Frances Bula
Vancouver — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Published on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009 11:13PM EDT Last updated on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009 2:55AM EDT
Be careful ordering $40 of lovely B.C. wine in a Vancouver restaurant if the two of you are having only $20 worth of hamburgers with it.
You could inadvertently be putting the owner in a jam because of a new bylaw that says food has to account for 50 per cent or more of a restaurant's total bills for the night.
Vancouver restaurant owners, however, are mounting a campaign against the bylaw, brought in two weeks ago as the city was making pre-Olympics rule revisions for restaurants.
City officials say high-end restaurants don't have to worry – the bylaw is meant only for restaurants really operating as bars, and it only functions on a complaint basis.
But that's no comfort to restaurant owners, who fear they could end up in technical violation if an over-zealous inspector or unhappy neighbouring bar owner decides to go after them.
“They feel they're vulnerable if someone does come in, add up the bills, and says they're a little offside,” said Ian Tostenson, president of the B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association.
As a result, Mr. Tostenson is pushing the city for an amendment. He'd like to see something like having full bottles of wine removed from the daily total, or having a different method of judging whether a restaurant is operating as a bar. A closed kitchen would be one clue.
So far, city representatives say they're not inclined to change the bylaw. And bar owners are supporting them.
“It's a completely fair rule,” said John Teti, chair of the city's BarWatch, which represents more than two dozen clubs and bars. “We don't want to lose that 50-per-cent thing – that's the only measuring stick there is.”
Vancouver Councillor Raymond Louie said only a relatively small number of restaurants are likely to be caught by the new rule, which is going to be more energetically enforced through a $3 increase in the licence fee per restaurant seat. “And they should encourage their patrons to do more than just have a nice bottle of wine,” he said.
The underlying problem is that it is incredibly difficult in Vancouver to get a licence to operate a bar or pub. So there are a few owners who decide to skip the formalities and just open a restaurant, but operate it as a bar.
There are 183 licensed bars and clubs in the city as opposed to 1,121 licensed restaurants.
Special to The Globe and Mail
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