The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian brewery and liquor distributor yesterday voiced fears that $500,000 worth of beer it is holding will soon go to waste due to the lockdown, adding: "Something's got to give."

Gary Sands, the Bahamian Brewery and Beverage Company's general manager, told Tribune Business that the inability to sell beer and other inventory that will soon reach its expiry date was a problem facing the entire liquor industry and not just his firm.

Revealing that the company "cannot eat the cost" associated with products exceeding their sell-by date, Mr Sands said many in the private sector were "at their wit's end" due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding when the COVID-19 lockdown will end and their inability to obtain a clear answer from the government.

He reiterated that there was "no logical reason" why the Bahamian Brewery and Beverage Company and its retail/distribution arm, Jimmy's Wines and Spirits, could not be permitted to follow the lead established by hardware and auto parts stores and offer home delivery/curb side pick-up services while stores remained closed.

Tribune Business previously reported how Jimmy's Wines and Spirits was initially approved to operate a liquor home delivery service only for the government to abruptly reverse this permission within 24 hours. Mr Sands yesterday said his firm and the wider industry had been seeking permission to re-open with the necessary health protocols in place, but had yet to receive a reply.

The prime minister previously indicated in the House of Assembly that the government was concerned that permitting the sale of alcohol during the lockdown could further strain the already over-burdened healthcare system due to liquor-fuelled violence and poisonings.

However, Mr Sands argued that adults showed be allowed to make their own choices. He pointed out that eating fast food and drinking sodas, activity which the government has permitted during the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, carries health risks equal to those posed by drinking beer.

"It's a significant problem," Mr Sands told Tribune Business of the date-sensitive inventory his firm and others are carrying but cannot sell. "We have no answer for when we will be allowed to resume business in some sort of capacity.

"If we cannot sell the stuff then we need claim the duty back that we've already paid to government, so the Government itself is going to be at a loss. I'd expect to get the duty back and the VAT from what we are not able to sell. I cannot eat that cost. Something's got to give."

Mr Sands estimated that the total value of beer and other inventory approaching its expiry date was around $500,000. He declined to say when these dates were, other than they were "very soon", while confirming that "a number of brands" were involved.

"It's an industry problem, not a Bahamian Brewery problem," he emphasised. "We're in the same boat. Commonwealth Brewery, Bristol Cellars, us three, we're all in the same boat. Liquid Courage probably too, although to a lesser extent.

"To survive we need to lift the lockdown as of yesterday. Every week we write to the Government, and every few days we follow up, and we get no response. There's a lot of people we can employ who are sitting idle, and we can provide home delivery and curb side pick-up like every other business such as hardware and home stores, and auto parts.

"Unfortunately everything is rumours. I heard this, they said this. I'm tired of going off assumptions. We need to hear from the Government about when we can resume business in some capacity. We don't expect to open the stores, but at least start with home delivery and/or curb side pick-up so we can start to move some product," Mr Sands continued.

"We need the common courtesy of having an e-mail answered so that we can know a date. We all understand what is going on in The Bahamas and the world, but we need to employ people and get the economy back up and running. This is another sector, another aspect of getting the economy moving."

Tribune Business was unable to reach Commonwealth Brewery, Bristol Cellars and the other liquor distributors for comment before press time last night. However, Mr Sands said the Government did not always appear to understand or think-through the consequences of its actions when it came to the lockdown restrictions imposed on Bahamian businesses.

"They need to think on a large scale," he argued. "We've just been hit by [Hurricane] Dorian, and all the people from Europe who came to repair the brewery in Freeport have been forced to return home.

"We need something. There's no reason why we cannot do delivery and curb-side pick-up. There's no logical reason why if auto parts and hardware stores can. I just don't get it...

"There's no logical reason why we cannot open up. They need to do something. People are at their wit's end, and it's creating a lot of upset in the market. I keep hearing that this one's open, that one's open."