure out 1/4 cup of yeasty beer, the entire skin contact is used to produce a classic rosé. bottle of wine, 20g of lemon peel (without pith), Just a bit of regional history: a large percentage Boutique style also suggests rarity. At a rather 2 dashes angostura bitters, 2 cinnamon sticks, 5 of the Champagne industry relies on the outside small production each year, critics are referring white peppercorns, and 1 whole nutmeg. Let it sales of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay. to Bouchard’s bottled result as magic: “... it is rest, covered, at room temperature for 24 hours. Much the same as past land divisions in Burgundy, highly, highly recommended to snap them up The following day, remove any solid debris, and the properties in Champagne were passed down immediately when they become available. We pour it into a 32 oz. soda siphon, leaving 2 inches through the generations, slicing smaller and cannot recommend these magical wines highly of room at the top. Tightly close the rubber seals smaller chunks of vineyard area for winemakers enough,” states Antonio Galloni, in Polaner and top. Carefully, launch two carbon dioxide and growers to work with. This very division of Selections, May 2010. As Bouchard continues chargers into the siphon, shake, and place on its land makes it exceedingly difficult to produce to sway bubble-sippers, he has become well side in the refrigerator. After 24 hours, with a giant large quantities of quality sparkling wines that recognized by connoisseurs and his professional smile, remove the siphon from the fridge, shake are not blends of “neighbourhood grapes”. Similar peers. This is the trend in the sparkling world. well, gently invert it, and pull the trigger over a to the school of thought over in Bordeaux, the With every bottle released, Bouchard is revealing glass. Sip as is, or use in a refreshing sparkling wine Champagne region can consider it easier to characteristics of Champagne regional terroir cocktail like a French 75 - 1 oz. Gin, 1/2 oz. each of blend high quality varieties together from both never experienced before; wine masked only by lemon juice and simple syrup, top with sparkling estate-grown and neighbourhood grapes to the natural nose and palate from indigenous yeast wine and a lemon twist. produce consistent, high quality wines vintage to cultivation. Here’s another interesting eccentricity vintage, rather than skipping vintages in between The Publican 19 NOW YOU'RE COOKING! THE NEW PROFESSIONAL COOK PROGRAM CAN TAKE PUB FARE TO NEW HEIGHTS by Robin Brunet

2020 The The Publican Publican Richard Luttman, the head chef at the Bard & Banker Scottish Pub, is a strong advocate of BC's Professional Cook Program and its role in developing apprentices, and with good reason. The Victoria-based Bard & Banker is no ordinary pub. The 320-seat, 12,000 sq. ft. establishment is a popular destination for beer lovers, live music enthusiasts, or those who simply want to spend an evening gazing at the Inner Harbour from the second-floor patio. Given this milieu, Luttman, whose résumé includes a six-year stint at Victoria’s Rosemeade Restaurant, and Lounge and 14 years with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, is inspired to deliver more than just standard pub fare. “In terms of our menu, my goal is for the Bard & Banker to be thought of as something The overhaul has given the Professional Cook Program a broader appeal to between a pub and a bistro,” he explains. “On one hand, we’re a traditional potential apprenticeship candidates and to a greater number of employers. pub, but on the other, it’s the sort of place where I’ve been able to bring in 100 There are still three distinct skill levels, but each one is now granted its pounds of chanterelle mushrooms weekly and use them in interesting ways.” own certification: Professional Cook 1 (PC1); Professional Cook 2 (PC2); and Luttman’s success in achieving this fine balance between pub and bistro Professional Cook 3/Red Seal. Employers can now hire an apprentice at any depends not only on his skills, but on those of his nine-member staff too. of these three levels, work with that person to attain certification, then either That’s why he views the Professional Cook Program as a vital training tool for continue to the next level, or keep the apprentice employed at the current apprentices, and a boon to his business. “We’re currently sponsoring three of certified level. Previously, those who had completed only part of the program our cooks, and they’re in various stages of completing the program,” he reports. were simply deemed not to have graduated, so they didn’t receive any “Publicans in general have a tough time finding dedicated cooks, because certification for their interim progress. The first stage of training will continue cooks assume all they’ll be doing is deep-frying. Our people have exhibited to be offered through the high school ACE-IT programs, the traditional determination, so by sending them through the new and improved program, we apprenticeship model, and through post-secondary culinary arts programs. get Red Seal talent, and cooks who will help propel our menu to the next level.” “Participants also now have to complete a practical evaluation and exam in order The improvements Luttman is referring to came about last year courtesy of go2, to pass each level," describes Luttman. "It’s not an easy process. The program which worked in partnership with the Industry Training Authority to overhaul takes three years to complete altogether, but the skills taught are thorough and the Professional Cook Program. go2 is responsible for the management of wide-ranging. I’ve noticed improvements in my participants already.” industry trades training for BC’s tourism, hospitality and foodservices sector, Donald Gyurkovits, president of the British Columbia Chefs' Association, echoes which includes cooks, bakers, and meat cutters.

The Publican 21 Luttman’s assessment. “The new structure teaches many things and brings the profession up to the level it should be at,” he reveals. “Apprentices are learning modern, relevant skills that will develop them into more well-rounded cooks with all the disciplines they need to be successful, from butchery to bakery.” go2's CEO Arlene Keis points out that the ability to hire apprentices who are pursuing PC1 or PC2 certifications can be beneficial to a wide range of pub owners. “Many pubs don’t necessarily require Red Seal chefs, and not all cooks want to obtain a Red Seal designation,” she explains. “This provides a great opportunity for pub owners to utilize training as a tool to give them the competitive advantage in recruiting and retaining talented, committed cooks to work at their premises.” Keis adds that dedicated cooks are “especially beneficial to employers as we’re witnessing a short supply of cooks and chefs, which is projected to be an issue for years to come." From the publican's perspective, Luttman is not alone in his enthusiasm for the revamped Professional Cook Program. Anya Davis, manager of Darby’s, Kitsilano’s Neighbourhood Pub, reports that one of her cooks is midway through the program. “We’ll benefit from the resulting Red Seal in many ways. First and foremost, it demonstrates that our food has a level of excellence and consistency, which is imperative not only in attracting new patrons to our establishment, but also encouraging them to become regulars.” According to Davis, Darby’s commitment to the program comes courtesy of executive chef Alex Rotherham, who, after learning about the program’s components, offered apprenticeships to any of his cooks who were serious about improving themselves and developing a career. “And yes, we fully appreciate that by supporting our staff in this manner, we’re helping to ensure good retention,” acknowledges Davis. At Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub in Victoria, Chef Alison Ryan presides over a 33-member staff, three of whom recently obtained their Red Seals, plus three who are in various stages of the Professional Cook Program. “The ones who are still in the program I hired straight from Esquimalt High School, and when they exhibited a genuine interest in food, I sponsored them along with the others,” she recounts. Quality and consistency is vital at Spinnakers, which is committed to farm-fresh local ingredients year-round. “When I’m not sourcing food locally, I’m bringing in wild boar from the Interior. Therefore, I need staff who are thoroughly trained and totally into food culture,” notes Ryan. Bard & Banker and Spinnakers have approached the sponsorship of apprentices in slightly different ways. “We’re picking up the tab for our people’s schooling,” explains Luttman. “It demonstrates that we’re looking after them and will perhaps encourage employee retention even further.” For her part, Ryan says her apprentices in the program are responsible for their own expenses: “It’s just another indication that they’re serious about making cooking a career, instead of regarding it as a weekend job. I provide encouragement by adjusting my work schedule to be more flexible than normal, in order to accommodate their class time.” Apart from gaining skilled employees and boosting retention, sponsorship in some cases entitles employers to federal and provincial government tax credits. Apprentices can also share up-to-date skills with other staff, thus boosting a business’s competitiveness. “The latter is certainly the case at the Bard & Banker,” boasts Luttman. “Confidence levels are rising.” Luttman has several years to go before each of his three staff members receive their Red Seals, and he fully appreciates that academic achievement inspires career ambition. “People who are committed enough to obtain a Red Seal ultimately want to open their own restaurant or perhaps become a head chef at a fine dining establishment, and that’s great as far as I’m concerned,” he explains. “But that’s in the future. In the meantime, I have a great work crew exercising their skills in the kitchen instead of just being cogs in a wheel. All pubs should have this level of expertise.”

Robin Brunet is writing for go2, the human resource association for BC’s tourism and hospitality industry. For more information on the new Professional Cook Program and other tips on using human resources to improve your business’ bottom line, visit www.go2hr.ca.

22 The Publican What's New? by Debbie Minke Beer Wine Granville Island Brewing’s Chocolate Stout is rich and Ita Spumante is an Italian sparkling wine made of 100% Prosecco grapes. The colour is straw warming. Brewed with 4 different malts, hops from the Pacific yellow with greenish hues, and it has a typical fruity bouquet and taste - pleasant and slightly Northwest and organic, fair-trade chocolate from Rogers’ sweet. 750ml $16.99 Spec Chocolates, this beer’s dark chocolate colouring and aromas of roast malt, cocoa and coffee flavours are accompanied by Bodega Universo Austral’s Cruz Diablo 2009 is a natural, sparkling white wine made from dried fruit and a mellow bitterness. 650ml $5.75 Limited time Argentina’s Chardonnay and Torrontes grapes. With notes of flowers and honey, it’s full and offer fresh. 750ml $12.99 Spec Cono Sur Organic Sauvignon Blanc 2010 is a well-balanced Chilean white varietal with a soft citrus aroma. Offering lots of green apple flavour with a touch of lemon, this one is a great value. Spirits & Liqueurs 750ml $12.99 Spec Oaken Gin starts with Victoria Gin, an artisan gin produced OGIO 2009 Pinot Grigio is a crisp and acidic white when served well chilled. Lemon and citrus in small batches on Vancouver Island. This handmade spirit dominate the flavours and aromas. Pairs nicely with chicken or fish. 750ml $10.99 Spec is then aged in new French and American oak barrels until Anakena’s Indo Cabernet 2008 is a complex, powerful wine with excellent integration between it is amber in colour and beautifully smooth. 375 ml $34.99 fruit and oak. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon provides structure and black current aromas along Specialty with 15% Syrah to add spices and floral notes. 750ml $14.95 Spec Crown Royal Black is a new, extra bold Canadian whisky Marani’s Saperavi 2008 was made in the heart of Georgia’s best-known wine region of Kakheti. boasting a deeper oak background with dark, sweet maple This dry red wine is dark pomegranate in colour with violet hues. Youthful and full-bodied, with notes, deeper bourbon notes, and a light vanilla flavour sweet black fruit in mid-palate, it shows great balance with an extended finish. 750ml $19.90 towards the finish. It has a creamy profile and is velvety; a Spec pleasant surprise at 90 proof. 750ml $34.99 Specialty The Kraken Black Spiced Rum is strong, rich, black and smooth. It comes in a unique bottle with two handles and an eye-catching label picturing its namesake - a sea beast of New Products myth and legend. 94 proof 750ml $34.99 Spec With its generous surface area, unique ergonomic design, and panoramic advertising space, O’Casey’s Crème Brulée liqueur is a delicious new liquid the Handi-Tray is a new product that can provide wait staff with improved stability and twist on the classic European dessert. Fresh Irish cream control, while offering non-verbal advertising at point-of-sale. For more information or to combines with vanilla bean and creamy caramel to create a request your free custom sample, visit www.jbisi.com. sensational liqueur. 750ml $23.95 Spec The Wine Shield is a disc that is easily inserted into an opened bottle of wine and keeps Hare Turkish Coffee & Cream teams traditional Turkish your wine fresh for up to five days. It floats on the surface of the wine, acting as a barrier coffee with soft textured cream in a well balanced, not-too- between the wine and the air, significantly reducing oxidation. For more information, go to sweet liqueur. 500ml $19.90 Restricted www.winepreserva.com. Dr. McGillicuddy’s Lemon Drop Schnapps offers intense TOA Canada Corporation has launched their enhanced BG-2000 Mixer/Amplifier product lemon flavour with just the right bite. Serve as a chilled shot, line, based on feedback from their clients as to what they wanted in a commercial on the rocks, or in cocktails. 375ml $12.99 Specialty background music and paging amplifier. For more information, visit www.toacanada.com.

If you have any noteworthy community contributions, please email Debbie Minke at [email protected].

The Publican 23 Sailor Hagar's Brew Pub & LRS by Jonathan Niven

Making it Local on the North Shore With the added space that the brewing operation had formerly taken, Sailor Hagar’s (named after a turn-of-the-century Scandinavian sailor, a reflection of Overlooking the Burrard Inlet from the north shore of Vancouver, Sailor Hagar’s the Riedlinger family’s Swedish heritage) expanded its LRS operation in 2004. Brew Pub has stood watch over the changing skyline of Vancouver for almost 25 The pub and LRS are still well known as a place to get great craft beers. The years. Since Expo in 1986, the pub has witnessed massive urban growth across pub has 19 taps and the LRS features many craft beers from around the region. the water and all around it on the North Shore as well. Originally a 65-seat license, the pub now has 118 seats, including a patio with The location on West 1st Street looks much different today than it did when Art magnificent views of Vancouver. Many patrons have been coming for nearly and Ruth Riedlinger and their sons Brian and Allan opened the pub in 1986. 25 years, but the pub now sees more young people as the community around At that time there were very few neighbourhood pubs, and the local watering it becomes even more developed. A stronger commercial presence has also holes only included the St. Alice and the Olympic Hotels. In order to secure a meant an increase in the business lunch crowd and after-work business. license, a plebiscite was required by the provincial government with municipal approval. After overcoming several procedural hurdles, the pub opened in the In years past, the Sea Bus provided North Shore residents with a way to get spring of ’86. A year later they expanded to include a cold beer and wine store. downtown quickly for a night out. While many still do make the trip, the community is maturing into its own and residents are finding out that they can By the early 90s, craft beer was growing significantly in popularity, so Brian and stay close to home and still have a lot of high quality choices with respect to Al decided to look at an adjacent property to locate a brewing operation. At food and beverage. What the Sea Bus does now is draw people from downtown that time, however, the brewery had to be attached to the pub, so they ended to the North Shore for a different experience. Tourists and Vancouverites alike up running the beer lines through the two buildings. Gary Lohin, who had are venturing to the North Shore as the Lower Lonsdale area becomes more worked as a bartender at Sailor Hagar’s in the early days, returned to head up developed. the brewing operation. (Gary is now the brewmaster at Central City Brewing in Surrey). As with almost all pubs, food has become an increasingly important component of their business. With added competition from large chain operations, Sailor The pub brewed its own beer for 10 years, but eventually got to the point where Hagar’s has moved upscale with their food offerings to include curry bowls, it was too big an operation for just the pub, but too small an operation for fresh seafood, and Thai chicken satay. kegging or bottling. As a result, Brian and Al shut down the brewing operation, but managed to develop a great relationship with Howe Sound Brewing, to According to Brian and Al, the biggest single challenge over the next several continue brewing their best 6 recipes in small craft batches for the pub and years will be maintaining marketshare against the large chain restaurants that bottles for the LRS. are acting more and more like pubs every day. With that in mind, the brothers

24 The Publican " Maintaining any kind of edge over the competition means being very involved in the local community."

see the LRS as the one key feature and competitive advantage relative to the restaurants. “It’s something we have that they don’t,” describes Al. “We need to do everything we can to get and keep our customers. If that means they can pick up a bottle of wine or a 6-pack after their dinner and take it home, then that’s where we can gain a slight advantage.” Maintaining any kind of edge over the competition means being very involved in the local community. Like many pubs, Sailor Hagar’s is very supportive of local sports teams and community fundraising for the Cancer Society and the Lions Gate Hospital. “We’re involved because we care, but also because our patrons and staff care. It’s an opportunity to rub shoulders with our patrons and the community, and it sets us apart,” states Al. The future of the business is in the community. The trend is for more and more people to stay close to home, especially with the new drinking and driving regulations. With that in mind, Sailor Hagar’s Brew Pub is making every effort to connect with local businesses on the North Shore to become the place to go after work. Young people are less interested in going downtown, and as a result, the pub and other establishments on the North Shore are picking up their game to provide high-quality alternatives. It’s starting to pay dividends.

The Publican 25 DON'T LET FAKE CASH DRAG YOU DOWN by Trevor Frers

26 The Publican The weather’s changing and people are turning Here are a couple of ways to check: to their favourite indoor hangouts to unwind and a) Hold your bill up to the light and see a ghost kick back with friends. You’re likely getting your image of the large portrait appear. You can also pubs, clubs, and bars ready to entertain crowds look for dashes forming a solid line (entertainment during the upcoming holiday season. As you screens or computer monitors work well as a light serve up “on tap” specials and cocktails to festive source). customers, don’t forget to make sure that you’re really being paid. b) Tilt the note to see brightly coloured numbers and maple leaves moving within the shiny, Counterfeiters thrive when you’re distracted. They metallic stripe on the front of the note. The know that you’re busy and hope that you won’t numbers should match the note’s value. take the time to check their fake cash. When the right opportunity comes, they’ll hand you c) Feel the raised ink spelling out BANK OF counterfeits in exchange for your food and drinks. CANADA on the front of your note, to the left. But fakes don’t need to drag you or your bottom The best security features won’t help if you don’t line down, if you’re prepared. use them, so make sure you do.

Check All Money - No Ifs, Ands, or Buts Say No to Cash you Can’t Verify You can check Canadian money in seconds. Be sure Customer Service 101 says the customer is always you do so before tucking cash away in your aprons right, but you need to draw the line at accepting and tills. All notes with the metallic stripe share the suspicious cash. This may be uncomfortable for same security features. You can check them as you you or staff members, but clear communication get paid to keep things moving along. will help ease the situation. Simply explain that

The Publican 27 you’re having trouble verifying the cash and ask for another bill (preferably one with a metallic stripe). The Bank of Canada doesn’t reimburse you for fake money, so it’s really important to spot fakes before you accept them. Keep in mind that your customer may be unaware that her money is fake, so take this into account when dealing with the situation.

Train Your Staff You know the importance of having well-trained staff. They’re at the heart of your interactions with customers, and they ensure that your business runs smoothly. Protection against counterfeiting has to start with everyone who is allowed to handle cash at your establishment. Training may generally seem like a costly, time-consuming endeavour, but it’s definitely not in this case. The Bank of Canada offers a variety of free training materials that can be tailored to suit your situation. It offers flyers, posters, CDs, DVDs, handbooks, and online materials to help keep your team informed. It also has a team of highly energetic, knowledgeable trainers ready to present at your next staff meeting or industry conference. A useful, multi-purpose resource that you might want to consider ordering is a DVD called “Fighting Fraud on the Front Lines.” The Bank of Canada produced it in partnership with the RCMP, Canada Post, and payment card companies. It gives some good advice on avoiding all kinds of fraud, from counterfeiting to credit card scams, in four short video clips. You may be used to seeing high staff turnover in your business. That’s why it’s important to make sure all employees, both old and new, are on the same page about how you protect your bottom line.

Look Out For Your Community Fake money doesn’t just cheat you of what you deserve. It also funds serious crimes and weakens confidence in the economy. That’s why it’s important to do more than simply turn fakes away. Let your local police know what’s going on too. The Bank of Canada works closely with law enforcement around the country to keep track of counterfeit money and respond to it, so that criminals can be put out of business. Co-operation among you, the Bank of Canada, the police, and banks has paid off. Counterfeiting in Canada has declined in recent years because cashiers are checking security features and police are following up on the tips they receive from people like you.

Get Ready for Good Change So you know the importance of training your staff to check all cash and say no to fakes. You also know you have a role to play in alerting police to fake money. The Bank of Canada is doing its part to make sure Canadians have access to money they can trust. It will start issuing money on polymer late next year. It’s a smooth, light-weight film that makes your cash safer, stronger, and easy to check. The Bank of Canada will be ready to support you with the training and tools you need to get ready for this change. More information on the new notes will be available in the coming year from your trade associations, banks, and news media, so stay tuned.

For more information, contact 1-888-513-8212, [email protected], or visit www.bankofcanada.ca/en/banknotes/index.html.

28 The Publican LCLB Report by Karen Ayers

Valid ID Fit and Proper Periodically, the branch receives queries about what constitutes valid ID. As The Liquor Control and Licensing Branch works to keep illegal activity, such outlined in your terms and conditions guides, you must ask for two pieces as gangs, out of bars and restaurants. When applying for a licence, applicants of identification when verifying a person’s age. The first must be issued by are screened to ensure whether they are a “fit and proper person” as specified a government agency and include a photo, name, birth date, and signature. in section 16(1) of the Liquor Control and Licensing Act. Being “fit and proper” Examples are passports or driver’s licences. The second must include the is ongoing. Licensees must continue to remain fit and proper the entire time person’s name plus signature or picture. Examples are credit cards, B.C. Care they hold a liquor licence. Applicants must: Cards, Social Insurance cards, or Canadian Blood Services donor cards. The • be of good reputation and character, and not have a history that would second ID verifies information on the first piece of identification. make them unsuitable to hold a licence; The card that generates the most calls to the branch is the old First Nations • not be involved in criminal activities or be associated with anyone involved Status card. For years this card had been printed on paper and then laminated. in criminal activities; Young staff members often decline to accept this card as they are unfamiliar • not be a member of or associated with an organized crime group; and with an older style of ID and suspect it is not legitimate. Also, this card need • have financial integrity. never be re-issued unless lost, therefore the pictures are often old. However, LCLB also considers the following factors: these cards are government issued and legitimate as the first piece of identification. The federal government recently began making this identification • Criminal Code charges and convictions, including those related to trafficking; in a modern card format, which you will see more and more. • roadside suspensions and any other charges and convictions where alcohol or drugs have been a factor; There are a number of other cards that cause concern. The Certificate of • charges and convictions, which lead to concerns that the applicant may not Canadian Citizenship and the Permanent Resident cards issued by the federal observe the terms and conditions of a liquor licence; government are both valid as first ID, and are being seen more often. Also, the · a poor enforcement record with another licensed establishment; federal government recently required that boaters be licensed, therefore you · flagrant disregard for local bylaws; and may see more Pleasure Craft Operator cards, which are valid as a secondary ID. · other factors relevant to the public interest. In all cases, you have to be comfortable with identification presented to you. Taking these steps to keep illegal activity out of bars and restaurants helps When in doubt, it is your right to decline service. And remember, ask for two protect the public while promoting a vibrant hospitality industry. pieces of identification - it’s the law.

The Publican 29 AVOIDING CREDIT CARD FRAUD AND SKIMMING by Kevin Short

Canada currently has 68 million credit cards and 22 million debit cards in Card Validation circulation, representing hundreds of billions of dollars in retail sales. In 2009, Most cards have similar counterfeit protection measures, so a quick check upon over 196 million dollars in counterfeit cards (across 158,500 cards), and 128 accepting the card will help in determining its authenticity: million dollars in fraudulent charges (across 210,000 credit cards) occurred from Visa and MasterCard alone, while debit card fraud totaled 142 million dollars in • Is the embossing on the card clear and straight? fraud (across 238,000 cards). • Do the four printed numbers on the front of the card match the embossed numbers? With recent advances in card security and counterfeit protection such as smart- • Is there a unique symbol on the card? (V, VC, BV, or PV) chip technology (EMV), the counterfeiting of cards is being reduced due to the • Is there a dove hologram on the card? (Most counterfeits use a foil sticker, difficulty of duplicating these smart chip-enabled cards. Still, it’s important not a true hologram) for businesses to train their staff to identify counterfeit cards and reduce the • Does the back of the card have a three digit CVV2 code to the right of the occurrence of credit card fraud. signature panel?

30 The Publican C L E A R P O S A Point Of Sale system designed to facilitate cost effective management of sales and inventory: The CLEAR POS System is an invaluable tool for the owner/manager providing a wealth of information, while still being extremely user friendly to the POS T M

• Is there a Visa or MasterCard logo on the front • Compare the signature on the sales slip to the user. or back of the card? signature on the card. This is a basic step many • Has the signature panel been tampered with? businesses and staff overlook - but don’t, since it will be difficult to identify the transaction in a These basic validations offer a quick way to chargeback situation if the signatures don’t identify if the card is authentic. If you’re still not match. sure, request photo identification as another screening check. • In large transaction situations, always request additional photo identification. Protecting Against Fraudulent Use • Upgrade your POS equipment to EMV- compliant devices to support smart-chip cards Understanding the hallmarks of a fraudulent if you have not already done so. transaction is the first line of defense in • NEVER ALLOW THIRD PARTY USAGE! In protecting your business against credit card effect, this is where you are offered a generous fraud. Maintaining an employee training program commission or fee in return for processing a should be a priority - after all, your business third party’s sales drafts through your merchant is legally at risk if you’re accepting fraudulent account. This practice is not only in violation of transactions. your merchant agreement and association Here are some basic strategies that can be rules, but if the transactions processed turn your food & beverage employed to avoid fraud: out to be fraudulent, it could result in criminal and liquor store • Validate that the embossed card number charges. Don’t process drafts belonging to pos management matches the card number on the sales slip; another business; it’s not worth the risk! system this will ensure that the card hasn’t fallen victim • If you’re ever suspicious about a transaction, call to skimming or recoding. When a valid credit your authorization centre and ask for a “Code www.clearpos.com card is rewritten with another card’s magnetic 10” authorization. This is the code for your strip data, this will pass the counterfeit check, processor to initiate the fraudulent transaction but the embossed number on the card will not protocol and notify local authorities without 604-585-2921 match the sales slip when the transaction is bringing attention to the cardholder. made. The Publican 31 Identifying suspicious activity by the purchaser can also be a factor. Some of the following activities have been noted as signs of potential fraudulent use: • Random purchases with little regard for price, size, colour, or style • An unusual quantity of expensive items • Expensive items charged to a newly valid credit or debit card • Several small purchases made (in order to test the card’s acceptance) • Removal of the card from a pocket rather than a wallet/purse • Signing the sales draft slowly or in an awkward manner • Inability to produce photo ID upon request • Hurries the clerk at quitting time or is excessively talkative due to nervousness, or in an attempt to frustrate the clerk

Skimming Prevention Skimming is an illegal act that helps criminals obtain credit and debit card account information to produce counterfeit cards. Typically someone in a workplace will swipe a cardholder's credit card through a skimming device, when the card is presented for payment, and capture the magnetic stripe data from the card. That information is put onto a counterfeit card, or any card with a magnetic stripe, and used to make fraudulent purchases. Be on the lookout for signs of skimming in your workplace: • You see anyone using a device that is not part of your day-to-day equipment. • Anyone offers you money to record account information for them. • You notice unusual activity at the end or beginning of the work day. Here are some things you should do to protect yourself: • Inspect your POS equipment regularly - including serial numbers, wires and cables. If anything looks unfamiliar or appears altered, contact your payment provider immediately. • Check ceilings, walls, or shelves near PIN pads for holes that could conceal a small camera. • Install your terminals so that customers have enough privacy to shield their PIN number and avoid shoulder-surfing • Ensure your security cameras do not capture the customer entering their PIN. • Keep all transaction records on file, along with your employee shift schedules for cross referencing. Common sense and vigilance are the primary tools for your business to avoid fraudulent transactions from occurring. Well trained staff that can quickly identify a potentially fraudulent or counterfeit situation could save your business thousands of dollars from chargebacks, not to mention legal repercussions.

VersaPay is the preferred Merchant Service for ABLE BC members. For more information please contact Kevin Short at 604-909-9848 or [email protected].

Next Issue

the Publican Spring2011 • Craft Beer & the Neighbourhood Pub • Enhancing LRS Décor • Creating Successful Promotions • Preventing Liquor Liability

Call 1-800-667-0955 to book your ad by January 14.

32 The Publican SAVING PENNIES TO GROW DOLLARS by Jim Sullivan

In an industry whose average pre-tax profit is non-existent) training. Don’t blame the crew if more products do you to have to sell each year less than five cents, we’d all be wise to recall the they don’t know what to do because you decided just to cover the cost of crew member churn, in insightful words of Sony founder Akito Morita, to save labour dollars on staff education. If you an industry that already has a high turnover rate? who once remarked that “while making more think training is expensive, try ignorance! 8. Scrap boxes. Some operators will designate a money is important, it is critical to remember that 4. Cook less more often. The fact is, food flavour specific brightly colored waste bin for all food that losing less money is just as important, too.” How does not rise proportionate to the amount of time had to be discarded (and not sold) because it was can you shave costs without sacrificing speed, it’s kept in a steam table or stored overnight in the prepared improperly or sub-standard. This “scrap quality, accuracy, and service? Here are the top walk-in cooler. Fresh tastes better and results in box” is an effective way to visually demonstrate ten most popular cost-control tips: less waste. the collective waste and cost of mistakes per shift. 1. Reward and recognize “waste-watchers”. 5. Beware of the irony of saving money and 9. Check-in all deliveries accurately. Giving a Remember that all money is not created equal; losing customers. While long waits and inaccurate delivery the cursory once-over because it’s time $100 in sales is $100… less taxes and expenses. orders anger customers to no end, it ironically consuming or inconvenient is just plain stupid. $100 in savings is $100. If a team member speeds up your service in the long run… because Remember FIFO (first in first out) and LILO (last in contributes an idea that saves you $100, why your customers don’t come back! Staff for peak last out). The best kitchen managers are sticklers not reward him with a $20 commission? Make it periods and train your team to repeat orders back for this process. You should be too. a habit to recognize and compliment your crew to customers. members who stick to the proper specs, portions, 10. Show them the money. The industry and recipes. If you see it, say it. 6. Make sure the night crew cleans properly. average profit on the dollar is less than a nickel, There’s nothing more aggravating than having to but most of your hourly staff thinks that you’re 2. Invest in cone cups for team member drinks. finish work the night crew didn’t do before you can making a fortune. Create a poster for the kitchen Every day managers witness a frustrating sight: open your pub in the morning. This hidden cost and server crew that shows them how 95 cents dozens of abandoned half-filled glasses or cups drives up labour dollars, staff turnover, and affects of each customer dollar actually goes to cover of flat pop cluttering their kitchen from their crew. customer service. expenses. What you reinforce is what you get, Solution? Invest in a cone cup dispenser for your what you don’t reinforce is what you lose! staff. They cost less than your regular cups, the 7. Maximize tenure, minimize turnover. Industry crew drinks less, and they can’t leave the cup lying research indicates that the cost of recruiting, around where it’s both unsightly and can get you interviewing, training, and hiring a new manager Jim Sullivan is a popular speaker at foodservice and retail industry in trouble with the health department. exceeds $20,000. Wow! If you sell a burger for $8, conferences worldwide. Sullivision.com creates service, sales, training, that means you have to sell 4,000 more of them 3. Train your team daily. Sloppy portioning and marketing, leadership, and e-learning resources for the foodservice and to recoup the cost of losing one good manager incorrect order-taking is the result of sloppy (or retail industries worldwide. See the free podcasts, articles, templates and and having to find her replacement. How many product catalog at www.sullivision.com. Copyright 2010 Sullivision.com

The Publican 33 BREWERS AND BC LICENSEES TO PARTNER TO PREVENT FASD by Greg D’Avignon This fall, Canada’s National Brewers and ABLE BC are joining forces to prevent Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). This partnership will provide thousands of retailers and licensed establishments throughout the province with point-of-sale materials to build awareness of the possible consequences of consuming alcohol while pregnant, and the lifelong impacts FASD can have on an individual and her family. FASD, which is entirely preventable, describes the effects that may be associated from prenatal exposure to alcohol that can cause harm to the fetus. The message is simple: If you are pregnant, the best option is not to drink alcohol. The province-wide campaign also provides detailed information for parents and family on the possible affects of drinking while pregnant. Motherrisk, for example (1-877-327-4636 www.motherisk.org), offers confidential, toll-free help country-wide. It provides authoritative information and guidance to pregnant or lactating patients and their health care providers regarding the fetal risks associated with alcohol, drug, and chemical exposures during pregnancy. Canada’s National Brewers have been active in supporting research, building awareness, and affecting change in Canada with respect to FASD for over 15 years, having founded the country’s first FASD research endowment, known as the Canadian Foundation of Fetal Alcohol Research www.fasdfoundation.ca. This foundation annually supports new, ground-breaking work on prevention, detection, and treatment for those affected by FASD. Over the last two decades Canada’s National Brewers have also been instrumental in the founding and continuing support of the FACE (Fetal Alcohol the Canadian Experience) conference that is held annually on International FAS Day, September 9. This year, Vancouver played host to this conference, which heard the latest on research, prevention, and treatment advances from around the world. Thanks to these partnerships and the efforts of these organizations, we know that more than 98% of women, of child bearing age, are now aware of the link between drinking during pregnancy and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Despite this awareness, we know children are still being born in Canada with this disorder, which we believe we can prevent in part through our continued work and this partnership. For more information on this program and to order posters, contact ABLE BC at 604-688-5560.

Greg D’Avignon is President - Western Region for Canada's National Brewers, 604-659-2744.

34 The Publican The Publican 35 Human Resources by Les Wiseman

Reviewing Your Responsible Beverage Service Program Encourage Designated Driver Programs With the festive season approaching, the first since the implementation Of course, you also want to ensure that your guests will get home safely after of toughened laws regarding impaired driving in BC, this is a good time to leaving your establishment, which is where designated driver programs play a review responsible beverage service/due diligence programs and the proven role in RBS. One casual but effective technique for a server who is about to take techniques for monitoring alcohol service. The Serving It Right course (available drink orders at a tableful of partygoers is to ask whether the group has already online at www.servingitright.com) can help you implement a Responsible selected its own designated driver. A pleasant hint is usually enough to make Beverage Service (RBS) program that is effective yet courteous. You want your one guest volunteer. According to Kim Haakstad, executive director of ABLE BC, customers to enjoy themselves without overindulging to the point there they some bars offer incentives that facilitate this process, such as free or discounted might harm themselves or others, and an RBS program can help you achieve non-alcoholic drinks or food items for the designated driver. Servers should that goal. mention this in an encouraging manner, not as a consolation prize but as a perk. Also helpful are designated-driver programs, which Haakstad says "are really Set Up an Effective RBS Program the only province-wide solution," noting that many smaller communities lack transportation options such as buses, or even taxis. For larger communities, Your RBS policy should be distributed as a written document, so that all staff she adds, “Make sure your staff know the contacts for different resources in members have a clear understanding of their role in the process. It is also a your community, along with the bus schedule and routes in your area. There good idea to have employees sign a statement that the policies have been are also companies that provide a get-home-in-your-car service, such as Keys read and understood, as part of their training. Make sure that this includes not Please. Create a relationship between them and your establishment. Have their just bartenders and servers - the employees who most commonly interact with business cards ready to hand out.” your guests - but also greeters, bussers and door staff; they can be particularly helpful in gauging whether guests have been drinking elsewhere before coming to your place of business. Teamwork is an instrumental component of Support Your Servers an effective RBS program; for example, staff should share observations about Knowing how to gauge intoxication is a key part of RBS, so educate your staff on possible problems when they change shifts or go on breaks. the key indicators. Cutting off a patron’s alcohol service requires considerable Your RBS policy document should also be posted within your establishment in diplomacy. No server wants to embarrass a customer, create a scene, and then a prominent location, such as the lobby, where it can be read by arriving guests. alienate the customer and lose repeat business. One discreet trick that has Tactfully worded announcements on menus or table tent cards can reinforce proven effective is to quietly mention to a customer, "Here you are! But take the concept of responsible drinking and make customers aware of your legal your time enjoying this one, because it's the last one I can safely serve you obligations as a licensee. tonight." (Read “Refusing Service” in the Summer 2010 issue of The Publican online at www.ablebc.ca.) The customer hasn’t been explicitly refused a drink, One way to help patrons pace their alcohol consumption is to draw their but knows that the service is complete. attention to the menu, especially snacks, and to recommend coffee or tea after they have finished eating. Many guests don't fully peruse a drink menu, so if However, if a guest does object to being cut off, the server should never hesitate yours has a section of non-alcoholic beverages, point that out. to include the manager, who will have more experience in such situations. Emphasize this to your staff when you review the SIR course and its RBS By simply creating a pleasant environment for your guests you can help periodically to ensure it remains top-of-mind on the job. moderate their alcohol consumption. Effective strategies include installing attractive lighting, preventing overcrowding, establishing a dress code, and, Les Wiseman is writing for go2. For more information on using human resources to improve your business's bottom where permissible under your licence, conducting games and contests. line, visit www.go2hr.ca.

36 The Publican 1st Annual CPBA Cocktail Challenge by Shawn Soole

of some of the best and brightest bartenders in In the black box, bartenders will be given a secret BC) has been tirelessly working to set up and push ingredient or ingredients to use with Beefeater 24 the boundaries of cocktailing. The upcoming 1st as the main ingredient, to fashion a delectable Annual CPBA Cocktail Challenge sponsored by cocktail for the judges. With one hour to create Beefeater 24 is the culmination of this work. their signature drink and five minutes to prepare The event will be held at the BC Hospitality Expo, it on stage, this gives the entrants plenty of time where the veritable who’s who of the hotel and to adjust and perfect their creations. When the hospitality industry will showcase their wares and final tally is counted and the points are awarded, services at the Vancouver Convention Centre. With the winner of the somewhat gruelling two-day seminars, open forums, and competitions from competition will be awarded a trip to London to industry professionals from across the country, it is hang out with Desmond Payne, master distiller of the perfect opportunity to launch the first official Beefeater and the great mind behind Beefeater 24 competition for the CPBA. as well as a guided tour through the distillery. The competition is a multi-faceted cocktail event, This event, like many that the CPBA will be hosting utilizing a signature Beefeater 24 cocktail in the in the future, will showcase the talent that is preliminary round to be judged on November growing like wildfire in the great province of BC. 22nd, with the top five moving onto the next stage The preliminaries, the black box, and the ultimate finale when the winner is announced will be The newly formed Canadian Professional of the competition the following day with the worth watching when you are down at the Expo. Bartenders Association (CPBA) is gaining black box event. (Black box cocktail competitions If you are not part of the CPBA yet, then pick up a momentum in BC. The CPBA’s main goal is to or finals have become very popular over the registration form and become a member in what shine light on one of the oldest professions in the last few years, with the success of Iron Chef will be the next stage of the evolution in BC’s world - bartending. Since being set up just a little America being applied to the humble cocktail burgeoning bar scene. over 18 months ago, the committee (consisting competition.)

The Publican 37 LDB Report by Donna Mohn

The Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) recently completed its LDB Wholesale These are great results in many areas. The LDB Web Store appears to be an Customer Survey, and I would like to thank all of the wholesale customers who enormous success with 88% of our Wholesale Customers rating it good to took time out of their busy schedules to respond to our request for input. This excellent. year our survey included over 2,000 licensees, 672 licensee retail stores (LRSs), 223 rural agency stores (RASs), 12 independent wine stores, and 11 duty-free outlets. In total, over 2,800 surveys were mailed to our customers. Rating 4-5 With a total of 425 responses, our response rate was 15%, which is considered a high rating for mail-out surveys. LDB Web Store Performance 88% What was the purpose of this research? Overall Staff Performance 82% • To gauge the overall service measures for LDB wholesale business customers Quality of Service 78% • To determine their level of customer satisfaction Attitude toward Wholesale Business Customers 70% • To identify customer needs Understanding of your Requirements 68% • To assess the demand for web ordering and e-commerce Flexibility to your Requirements 63% • To track trends from 2008 to 2010, which has been a high growth period of new outlets • To determine the priority of drivers of customer satisfaction Seven personal interviews were conducted with representatives of large Of particular note, the following areas received feedback: industry groups, and 33 separate items were evaluated in the survey. Responses Where can we most improve? You have made us aware that “flexibility to your were rated from 1-5 with 4 and 5 being “good” and “excellent.” The response to requirements,” which was rated 63% in the good/excellent responses, is the Overall Performance Indicators in the top two response boxes were as follows: area in which we can most improve.

38 The Publican LDB Web Store Wholesale Customer Rating Ability to order online 24 hours a day, 92% Good to Excellent Ratings 7 days a week Ability to search LDB 88% Good to Excellent Ratings Wholesale Product catalogue Ease of checkout 88% Good to Excellent Ratings Ability to save your shopping list 85% Good to Excellent Ratings Ability to upload large orders 85% Good to Excellent Ratings via CSV files Ability to track the status of 83% Good to Excellent Ratings your order

The following key areas received customer comments: You have our commitment to use all of the valuable customer feedback you have provided to refine those areas requiring improvement while also implementing many of the suggestions supplied in the commentary portion of the survey.

Private Key Business Need LDB Action Plan

Further improvement in LDB Web Store online ordering ensures accuracy and availability of accuracy, secures inventory immediately orders upon order submission by the customer, and allows an additional 10 hours of lead time for customers to place orders rather than faxing or using the phone to place orders at the Wholesale Customer Centre.

Improve the availability of Currently, only 150 customers order restricted wholesale-only through Web Store. Continuous products recruitment and orientation seminars are held to build the Web Store customer base. Wholesale products will be monitored to ensure products that generate 80% of the volume in the Wholesale Customer Centre are continuously stocked.

Improve and simplify the We are currently assessing the return current policy for returning process for private retailers and expect to damaged products have recommendations shortly.

Be more flexible and We are compiling comments on key understand our needs needs as identified in the survey, and will develop a plan to address these needs over the next six months.

It is through such research that we can ascertain the needs of our customers and react accordingly. Thank you again for your support and participation in this important survey. On another note, the holiday season is fast approaching. In order to be prepared for the increased demand, we recommend that you start building your inventory early. This includes high-volume products as well as those that experience a sharp increase in sales during this season. Being prepared will help to minimize stock-outs and more evenly distribute the high volume of cases to be shipped over a longer period of time. Planning ahead will help us to ensure that we are able to maintain service levels and meet your needs during the holiday season. On behalf of all of us at the BC Liquor Distribution Branch, we would like to wish you all a Happy Holiday Season and a very prosperous New Year!

Donna Mohn is Director of Wholesale Business at the BC Liquor Distribution Branch.

39 The Publican The Publican 39 LIQUOR SALES AND TRENDS

YTD ending August 2010

Beer Spirits Gross Sales % Change Marketshare Gross Sales % Change Marketshare BC Liquor Stores $163,221,788 -5.5% 30.6% BC Liquor Stores $146,372,894 -2.8% 47.5% LRS $236,079,403 -7.1% 44.3% LRS $ 96,605,906 6.7% 31.3% Licensee $ 98,987,384 -6.0% 18.6% Licensee $ 42,354,932 -5.4% 13.7% Other Sources not Reported $ 34,788,890 6.5% Other Sources not Reported $ 23,057,189 7.5% Product Total from All Sources $533,077,465 Product Total from All Sources $308,390,921

Wine Refreshment Beverage Gross Sales % Change Marketshare Gross Sales % Change Marketshare BC Liquor Stores $165,638,029 1.7% 47.6% BC Liquor Stores $22,675,316 -5.3% 34.0% LRS $ 69,951,077 2.5% 20.1% LRS $33,461,435 -4.0% 50.2% Licensee $ 55,826,595 -1.9% 16.0% Licensee $ 5,722,841 -14.1% 8.6% Other Sources not Reported $ 56,593,847 16.3% Other Sources not Reported $ 4,791,860 7.2% Product Total from All Sources $348,009,548 Product Total from All Sources $66,651,453

Note: (1) Measured in Gross Retail Sales Dollars. (2) Report includes all liquor sales from BC market. Source: BC Liquor Distribution Branch

40 The Publican BC Hospitality Foundation by Renée Blackstone

Brenda Derkacz, a 28-year-old mother of two hospitality industry will be awarded $2,000 young children, is the most recent recipient of a scholarships at the BC Hospitality Industry BC Hospitality Foundation grant. Derkacz, whose Conference and Exposition. “The Foundation will husband Adam is a kitchen manager with the Old have a booth there, so stop by and see us,” adds Spaghetti Factory in Victoria, was diagnosed last Alan Sacks, BCHF business development manager. May with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This is The foundation is also developing a “Hospitality her second type of cancer, as she battled sarcoma Day” campaign that will kick off in 2011. “The through 2007. She was in clinical remission from campaign will aim at reaching all sectors of the sarcoma when AML struck. Brenda was flown by hospitality industry with the objective of ensuring helicopter to Vancouver for immediate care and people at every level know about the work of the spent seven weeks away from home for treatment. foundation, and have the chance to contribute She received a bone marrow transplant, but in their own way to its efforts,” explains Sacks. needed specialized care in Vancouver for another “Although we are doing great work, we still have three or four months, away from her family. a major challenge on our hands to communicate To help with her recovery, a large part of which is to the thousands of people in the industry that being able to see her family more often, friends there is an organization that can help in times of and co-workers raised more than $12,000 through financial crisis brought on by a medical condition,” various events. Another $5,000 was added by the he describes. “Not enough people know that BCHF matching funds program, giving the young we run a 'matching funds' program that can family the financial resources to be able to afford contribute up to $5,000 for fundraisers such as childcare as well as travel expenses to come to the one held for Brenda Derkacz. Hospitality Day Vancouver while Brenda recovers. is going to play a big part in communicating the message.” Meanwhile, the BCHF organized a new fundraiser, Dish 'n' Dazzle, which was held in late October. The In other news, BCHF board members were event was a high-energy celebration of some of delighted to hear that the foundation has BC's best food and drink and included a cocktail had its charity status approved by the federal contest featuring some of our best bartenders, government, something that will make fundraising food and wine bars, silent auction, live music, a little easier, reports Sacks. and a celebration honouring unsung hospitality- industry heroes. Renée Blackstone is a freelance journalist who sits on the BCHF Board As well, 10 worthy young people who want to of Advisors. advance their education in an aspect of the

ABLE BC’s 2011 Annual Buyers’ Guide The Year-Round Resource for Pubs, Bars & Independent Liquor Stores

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The Publican 41 THE THOUGHTFUL DRINK THINKING STRATEGICALLY ABOUT YOUR MENU DRINK, WINE, AND BEER LISTS by Ian Foster

42 The Publican How is it possible that the two best bottles of wine I have had in the past year were ordered at an Indian restaurant? How does a small restaurant chain generate phenomenal bar sales for two decades primarily on the strength of one or two unique drinks that they have become synonymous with their brand? A great little bistro sells my favorite beer, and one I can only seem to find at their restaurant. Thus, I find myself eating there more than expected! These examples highlight the value of a strategically planned bar menu. A world-class drink - hopefully that describes the five drinks on your concise, intriguing drink list; preferably drinks that your customers can’t get anywhere Bar Menus and the Decision Corridor in Your Bar else. Research by Diageo, the world’s largest liquor company, has found that more than 60% of bar customers don't know what they will drink until seconds before Different Strategies Required For Draft and Bottled Beer they place their orders. Diageo describes the bar area as the Decision Corridor. I have never understood why most bars offer the same brand of beer in bottles Think about that for a minute. What an astounding opportunity for you to sell and draft. Bars only have limited cold storage, so why offer Coors Light on tap your customers something different from their usual “rum and coke” - something and Coors Light by the bottle? that they will enjoy; something that differentiates you from all the other bars That’s a lot of cooler space devoted to duplication, without the benefit of in your neighborhood; something that is profitable. But most bars blow this adding incremental sales. And since beer is a perishable product, unnecessary opportunity because they don’t have a strategic plan for the Decision Corridor. duplication results in beer that is not being served at its freshest. Such a strategy starts with a drink menu. I can’t believe how many bars don’t A strategic beer list would promote both incremental beer sales and turnover. even have one. In research for Cheers Magazine, Mike Ginley’s company, Next Offering the same brand in bottles and draft does neither. Level Marketing, found 71% of spirits drinkers are influenced by bar menus, A well conceived beer selection would incorporate different strategies for promotions, and staff recommendations. Ginley asserts that “bar menus are a bottles and draft. Draft beer is more suited to high-volume brands because a marketing necessity.” keg holds more volume in less space than the equivalent number of bottles But a drink menu is not enough; driving incremental sales requires an effective - an important consideration when cooler space is limited. Bill Main, founder drink menu. A drink menu with dozens of drink choices is worthless. Most of Bill Main & Associates, suggests that a high-volume bar have a tap for every customers won’t bother reading it, if it requires more than about a minute’s 5-10 seats. concentration. Worse, a lengthy list doesn’t nudge your customer to those drink Another idea I really like is to have a rotating guest tap. Each month the guest creations that are exceptionally good - and unique to your bar. brand changes. By offering unusual beers for a limited time, you give any draft “Less is more”, says Sam Zavari, Bar Operations Manager for the Cactus Club beer enthusiast a compelling reason to visit more often. And occasionally the Café chain in western Canada. “The perfect bar menu says ‘if you order one of guest brand will prove to be hugely popular, in which case you switch it to a these five drinks, you’ll be blown away.’” permanent tap while moving your lowest selling draft to the guest tap. The pinnacle of this approach is the signature drink - a cocktail so enjoyable I would devote most of my beer bottle selection to niche brands - especially that it becomes almost synonymous with your establishment. Signature drinks those that can’t be found in my competitor’s bar. Bottles are perfectly suited to don’t get any better than the Cactus Club’s Bellini. For almost two decades their premium brands that don’t sell fast enough to warrant buying in kegs. Bellini has driven bar sales. My favorite little bistro has done exactly that with their beer bottle selection. The Bellini is our brand,” says Zavari. “The Bellini practically sells itself. Everyone They offer a dozen bottled beers, all of which are interesting and a perfect loves slushy drinks; I think that goes back to drinking Slurpees in our youth. match for their concept. On my first visit, one brand in particular caught my And not only do we have the best Bellini anywhere, but when our guests see eye: a coriander-flavoured beer from Scotland. I liked it so much that I spent the colourful drinks going by in a beautiful martini glass, they want to try one.” a week phoning liquor stores to find out where I could buy it - unsuccessfully. Taking full advantage of the Decision Corridor requires training your bartenders So, guess what, I find myself eating this bistro more often because they hooked in the art of suggestive selling. Renowned bar guru, Tony Abou-Ganim says, “A me on this weird little beer. moment of indecision is the perfect opportunity for bartenders to step in and Finally, I would recommend that bars have a printed beer list: either on paper introduce their customers to something new.... Your goal should be to guide or listed on a menu board (preferably both). I hate asking the bartender what your clientele toward a one-of-a-kind experience. Give them a reason to come they have on tap only to hear 20 beers recited in 20 seconds - my brain can back to your bar... suggest a world-class drink.” never keep up (especially in a bar for obvious reasons)!

The Publican 43 What Can We Learn From An Indian represent distinctive quality, value, affinity with but just knowing an “expert” gave a wine 90 points Restaurant With A Killer Wine List? food (your food, not that of the French or Chinese somehow makes it taste better. restaurant down the street).” Who ever heard of an Indian restaurant that took You can also add staff comments: “I order our lamb wine seriously? Yet, the two most impressive wines This is particularly important for Vij’s, given the shank just so I can order this ‘big’ wine - they go so I bought this year were from Vij’s in Vancouver. challenge of pairing wine with the strong spices. well together” - Linda, server for 3 years” A smaller wine list is the perfect vehicle to induce “Traditionally only beer is served at Indian You can take this one step further and feature a customers to enjoy a wine selection that will restaurants,” says Mike Bernardo, Vij’s General “Staff Favourites” section on your wine list, just accentuate the food. At Vij’s, the wines offered by- Manager. “We realized that we rarely went out like they do at the local Blockbuster Video. Each the-glass are all chosen to complement the food. for dinner to any ethnic restaurants because we month you might feature a different server’s three wanted to enjoy a nice bottle of wine with our Bernardo cautions against taking this too far. favourite wines along with a little paragraph on meal. But we knew that if we could enjoy wine at “When I first started I was absolutely committed why they like that wine. Your servers will love home with Indian food, we could eventually get to only having wines that went well with the food having their wine choices highlighted - especially our diners to enjoy it at Vij’s.” (no chardonnays, for example). But one thing I when customers recognize them for it. And you learned is not to force the customer. will be taking one big step to de-mystifying the whole wine selection process. " Perhaps the best thing about a shorter wine list is that it These ideas, of course, emphasize the importance allows you to guide your customer towards wines that go best of having your staff sample the wines (and food, of with your food." course). Mike Bernardo says that is the reason that Vij’s has always offered a free staff meal every night.

The underlying strategies behind Vij’s terrific wine Unless you only have inexperienced staff, try not A final thought: many of your customers list can be applied to any restaurant. to include wines everyone knows from their local are reluctant to ask the server for a wine liquor store. The problem is that too many people recommendation. One of the problems is that ”Less is more,” says Bernardo (where have we believe that restaurant wine pricing is a rip-off. servers are often trained to ask the customer heard that before?). “A shorter wine list is more Your customers don’t know or care about storage, what he wants to spend on a bottle. This is a very approachable for the guest than pages and pages spoilage, payroll taxes, Worksafe, or other costs. intimidating question to ask when your customer of selections. Fewer wines also results in a smaller All they know is that the liquor store can make a is sitting in front of a business associate or a loved inventory.” profit selling the bottle for $15, so why are they one. Your customer risks appearing cheap in Randy Caparoso, from Wine Listing Consulting getting charged $32 in your restaurant? front of their companion, on the one hand, or of Unlimited, concurs, “The majority of guests prefer spending too much and feeling annoyed later, A Georgia State University study shows that a less intimidating list and are more likely to return on the other. I believe that this prevents a lot of adding descriptions to a wine list will increase to a restaurant with small, personal touches and customers from asking for recommendations in sales by 30%. But rather than adding wine servers who can speak intelligently about their the first place. Gary Parker, from Wine Sellar & tasting notes (“floral with a hint of vanilla”), which food and wines.” Brasserie in San Diego, teaches his servers to point few customers can relate to, I would suggest at three or four wines on the wine list, without Perhaps the best thing about a shorter wine list is appending more interesting information such as mentioning the price. The customer can then pick that it allows you to guide your customer towards point scores from wine magazines. You see smart the wine with a price tag that he is comfortable wines that go best with your food. retailers, like Costco, doing this more and more with without the risk of appearing cheap. Caparoso again: “Do you honestly think a list of often. Not only is the 100-point scale something 50 Chardonnays, most of which taste pretty much familiar and approachable for all your customers, Ian Foster is with Bevinco. the same, is more impressive to the contemporary consumer than just six or twelve, which truly

44 The Publican Advertisers Marketplace A.B. Seating 45 ABLE BC 29 AFIC EXIM (Canada) Corp. 10 Abcco Products 36 All About Jack 38 BC Hospitality Foundation 45 BC Hosp. Industry Conf. & Exposition 32 BC Wine School 18 Beerthirst 13 BWI Business World 40 CLR Concepts 31 CPBA Cocktail Challenge 35 Canada's National Brewers 41 Cashline ABM/Merchant Fast Cash 27 Central City Brewing Co. IBC Concord Imperial 11 ContainerWorld 17 David Herman & Son 12 Direct Cash BC El Dorado 33 Energy Wise 45 Granville Island Brewing IFC HOST Consulting 34 Hi-Bridge Consulting Corp. 12 Homelife Benchmark Titus Realty 28 Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Co. 28 Intertrade Gourmet Canada Ltd. 30 James Bradley Consulting Inc. 39 Johnstone's Benefits 39 KPMG 45 Landmark Selections 13 MJB Law 46 Markat Wines Ltd. 13 Matthews Campbell 45 Mondia Alliance 12 Mt. Begbie Brewing Co. Ltd. 13 Murphy Enterprises 37 New World Wines 13 Open Box 44 PMA Canada 23 Prosperous Financial & Insurance 37 Provent Technology Corporation 14 Prudential Sterling Realty 15 Rising Tide 38 Russell Brewing 6 SOCAN 9 Saverio Schiralli Agencies 22 Select Wine Merchants 16 Shaw Cablesystems 7 Sting Investigations 45 Sysco Victoria/Vancouver/Kelowna 21 Time Access Systems 6 Ward Watkins Insurance Brokers 45 WestCoast Cash 5 White Rock Distillers 4

The Publican 45 Names in the News by Debbie Minke

ABLE BC welcomes the following new LP/LRS members: Dino Bernardo, Rim. Shaun Layton from l'Abbatoir in Gastown completed the top 3 with his Commodore Grand Café & Lounge, Kamloops; Gary & Juggy Dhaliwal, Friends creation: the "Manolo Martinez". Neighbourhood Pub, Kelowna; Frank Esposito, Mt Lehman Liquor Store, Just Here for the Beer, an informative beer website and consulting group, has Abbotsford; Paul Esposito Jr, Finnegan’s Pub, Abbotsford; Lynda Johnston, just launched a new radio show with the same name. It premiered on AM 650 Squamish Liquor Store, Squamish and Dixon’s Beer & Wine Store, Salmon in Vancouver in September. Hosts Joe Leary and Colin Jack present “fast-paced, Arm; Kevin Lee, Backstreet Pub by the Sea, Royston; Jim MacIntyre, Boundary informative and entertaining one hour radio talk shows, comprised of industry Crossing Liquor Store, Vancouver; Shelley Metrow, Rose & Crown Pub, Delta; information, new product introduction and roll-out, along with sponsor stories Ron Orr, Roxy Cabaret, Vancouver; and Karen Roland, Roland’s Creekside Pub, that will air the week prior to specific beer-oriented events in and around Whistler. New associate members are Clinton Lee, BC Wine School, Vancouver; Greater Vancouver.” Vadiim Bajgoric, Dead Frog Brewery, Aldergrove; Al McLeod, Nelson Brewing Company Ltd., Nelson; and Wade Koopman, WestCoast Cash Inc., Kelowna. The BC Wine School is Vancouver's newest approved program provider of Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) courses. In addition to offering five WSET go2 has announced its 2010-2011 Board of Directors. The four new directors certification courses, the BC Wine School holds tasting seminars, maintains are Steve Paccagnan, President & CEO, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort; Paul its own wine club, conducts wine tours, and consults for both the public and Street, Director, Food and Beverage, Whistler Blackcomb; Jamie Tattersfield, industry. Mountain Operations Manager, Sun Peaks Resort; and Kate Tognotti, Dean of Instruction, Schools of Digital Media & Music, Hospitality & Tourism, and Industry The largest Canadian beer competition to date was held in September. Winners & Trades Training, Selkirk College. of the 8th annual Canadian Brewing Awards include several breweries from BC. Special congratulations to Central City Brewing Co., which wowed the Peter Larose is the new Director, Industry Workforce Development for go2, judges and took home three gold medals in addition to winning the coveted replacing John Leschyson, who retired in September. Lauren Bond has Canadian Brewery of the Year and Canadian Beer of the Year awards with their been appointed to the newly created role of Manager, Industry Workforce Barley Wine - Thor’s Hammer. Development. Canadian Brewing Gold Medal Winners from BC are as follows: BC Wine Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Miles Prohan to Bock - Traditional German Style: Captivator Doppelbock, Tree Brewing Co. the position of Executive Director. Scotch Ale - Squire Scotch Ale, The Cannery Brewing Co. Clive’s Classic Lounge in the Chateau Victoria Hotel & Suites is Canada’s first Wheat Beer - German Style Hefeweizen: Hefeweizen, Tree Brewing Co. Campari Red Bar. This is a designation given to bars that show loyalty to Campari Wheat Beer - North American Style: Sungod Wheat Ale, R&B Brewing Co. in the creation of cocktails and ambiance in which to enjoy Campari. Barley Wine - Thor’s Hammer, Central City Brewery Stout - Dark Star Oatmeal Stout, R&B Brewing Co. The 1st Annual Aha Toro Cocktail Competition was held at The Fairmont Pacific English Style India Pale Ale - Nasty Habit IPA, Mt. Begbie Brewing Co. Rim in September. 24 of BC's top mixologists competed for a trip to Mexico American Style India Pale Ale - Red Racer IPA, Central City Brewery by showcasing some of their most intricate Aha Toro concoctions. Danielle Imperial India Pale Ale - Red Racer Imperial, Central City Brewery Tatarin from The Keefer Bar finished 1st and took home the trip to Mexico with French and Belgian Style Saison - Farmhand Ale, Driftwood Brewing Co. her cocktail; the "Zolton Nuevo", while Brad Stanton from Uva Wine bar placed Fruit & Vegetable - Coconut Porter, Swans Buckerfields second with the "Agavo Toro" to win a luxury weekend at the Fairmont Pacific If you have any noteworthy community contributions, please email Debbie Minke at [email protected].

46 The Publican RedRacer_Publican_WinterWarmer_v2.pdf 9/29/10 12:41:12 PM

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