Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/09/17/taco-bell-is-now-selling-jal.html
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No.
The answer to the question “What goes with a Toasted Cheesy Chalupa?”, is also the answer to most other serious questions in life. The answer is Beer.
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“To be served piping hot!”
It says Pinot Noir on the label. Would that be allowed if it wasn’t Pinot Noir? (Genuine question: I have absolutely zero knowledge of Canadian consumer law.)
So, now all restaurants are Taco Bell.
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That pun tho.
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how in the fuck is every Canadian franchise just instantly obtaining a liquor license?
the path to serving alcohol must be easier up there, but that seems backwards from a country that has only state-run liquor stores that close at 9pm or whatever it is.
aside from the fact that TB probably doesn’t even want to sell wine in the US (we seem more likely to abuse fast food wine and make worse decisions, I would think) but it takes a really long time to get a liquor license and if the ABC doesn’t think you’re their kind of people, forget it.
there are plenty of franchise restaurants here that sell alcohol but the license is presumably applied for before the restaurant is in place and presumably the potential franchisee’s ability to get licenced is part of the deal. I didn’t think they just granted the company a blanket license, because every municipality has a different ABC with different rules. but maybe?
but if you’re a Canadian TB franchisee, you’ve already been in business, but that doesn’t mean the local ABC has any obligation to grant you a license just because corporate decides they want to sell wine all of a sudden. either Canadian TB has a deal, or the rules are way different, or they’ve had all their franchises in the process of getting licensed for a long time prior (but still doesn’t answer the question of if an established francisee didn’t qualify. I guess it would have to be a “not available at every location” type thing.)
anyway, weird tangent, I know. but as a lifetime restaurant worker, this is all I can think of when I see this post.
edit: ABC = alcoholic beverage commission
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According to the articles it will only be in some locations, though, and I couldn’t tell where any of the locations were from either article. Odds are good at least one will be near me in Toronto, but other than that your guess is as good as mine.
I gotta admit that going from Wisconsin (where I used to buy booze of various sorts at everything from a grocery store to a coffee shop) to Ontario was a wee bit of a culture shock. I personally think it’s been holding back the Ontario craft brewing industry as well, although (now that I can’t drink real beer!) it has gotten better in the last ten years.
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Hell, given how TB keeps removing stuff from their menu, I question if they even want to sell food in the US.
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Didn’t Doug & Bob McKenzie foresee all of this?
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They should stock Acapulco Gold to boost business.
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Alcohol is regulated by province, and laws vary dramatically. Every province has different drinking ages, some have private liquor stores, others only government-owned ones, some allow beer and wine in grocery stores, etc. There are also a ton of gray areas. For example, in Alberta grocery stores can’t sell booze but it allows private liquor stores, so Safeway has attached private liquor stores with a giant door connecting them (so big you can’t tell it’s technically a door). It’s technically a second building and business, but the user experience is “I bought whiskey at Safeway”. 
. BC, on the other hand, is still weirdly locked down, and this Taco Bell scheme would never fly there. The BC liquor stores are state run and feel like prisons, with special doors and a lot of weird messaging.
ETA: The weird laws don’t seem to be hurting vineyards or craft brewing in BC in the least. You can’t throw a rock without hitting a craft brewery in any BC town, and the Okanagan has as many vineyards as Napa at this point. Heck, Big Rock arguably created the modern craft beer movement. They were doing it in the early 1990s before anyone knew what craft beer was. You couldn’t get it east of Calgary or in the US, so nobody knew about it.
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