Manitoba is home to over 60 Liquor Mart/Liquor Mart Express locations, 170 liquor vendors, 240 private beer vendors and 925 licensed restaurants – that’s a lot of potential places to distribute your product!
ID Standards for Alcohol Distribution
GS1 Canada provides tools and information to help businesses with barcode standards. In general, these standards comply with internationally accepted Universal Product Code (GTIN) standards.
You can distribute your beer products in Manitoba in one of three ways:
Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Distribution – Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries would order product from you, and you would deliver it to the Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Warehouse in Winnipeg. Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries would then distribute your product to be sold in Liquor Marts, Rural Liquor Vendors (Agency Stores); and licensees (restaurants, bars, clubs, etc) for on-premises consumption.
Self-Distributor - As the producer, you would have to set up a communication link with Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries. As Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries receives orders, we would send any orders for your product to you, and you would deliver direct to your customers. Your products would be available in Liquor Marts, and hotel beer vendors for off-premise sales, and licensees (restaurants, bars, clubs, etc.) for on-premise consumption.
*Please note, as a self-distributor, you are responsible for picking up your empty bottles.
If you choose to go the Self-Distributor route, you will also need to ensure that you have a current computer that will communicate with the Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries system. Visit the Exchanging Data with Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries page for the steps you need to follow to set up this data exchange.
*Please note that the process to get set up on the Liquor & Lotteries’ system takes approximately four to six weeks (2-3 weeks for setup, and 2-3 weeks for testing).
Hire a Third-Party Distributor – You would be set up in our system as a Supplier, with a link to your hired distributor. As Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries receives orders, we would send any orders for your product to your hired distributor, who would deliver direct to your customers. Your products would be available in Liquor Marts, and hotel beer vendors for off-premise sales; and licensees (restaurants, bars, clubs, etc) for on-premise consumption.
All other types of beverage alcohol products including wine, spirits, coolers and ciders must be distributed by Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries.
For additional information, please contact the Manager, Supply Chain Administration at (204) 957-2500 ext. 2840.
Next up is the completion of the Liquor Supplier Application form located under the Liquor Agents & Suppliers Resources section of MBLLpartners.ca where you will provide purchase order and banking information.
Now we come to the fun part – well, as fun as paperwork can be, anyway – it’s time to fill out your Liquor Product Listing Application form. On this form you will provide all your information as well as information about your product, including the full product name, your website, tasting notes, an image (bottle shot) of your product, and details about the product packaging. To help you fill out this form correctly, please review the Liquor Product Listing Application Guidelines located on the same page. Both forms can be found under the Liquor Agents & Suppliers section.
The LiquorMarts.ca website is one of the main sites Manitobans use to find out information about the beverage alcohol products available in the province. Having great information about your product as well as a high resolution product image (bottle or case shot) helps to familiarize customers with your product. The more concise and accurate information you can provide, the better!
