VANCOUVER -- Dan Webster and his business partner Terry Brown had dreamed of owning a brewery. In November 2019, that dream came true when they opened the doors of Container Brewing in East Vancouver after a year of construction.
“It was great. We were done with construction, we were opening a brewery, we were operating a brewery, it was super fun,” Webster told CTV News. “It was a blast. And then March happened.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Webster and Brown went from employing 10 staff to just three. One year later, they’re still making beer but are struggling to access financial support from the province.
B.C. is offering grants between $10,000 and $30,000 to small and medium-sized businesses to try and help them stay afloat. This month, the $345 million program was extended to Aug. 31, or “until funds are fully expended, whichever comes first.”
But in order to qualify, businesses need to show a 30 per cent revenue loss from March 2020 to now, when compared to the same one-month period in 2019 – which is near-impossible for businesses that only started in 2019.
“Our historical data is during construction, so no revenue to speak of, so we have no data to compare it to. So immediately it looks like we’re positive cash flow,” Webster said. “It’s not that we don’t qualify because we have a bad business, it’s because it’s a new business.”
On paper, Container Brewing looks as though it’s been making more money during the pandemic, so the application was denied.
Container isn’t the only business in this situation. According to the B.C. Craft Brewers Guild, there were 54 breweries that opened in 2019.
Webster says there should be some discretion when it comes to considering applications for government support, rather than a blanket rule to exclude businesses like Container.
“It’s frustrating because we’re so new that we’re sort of being punished in a sense, that you can’t get these grants and we’re the ones that need it the most,” he said.
CTV News reached out to the Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation, which is responsible for the program.
In a statement, Minister Ravi Kahlon said the government wants businesses to have access to funding they need, but “to ensure public accountability, there is eligibility criteria in place that guides application review and approval.”
“In the instance that a business does not qualify for the Business Recovery grant, there are other funding programs available,” the statement continued.
So far, 10,000 applications have been submitted for the program and $100 million has been approved for businesses.
Small Business B.C. said it has advisers available via email, phone or live chat who can help business owners navigate which programs they are eligible for.
